Born in Sutton in Ashfield,Nottinghamshire,and grew up in Shirebrook the birth place of legendary actor John Hurt.He lived there until the age of 16 where he then joined The Royal Green Jackets, where he then served in the forces for 14 years,serving in Kenya,Bosnia,Cyprus,Jordan and Northern Ireland. He left the army in 2004. He started acting late in life at the age of 31 firstly appearing as Paul Slaney in finding Polish and then moving on to theatre,Macsaul,Alice in Wonderland,and then moving on to Television appearing in BBC's Death comes to Pemberley,Landgirls, and many other films and TV shows.