John Hollingworth (born 21 August 1981) is an English actor from Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire.
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Early life and education
Hollingworth was raised in Oxenhope, Keighley, by his mother Jane. He studied at Bradford Grammar School, and Trinity College, Dublin. While at Bradford Grammar School he played rugby for Yorkshire Schoolboys, and played in the same team as future England and British and Irish Lions international Charlie Hodgson, before injury forced Hollingworth to hang up his boots and become an actor. He trained as an actor at RADA.
Stage roles
Hollingworth won early roles in National Youth Theatre productions of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Threepenny Opera and The Master and Margarita opposite Matt Smith.
He has worked extensively on stage, which include leading roles in Making Noise Quietly, Our Country's Good, An Intervention and Earthquakes in London. In 2011, he starred opposite Maxine Peake in The Deep Blue Sea at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Some of his other theatre credits include Women, Power and Politics at the Tricycle theatre, For King and Country at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, The Playboy of the Western World at the Nuffield Theatre (Southampton), Ignition 2 at the Royal Court Upstairs, The Power of Yes at the National Theatre, Design for Living at the Old Vic and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at the Hampstead Theatre.
His portrayal of Nick Clegg at the Tricycle Theatre caught the attention of fellow Keighley born Alastair Campbell. In 2017 he appeared in Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy of plays The Norman Conquests at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Hollingworth was Offie-nominated for his role in The Sugar Syndrome at the Orange Tree Theatre in 2020. He performed in Trouble In Mind at The National Theatre in 2021/2022. He played Antony in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra at The Globe Theatre in 2024. The production won an award at the UK Theatre Awards in November 2024. He went on to play the lead in the new Richard Bean play Reykjavik, returning to the Hampstead Theatre in November 2024.
Radio roles
Hollingworth was runner-up in the BBC SoundStart Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award in 2008.
He appeared with Damian Lewis in series four and five of the BBC Radio 4 drama series Number 10. Other work for Radio 4 includes the comedies Deadheading and Modesty Blaise, both of which have 5 episodes each. He has often played multiple characters in the same production.
Other work
Hollingworth plays the band manager in the music video for The Futureheads' single "Walking Backwards". An award-winning student journalist, he has written occasional pieces about acting. His short plays have been performed in London at the Arcola, Soho Theatre and Tristan Bates Theatre. His first full-length play Multitudes which is set in the City of Bradford, was performed at the Tricycle Theatre in February 2015, directed by artistic director Indhu Rubasingham. In 2018, Hollingworth wrote Songs for the Seven Hills for Sheffield Theatres for their community company The Sheffield People's Theatre.
