Born To Be An Actor
British actor Ivan Kaye was born on 1 July 1961 in Northampton, Northamptonshire. He has Russian ancestors who claimed to have descended from the Vikings, hence his personal interest in the Viking period and way of life that Ivan has repeatedly expressed in interviews about his characters in Hammer of the Gods (2013) and Vikings (2013-2017).
Strikingly, it was already in his earliest childhood from the tender age of two years that little Ivan started to recreate TV adverts. This passion continued throughout his childhood as the boy used an empty television shell to perform shows with his friends.
A key experience happened when Ivan was around eight years old: He went to the London Palladium to see a pantomime with Danny La Rue. Here is what happened in Ivan’s own words:
During the show he invited volunteers from the audience to come on stage and sing a song. My hand shot up, and I was chosen. It was a huge success and I was even more hooked!
It is easy to imagine what a deep impression such an incredible experience must have made on an eight-year-old boy.
Pursuing the Path
It is, therefore, no wonder that Ivan now got a taste for the stage: At age eleven he joined a youth theatre group.
Three years later the organisers moved away and Ivan took over responsibility for a theatre group at the age of fourteen: He collected subscriptions and organised two shows a year for the local Gordon Craig Theatre. Soon enough for Ivan his path of becoming an actor was clear and he never considered another one.
Yet before he could embark on this journey, his parents insisted that he should take a university degree first.
As his parents were social workers and moved often, Ivan had a challenging time at school going to thirteen different senior schools and changing schools even between his O-level. He got beaten up at his new schools frequently, experienced headbutts and even got his nose broken during these years.
However, difficulties never held Ivan back from attaining his goals.
Due to his parents running hostels for mentally ill adolescents and delinquents, he came in contact with various types of behaviours and people from an early age. According to his own appraisal, this experience has been a helpful factor for the development of his wide-ranging repertoire.
He studied English Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury and succeeded at earning his degree while constantly performing in plays of the student theatre group. After graduation, Ivan’s parents were delighted to support his endeavours.
Grown into a tall young man of exceptional 6’4” (1,93 m), he now went to the Edinburgh Festival with a show that transferred to London.
Professional by Practice
Once in London, Ivan found an agent, but at that time to get professional work on stage, TV, and film it was mandatory to be a member of Equity, the British actors’ trade union. In those days, however, a minimum number of paid jobs was needed to be accepted as a professional.
Ivan could not rely on preexisting connections as the only family member to have been involved in the entertainment industry before was Ivan’s maternal grandmother who had been a musical star in the 1920s, but his mother had not wanted to have anything to do with the industry.
So Ivan performed eight magic shows for private clients at a children’s party company in order to fulfill the Equity requirement and thereby earned his status as a bona fide professional. Finally, he could start his acting career beginning with various roles on stage.
After playing a lead character in Serious Money at Wyndham’s Theatre, a stage play that opened in 1987, Ivan already got his own television show in the early 90s aged thirty as the leading man DI Sam Sterne in drama series Sam Saturday (1992).
Even though acting is one of the more unstable ways of making a living and competition can be harder and experiences of rejection more regular than in more usual occupations, Ivan, in his own words, has
never wobbled in my resolve, even during lean times. The satisfaction of this job outweighs the odds.
While continuing with regular appearances on stage in plays as well as musicals like The Rocky Horror Show in Piccadily Theatre (playing Eddie and Dr. Scott) throughout the 1990s,
Ivan also developed his television career into a long-term success story spanning three decades and making him a household name in the UK.
Breakthroughs without End
Ivan’s many notable appearances on TV during his first two decades include feature films like Cold Comfort Farm (1995) alongside Ian McKellen and Kate Beckinsale, main characters and parts as series regular in shows like Microsoap (1998-2000) and The Green Green Grass (2005-2009), roles in famous British soaps like EastEnders (appearances in 2003-2004) and many more, comprising a wide range of genres and character types from comedic to villainous.
