Paul Copley
Paul is a long established and much respected British actor and voiceover artist. Born in Denby Dale, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 25th November 1944 he grew up beside a dairy farm. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family. He went to Penistone Grammar School, then the Northern Counties College of Education in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he received an Associate of the Drama Board (ADB) in Drama. He taught English and Drama in Walthamstow, before he joined the Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-education Company in 1971. In 1976, Paul won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play for his role in John Wilson's For King and Country. With many and varied roles to follow, Paul soon established himself as one of the UK's leading stage, film, television and radio actors. In 2011-2015 Paul gained worldwide recognition appearing in 16 episodes of the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey playing the popular role of farmer Mr Mason. Paul is married to the actress Natasha Pyne. They married in 1972, after both performing in a Leeds Playhouse production of Frank Wedekind's Lulu, adapted by Peter Barnes, directed by Bill Hays in 1971.
130 acting credits
Acting · 130
Midsomer Murders
1997
Casualty
1986
Vera
2011
Play for Today
1970
Silent Witness
1996
Call the Midwife
2012
Downton Abbey
2010
Father Brown
2013
Minder
1979
Heartbeat
1992
Peak Practice
1993
Waking the Dead
2001
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Shameless
2004
Playhouse
1974
New Tricks
2004
Torchwood
2006
Inside No. 9
2014
The Bill
1984
ITV Playhouse
1967
Secret Army
1977
Moving On
2009
Cracker
1993
BBC2 Play of the Week
1977
Enola Holmes
2020
Churchill's People
1974
Hornblower
1998
Kingdom
2007
Inspector George Gently
2008
Life on Mars
2006
The Paradise Club
1989
The Coroner
2015
Born and Bred
2002
Strangers
1978
The Street
2006
This Life
1996
Tenko
1981
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
2025
Messiah
2001
The Lakes
1997
The Worst Witch
1998
Survivors
2008
Harry
1993
The Afternoon Play
2003
Queer as Folk
1999
A Bridge Too Far
1977
On the Edge
2018
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
DI Ray
2022
Broken
2017
Last Tango in Halifax
2012
Stay Lucky
1989
The Remains of the Day
1993
White Heat
2012
Trust Me
2017
Burn It
2003
Jude
1996
Roughnecks
1994
Code of a Killer
2015
Big Deal
1984
Zulu Dawn
1979
Blow Dry
2001
Days of Hope
1975
How Clean Is Your House?
2003
Johnny and the Bomb
2006
Young Charlie Chaplin
1989
Dead Man Weds
2005
The Gathering Seed
1983
Nice Guy Eddie
2002
Hornblower: Mutiny
2001
Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands, New Tricks
2025
West End Tales
1981
The Royal
2003
Hornblower: The Even Chance
1998
The Sound of Music Live!
2015
The Many Lives of Albert Walker
2002
Hornblower: Duty
2003
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
1999
Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil
1999
The Shadow in the North
2007
Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant
1998
Black Jack
1979
Hornblower: Retribution
2001
Hornblower: Loyalty
2003
Big Winners
2025
Alfie Darling
1975
Treasure Island
1977
Trinity Tales
1975
Reg
2016
Destiny
1978
The Bright Side
1985
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
1986
Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork
2013
A Christmas Carol
1977
Death of a Princess
1980
Written in Blood
1998
Dangerous Journey
—
The 12 Days of Christine
2015
Father Dear Father
1973
On a Paving Stone Mounted
1978
Silas Marner
1985
Arnhem: The Story of an Escape
1976
Marian, Again
2005
A Pinch of Snuff
1994
Diane
1975
Bird Fancier
1985
P.Q. 17
1981
A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado
1981
A Room for the Winter
1981
The Key
2003
Speech Day
1973
Some Enchanted Evening
1978
Testimony of a Child
1989
How's Business
1991
The Nest Egg
2016
Ropeless
2020
Travellers
1978
The Chester Mystery Plays
1976
Mucking Out
1978
First Encounter: King Lear
2012
Ghost in the Water
1982
The Turkey Who Lives on the Hill
1978
Happy
1980
The Infectious Imagination of Henry Bramble
2021
Which Side Are You On?
1985
Ticker
2023
Doll’s Eye
1983
When Kim & Aggie Went To Hospital
2006
Cries from a Watchtower
1979
Ends and Means
1983