Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox (born 5 April 1989) is an English actor. His screen career highlights include roles as singer Marilyn in the BBC’s Boy George biopic Worried About the Boy (2010), King Louis XIII in The Three Musketeers (2011), Edwin Drood in the BBC’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012), and Freddie Baxter in the television series Cucumber (2015) and Banana (2015).
His many notable theatre credits include starring as Oscar Wilde’s young lover Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in The Judas Kiss (2012–2013), opposite Rupert Everett, at London’s Hampstead Theatre plus a UK tour and West End transfer.
In 2016 he won third prize at the Ian Charleson Awards, for his 2015 performance as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Sheffield Crucible. His proficiency with the role led him to be called into service again as Romeo, this time opposite Lily James in Kenneth Branagh’s 2016 production at the Garrick Theatre, when the existing Romeo and his understudy were both injured. Fox took over the role on 26 July and performed it till the end of the play’s run on 13 August 2016.
Early life
Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox was born in Hammersmith, London. Fox comes from a thespian family: his mother is actress Joanna David (née Joanna Elizabeth Hacking) and his father is actor Edward Fox. His uncle is James Fox and his cousins Jack, Laurence and Lydia also have successful acting careers. His elder sister is the actress Emilia Fox.
Fox was surrounded by actors and writers from a young age. His godfather was the barrister and writer John Mortimer, whom Fox described as “an incredible raconteur”. He has also known actor Charles Dance since childhood through his father, and Dance described young Fox as being already “vocally like his father” aged 10. Other acting influences include his godfather John Castle, and the actors Maggie Smith and Phyllida Law.
Education
From 1994 to 2002, Fox was educated at Arnold House School, a preparatory school for boys in the St John’s Wood area of London, followed by Bryanston School. He then attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, from which he graduated in 2010. He appeared in St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold and Agatha Christie’s Marple before he left drama school.
Personal life
While promoting the Channel 4 comedy Cucumber in 2015, Fox said that he does not wish to define his sexuality, adding “I’ve had girlfriends, but I wouldn’t wish to say ‘I am this or I am that’, because at some time in my life I might fall in love with a man.” He also expressed that bisexuality is often misunderstood, and that people can have meaningful relationships “no matter what sex they are.” In a later interview he drew back from those remarks, saying “my life… is my own business”, while adding “I think as an actor you’ve got to try to preserve some of your mystery so that there’s still an element of surprise about where characters come from.”
His political views are not known, although in 2010 he joked “no one with a bad tie is getting my vote. Some Lib Dems wear the most shockingly awful ties.” His cousin Laurence Fox has become well known for his beliefs (and the foundation of the conservative Reclaim party). Though Freddie said “I neither want to take sides nor reopen a debate that’s already happened”, he did acknowledge that “as a white man with a public school education, I am a product of white male privilege”.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold | Head Boy | |
| 2011 | The Three Musketeers | King Louis XIII | |
| 2014 | The Riot Club | James Leighton-Masters | |
| Pride | Jeff Cole | ||
| 2015 | Victor Frankenstein | Finnegan | |
| 2017 | King Arthur: Legend of the Sword | Rubio | |
| 2018 | Black ’47 | Pope | |
| 2019 | Fanny Lye Deliver’d | Thomas Ashbury |
Television
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? | Tom Savage | TV film |
| 2010 | Worried About the Boy | Marilyn | TV film |
| Any Human Heart | Peter Scabius | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| This September | Guy Wells | TV series (1 episode: “Family Secret”) | |
| 2011 | The Shadow Line | Ratallack | TV series (4 episodes) |
| 2012 | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Edwin Drood | Two-part TV drama |
| Lewis | Sebastian Dromgoole | 1 episode: “Generation of Vipers” | |
| Parade’s End | Edward Wannop | TV series | |
| 2013 | Words of Everest | Sandy Irvine | Documentary |
| 2015 | Cucumber | Freddie Baxter | TV series |
| Banana | Freddie Baxter | TV series | |
| 2017–present | Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! | Dennis the Menace (voice) | TV series |
| 2017 | Joe Orton Laid Bare | Mr Sloane | BBC2 TV docudrama |
| Saturday Mash-Up! | Himself | 1 episode | |
| 2018 | Watership Down | Captain Holly (voice) | Miniseries |
| 2019 | Year of the Rabbit | Strauss | TV series (6 episodes) |
| 2019 | The Importance of Being Oscar | Various (incl. Lord Goring, Dorian Grey) | TV film |
| 2020 | White House Farm | Jeremy Bamber | TV series (6 episodes) |
| McDonald & Dodds | Miles Stevens | TV series (Series 1, Episode 2) | |
| The Great | King Hugo | Miniseries (Series 1, Episode 8) | |
| The Crown | Mark Thatcher | TV series (Series 4, episode 4) | |
| TBA | The Pursuit of Love | Tony Kroesig | Upcoming series |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Playwright | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | A Flea in Her Ear | Camille | Richard Eyre | Georges Feydeau | Old Vic |
| Cause Célèbre | Tony Davenport | Thea Sharrock | Terence Rattigan | Old Vic | |
| 2012 | Hay Fever | Simon Bliss | Howard Davies | Noël Coward | Noël Coward Theatre |
| 2012–2013 | The Judas Kiss | Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas | Neil Armfield | David Hare | Hampstead Theatre UK tour Duke of York’s Theatre |
| 2015 | Romeo and Juliet | Romeo Montague | Jonathan Humphreys | William Shakespeare | Crucible Theatre |
| 2016 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Nick Bottom / Demetrius | Simon Evans | William Shakespeare | Southwark Playhouse |
| Romeo and Juliet | Romeo Montague (replacement) | Kenneth Branagh | William Shakespeare | Garrick Theatre | |
| Travesties | Tristan Tzara | Patrick Marber | Tom Stoppard | Menier Chocolate Factory | |
| 2018 | An Ideal Husband | Lord Goring | Jonathan Church | Oscar Wilde | Vaudeville Theatre |
| 2019 | Edmond de Bergerac | Edmond Rostand | Roxana Silbert | Alexis Michalik | Birmingham Repertory TheatreUK tour |
Radio
Fox appeared as Nathaniel in the BBC Radio 3 drama As Innocent As You Can Get (2016) by Rex Obano, and as Lord Byron in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Boswell’s Life of Byron (2018) by Jon Canter.