Following a career mainly in TV was a decision Ivan made not due to a lack of other options, but because he prioritized time with his family over professional preferences while his children were growing up. This decision may have been facilitated by his strong enthusiasm for any kind of acting jobs:
I love every job, be it drama or soap. I rarely turn down work. I’d rather work than keep myself warm with the thought of worrying about the quality.
Consequentially, after roughly a decade of TV work Ivan’s unique versatility and unbeatable talent took effect by opening up new avenues:
Unlike many other successful British television actors Ivan managed to transition to roles in international movies made for the big screen, appearing most notably in Layer Cake (2004) and Dark Shadows (2012) and starring alongside Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeifer and many other well-known actors.
This does not mean, however, that Ivan missed out on the international triumph of quality TV during the past decade:
From 2010 onwards he acquired international fame with his roles as Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza in The Borgias (2011-2013) and as the imposing King Aelle of Northumbria, nemesis of the hero Ragnar Lothbrok in History Channel‘s award-winning period drama series Vikings (203-2017) which earned him legendary status.
While these two were not the most sympathetic characters ever, Ivan’s pub landlord Mick Sturrock in The Coroner (2015-2016) is a loveable and charming guy who has attracted new fans from different countries as the series has been dubbed and broadcast throughout Europe, in the US and Canada and as far away as Japan.
Another sympathetic, but powerful character who does not hesitate to physically fight for his beliefs is Ivan’s Professor Pesca in The Woman in White (2018) where once more he showed his stunning talent to express a whole range of different emotions and shades within very limited screentime.
Since 2016, however, Ivan had mainly taken over roles in feature films of several genres from comedy to horror for a while.
Several films released from 2019 to 2021 include the comedy movie For Love or Money: An Unromantic Comedy and the high-concept action-thriller Gunpowder Milkshake where he pursued the main star Karen Gillan in his part as the goon leader Yankee.
Meanwhile, Ivan had also entered the stage again in 2017-18 playing a pivotal supporting part as Englishman Tom Kettle in the critically-acclaimed multi-award-winning stage play The Ferryman that revolves around an Irish family, love, loss and tragic developments.
Unsurprisingly Ivan was able to excel in this famous play even after almost twenty years without practice in theatre. The play has seen a Broadway transfer in autumn 2018 and is still running there and we hope to be able to bring you some special content about Ivan’s experience soon.
Unfortunately, Ivan’s Mayor Hart Thorin in the unreleased pilot for Amazon’s TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s famous The Dark Tower book series has only seen the light in reviews and shots from behind the scenes. For more info, please check our page for the title that also lists the relevant blog articles.
But the lovers of TV shows need not to worry as Ivan has returned to substantial TV work in 2021 with his role as Ted Button in the BBC Studios series Sister Boniface Mysteries that has started to air in early 2022 and has been recommissioned for a second season already and, more notably, with his character Mr. Delaney, the father-in-law of the main star, in the first original British scripted series of Disney+ Wedding Season.
While there is good reason to look forward to the latter (as a recurring character, Ivan will appear in 3 or more episodes), we have yet to wait for news about Ivan’s involvement and its extent in Season 2 of the former series as his appearances in the first season have had more of a cameo character, given that he is one of the three biggest stars of the show and well in the ascendant again after the pandemic break, yet is not part of the main cast.
Aside from some short films in editing stage that will hopefully been seen somewhere later in 2022, the year has also kicked off with good news about an exciting new feature film project with the working title Send in the Clowns on which we will share more information as soon as possible in our blog articles.
The story of Ivan’s life and career thus is a story of an ever-growing flow of successes. And there is a reason for these successes that transcends mere passion and resolve:
Unlike many actors who get tons of acknowledgment, Ivan is so versatile that he can play pretty much any character in a convincing manner, not just himself or maybe one or two types. His wide array of skills (see below) also allows him to use the full range of powerful facial expressions, body language, and impressive voice modulation – even singing if he is given room.
