The story of Chris..
..Began whilst being brought up mainly by my maternal Grandparents. Both coming from diverse ancestral backgrounds, I came to develop a great appreciation for our family and for values held in high regard at the time of my Grandparent’s upbringing in pre-war Europe. My time with Grandma and Grandad took place in many and varied locations ranging from Australia to the UK, central Europe and East Africa (the latter, where Grandad had been posted by the British government).
I should probably mention that, as an only child, I spent almost all of my non-school time in the company of people 60 years older than me, meaning that the traditional aspects of childhood imagination and creativity were spent alone. But when one is with energetic imagination, one is never quite alone. In addition, whenever Grandma and Grandad weren’t around, sometimes substitution was required (generally a strong female character - like Grandma).
During our time together, I gained a great appreciation for the talents of many ‘great’ actors and actresses such as Sir John Gielgud, Sir John Mills, Lord Olivier, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Joan Plowright, Dame Judi Dench etc I think you all get the idea. So here we have examples of the kind of talent I shall strive for the rest of my life to try and equal. (Impossible I know, but it gives me an aim).
The other two primary influences were spending time at the local theatre, owned and run by my two great uncles and then ofcourse, there was my secondary school.
I attended a secondary school (the primary school of which I had also attended for the previous three years), with a great emphasis toward the arts. Being a little performer with an affinity with older people, I had every intention of making the best possible use of the facilities on offer, both theatrical and musical.
And so taking part in all plays (straight and musical), available to me was the key to me deciding that as an actor waiting for work as I would no doubt be, teaching with passion and excitement, the performing arts that had brought me so much pleasure, development and understanding seemed the only path to take.