Age: 67
male
Shaun Mark Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire accent, he first found mainstream success for his portrayal of Richard Sharpe in the ITV series Sharpe, which originally ran from 1993 to 1997. Bean's film roles include Patriot Games (1992), GoldenEye (1995), Ronin (1998), Don't Say a Word (2001), The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), Equilibrium (2002), National Treasure (2004), Troy (2004), Flightplan (2005), North Country (2005), The Island (2005), Silent Hill (2006), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Black Death (2010), Jupiter Ascending (2015), and The Martian (2015). His television roles include the BBC anthology series Accused, Broken, Game of Thrones, and the ITV historical drama series Henry VIII and Legends. As a voice actor, Bean has been featured in the video games The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Sid Meier's Civilization VI, and the feature films Wolfwalkers and Mummies among others. Bean has also been the main voice over for O2 and their adverts for over 20 years having originally taken the job in 2002. In 2022, Bean won the British Academy Television Award as Leading Actor in Time, a BBC One drama.
After many years in exile from Thebes for his inadvertent sins of fratricide and incest, former Theban king Oedipus, now an old, blind beggar, and his daughter Antigone arrive at Colonus, a city near Athens, and are standing upon ground that is sacred to the Eumenides (or Furies), the goddesses of vengeance. Oedipus reveals that years ago, when the oracle of Apollo, the god of prophecy, foretold of Oedipus’ fratricide and incest, Apollo also said that Oedipus’ death on the sacred ground on which he stands would bless the land in which he would be buried. Oedipus at Colonus depicts Oedipus’ transformation from a blind beggar disgraced and exiled for his sins to a figure of immense power, capable of granting (or withholding) divine blessings, and the end of his life.
