Quick Facts
Biography
Kerry Shale (born June 17, 1958) is a Canadian-born actor, voice actor and writer based in the UK. He is married to Suzanne Shale, a former Oxford University law don, now a specialist in the field of medical ethics.
Career
Theatre
Shale's extensive work for the stage includes six solo shows (five of which he wrote) which he performed in Edinburgh, London, Berlin, Sydney, Cape Town and New York City. Other theatre credits include His Girl Friday at the National Theatre, Aunt Dan and Lemon at the Almeida, Lion In The Streets at Hampstead Theatre, True West for Shared Experience, Henry V at the Bristol Old Vic, The Normal Heart at the Royal Court and in the West End, The Exonerated at the Riverside Studios and Frost/Nixon at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End. In 2011, Shale appeared in the Royal Exchange Theatre production of C P Taylor's Good. In 2012, he appeared in Are We Nearly There Yet? at Wilton's Music Hall in London's East End. In 2013 and again in 2014, he co-wrote and appeared in the verbatim play Listen, We're Family at JW3 and Wilton's Music Hall. In 2015, he adapted and performed the title role in The 2000 Year Old Man by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.
Television
Most recently: New Blood, Undercover, New Tricks, Mr Selfridge. Other television acting work includes Red Dwarf (Series X) and Life's Too Short. Also Doctor Who (2011), The Trip (2010), 10 Days To War (2008), Holby City and Not Going Out (2007), Gideon's Daughter (2006) and Love Soup (2005), as well as episodes of Cracker, Joking Apart, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sharpe's Rifles, The Tomorrow People and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Animation
Shale went on to voice characters in several animated television series including Dennis the Menace, Budgie the Little Helicopter, Captain Star, and Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop. Shale has voiced the US versions of many popular UK series, including Roary the Racing Car. His latest animation series is the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning The Amazing World of Gumball for The Cartoon Network (UK and US).
Shale is a regular cast member of Thomas & Friends, providing voices for Henry, Gordon, Scruff, Harold, Kevin, Mr. Percival and Farmer Trotter in the US and Diesel, 'Arry and Max in the US and UK.
In 2015, Shale voiced Lonnie in Hotel Transylvania 2.
Film
Shale's film appearances include Barbra Streisand's Yentl, Michael Winterbottom's films Genova, Code 46, Jude and Welcome To Sarajevo, the Emmy-winning HBO film RKO 281 as well as 102 Dalmatians, Max, Little Shop of Horrors. He played a leading role in Universal Soldier: Regeneration and a supporting role in the HBO/BBC film The Special Relationship. In 2014, he played Harry S Truman in the Swedish feature The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. He also featured in UK rom-com Hello Carter. 2015 feature films include Moonwalkers, Narcopolis and Blood Moon, as well as the short film Incognito. 2016 films include Final Portrait, directed by Stanley Tucci.
Radio
Shale has acted in over 200 BBC radio plays, recorded Bill Bryson's travel books on the radio and as audiobooks, has won a Sony Award as Best UK Radio Actor and a Writers' Guild Award for his radio dramatisation of Dr Strangelove in which he also played half a dozen roles. From 2002 - 2004, he wrote and presented Kerry Shale's Listy Show, an eclectic music program on Oneword Radio. He has often been the reader for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.
Writing
In addition to writing five one-man stage plays and a number of radio adaptations, Shale has written columns, reviews and sketches for BBC Radio, articles for The Guardian and The Word and a BAFTA-nominated video game Dog's Life. His play The Prince of West End Lane was given a staged reading at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Video games
Shale's many video game voice credits include the leading role of Rufus in all four installments of Deponia plus Just Cause 2, Driver: San Francisco, Blood Stone, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider Chronicles, Dog's Life, Original War, Big Mutha Truckers, Killzone, Fable, Space Channel 5: Part 2, Blade II, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Vietcong, Vietcong 2, Vietcong: Fist Alpha, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, Urban Chaos, The Movies, Imperium Galactica II: Alliances, The Witcher, Battalion Wars, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse, Batman: Arkham Knight and Blues and Bullets. According to The Guinness Book of World Records - Gamers' Edition, Shale has provided more voices for a single video game (Dog's Life) than any other actor.
Narration
He has narrated many television documentaries for the US and UK, including 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz and Shadows of Liberty. Shale's many audio books include the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child as well as Life of Pi (Reader of the Year, APA Awards), Slumdog Millionaire (Audie Award Winner, Best Male Reader), and The White Tiger, winner of the Man Booker prize.
Other work
In 2005, he began appearing on the panel of BBC programmes such as Newsnight Review, The Review Show and Radio 4's Saturday Review. He was one of the organizers (and MC) of the monthly London story-telling evening, True Stories Told Live. He was a member of the comedy Improv group People People.