Danny Lee Wynter

Danny Wynter (born 25 May 1982), known professionally as Danny Lee Wynter, is an English actor, writer, and activist. He is best known for playing the lead role of Joe in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC films Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary, alongside Sir Michael Gambon and Dame Maggie Smith. He is also recognised for his stage work.

Primarily through an actors perspective, Lee Wynter has written many articles on the topic of diversity, addressing issues of race, class, disability and gender within TV, theatre, art, history, sexuality and mass media. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including The Stage Newspaper, The Huffington Post, The Guardian and The Evening Standard. He is currently a columnist for Attitude (magazine).

He is founder of the campaigning group the Act For Change Project, a charitable organisation which operates from the National Theatre in London.

Biography
Lee Wynter was born in Barking, East London and grew up in a single parent family in Essex. His mother, a train attendant, is of Romany Gypsy and Italian ancestry, and his father, a local businessman, is of Jamaican descent. He is openly gay.

In 2000, Lee Wynter studied performing arts at Middlesex University, where he trained in clown under John Wright, founder of Trestle Theatre Company and As Told By An Idiot. In 2003, he won a place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to train in classical acting. During this period he ushered for five years at The Royal Court theatre. He left the security of this job to make his professional debut in Stephen Poliakoff's 2007 BBC/HBO films Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary.

After receiving acclaim for his performance, Lee Wynter made his stage debut as the Fool to David Calder's King Lear in Dominic Dromgoole's 2008 production for Shakespeare's Globe. His other performances for the company include Henry IV Part I and II opposite Roger Allam and Jamie Parker, filmed for Shakespeare's Globe on Screen, and as a company player Lee Wynter has created roles in new plays, The Frontline by Che Walker, and Bedlam by Nell Leyshon, the first play by a living female writer to be staged at Shakespeare's Globe.

As an actor Lee Wynter has given numerous performances in both leading and supporting roles for theatre companies including The Royal Court, The Royal Exchange Manchester, and Jermyn Street Theatre. In 2013, he was directed by Sir Mark Rylance, as Don John the bastard in Much Ado About Nothing for The Old Vic Theatre Company, opposite Vanessa Redgrave as Beatrice and James Earl Jones as Benedick.

In January 2014, after responding to a trailer for a new season of TV drama which failed to include a single BAME artist, Lee Wynter brought together a group of friends and colleagues, Ruth Wilson, Stephanie Street, Daniel Evans, Andy Pryor, Malcolm Sinclair, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Ony Uhiara to find a way to inspire change in TV drama. Together they wanted to send out the message that TV drama must reflect everyone regardless of race, gender, class, sexual orientation or disability. What started as a small handful of voices soon became the Act for Change project. The organisations first public event was a sold out debate chaired by Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, then of the human rights group, Liberty. Held at London's Young Vic Theatre, the debate was attended by various leading industry figures, including the Head of ITV Drama. Unprecedented public support followed and Act For Change was formed as a way of "drawing attention to the lack of equality that exists within the UK live and recorded arts."

In 2015 The Act For Change Project became a registered charity.

Lee Wynter's other stage work includes the role of Tom Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie for the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, opposite Belinda Lang. Jean Genet's Deathwatch for The Print Room at The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill. And the titular character in John Milton's Comus for the Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe.

Lee Wynter is also known for his screen performances in Hot Fuzz, Trial & Retribution, Luther, Holby City, Episodes, Mr Stink, Zinnie Harris's most recent TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's Partners In Crime and the sketch show Walliams and Friend.

In 2017 he played the role of Tempest in a revival of Alan Bennett's Forty Years On for Chichester Festival Theatre, opposite Richard Wilson. That same year he appeared in Simon Gray’s Cell Mates for Hampstead Theatre.

Stage and film performances

 * Hot Fuzz 2006 (Film)
 * Trial & Retribution 2006 (TV Series)
 * The Changing Room 2006 (Stage Play)
 * Joe's Palace 2007 (Film)
 * Capturing Mary 2007 (Film)
 * The Fall of the House of Usher 2007 (Stage Play)
 * King Lear 2008 (Stage Play)
 * The Frontline 2008 (Stage Play)
 * 4 4.68 2008 (Radio Play)
 * A Doll's House 2008 (Stage Play)
 * Holby City (2009) (TV Series)
 * Certain Young Men 2009 (Stage Play)
 * The Miser 2009 (Stage Play)
 * Gone 2010 (Radio Play)
 * Luther 2010 (TV series)
 * Henry IV Part I 2010 (Stage Play)
 * Henry IV Part II 2010 (Stage Play)
 * Bedlam 2010 (Stage Play)
 * Beat Girl 2012 (Film)
 * St. John's Night 2012 (Stage Play)
 * Mr Stink 2012 (TV Drama)