Ray Fearon

Raymond "Ray" Fearon is an actor who has worked extensively in theatre, and is known for playing garage mechanic Nathan Harding on ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

Early life

Fearon was born in London, England, the son of West Indian parents, with 7 brothers and sisters. He was a promising junior tennis player in his early teens.

Career

Theatre

After studying drama at Rose Bruford College of speech and drama, Fearon went on to make his reputation as a stage actor, working at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre; Manchester Contact Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; Oxford Playhouse; Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield; The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre. He has also toured in the United States and Europe and the Far East.

He starred in Othello — opposite Gillian Kearney's Desdemona — in Liverpool at the age of 24, becoming the first black actor to play Othello on RSC main stages for over 40 years. His other early stage roles included Charles Surface in The School for Scandal; Betty/Martin in Cloud Nine; Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost; Ferdinand in The Tempest; and Pete in Blues for Mr Charlie.