A unique and remarkable feature of his work that is often overlooked by superficial viewers and critics alike is that Ivan manages to show a whole range of different shades and layers even in marginal characters within very limited screentime and thereby adds considerably to the depth of characterisation.
These are characteristics of the very best actors, true masters of their craft and real artists.
After a Story of Success still a Man of Modesty
Ivan’s stunning success story not only shows that he is a born actor with a high degree of enthusiasm for his work propelling him forward regardless of setbacks. It also shows that he has mastered the daunting task of beating the odds by carving out an impressive career without any formal training, privileged background or prior connections to influential players in the industry.
Ivan has done so by practising and honing his immense talent since his early youth, by learning skills on the job, by using smart strategies to be admitted into the circle of professional actors and by passionately persevering through tough times. He is a shining example for everyone in need of inspiration to follow their passion.
A source of inspiration by nature, Ivan has also chosen a pinned tweet for his Twitter account that radiates not only his sense of humour, but also sends an encouraging, friendly and humorous message to everyone who checks his page:
Despite the high level of intelligence, talent, self-confidence, stamina, and determination that Ivan has proven on his journey and despite recent developments towards international fame, he has remained a kind, modest and down-to-earth man.
He does not take any attention or appreciation for granted and is extremely appreciative of his fans and amazingly approachable on social media. Learn more about it on our sub-page “The Man Behind the Masks”!
Ivan’s many more Talents and Skills
On top of all his loveable qualities (for which go here), Ivan also has a great sense of humour and loves performing comedy. In his late forties this has led to a special project: He founded his own production company Comedy Ink together with actor/writer Douglas McFerran and produced three half-hour comedy episodes and a short film in which Ivan himself and writer Douglas McFerran also starred as main characters (have a look at our Comedy Ink section).
In between his dozens of TV, film and theatre roles over the years Ivan has also worked as a voice artist. His activities on this plane encompass BBC radio dramas (e.g. this one, to listen to the whole drama go here), performing songs in TV series and for commercials, working as a voice artist on several video games like Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011) and also voice-overs for commercials displaying an incredible range of intonations that sometimes make his voice almost unrecognizable (go here for samples).
But Ivan has more skills than acting, singing (highly skilled in Blues and Rock Singing), changing his voice to give it completely different qualities and the sound of over a dozen different accents and dialects, and performing magic shows.
According to his official Spotlight page he also plays the harmonica and guitar, knows some French and Spanish and is highly skilled in sports like archery, darts, martial arts, skiing and snooker and has additional skills like juggling, improvisation and as a croupier.
To learn more about Ivan as a real life person outside of his roles, his behaviour towards his fans and social media followers, some of his interests, hobbies and the causes he supports just visit our sub-page “The Man Behind the Masks”.
Find Ivan on IMDb
Connect with Ivan directly on Twitter
Have a look at Ivan’s Youtube channel
Related pages:
Ivan’s official page on Facebook
Ivan Kaye Fans on Twitter
TeamIvanKaye on Instagram
TeamIvanKaye on Youtube
TeamIvanKaye on Pinterest
Ivan Kaye Interview Sources:
Currently unavailable written interview published online in 2013 by Owen Quinn on his page “The Time Warriors” (expired web address http://www.thetimewarriors.co.uk/blog/?p=17088, page not saved by WaybackMachine).
Facebook page: Owen-Quinn-The-Time-Warriors-and-Beyond
Ivan Kaye on his Role as Ivar the Boneless in Hammer of the Gods (2013)
“Vikings” Interview with Ivan Kaye (2017)
Why “Be Yourself” Can Be Bad Advice: Ivan Kaye Radio Interview with Samantha Meah 2018
Rehearsing with Chairs and Hurting Bottoms: Ivan Kaye on his Theatre Comeback with The Ferryman 2019
Ivan Kaye Source 