William Hope (actor)

William "Bill" Hope (born 1955) is a Canadian stage, film, television and voice actor.

Career

Most of Hope's stage work has been leading roles in a wide variety of regional, touring and West End theatres in England.

Early on, he turned down a major role in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket for a lead role in James Cameron's Aliens (1986) as Lt. Gorman, for which he began to receive recognition.^[1] Soon after he appeared as Kyle MacRae in the horror film Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988), the sequel to Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987).

After Hellbound, Hope went on to a number of theatrical films while working a lot on stage and in radio drama. Seen in parts in Shining Through (1992) and The Saint (1997), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) and xXx (2002). He co-starred in two Wesley Snipes' action epics The Marksman (2005) and The Detonator (2006) and as the villain in Steven Seagal's action movie Submerged (2005).

Recently seen on TV as Harry Ramos in the award winning TV docudrama 9/11: The Twin Towers (2007), and as the President of Lehman Brothers in The Last Days of Lehman Brothers (2009) starring James Cromwell, in theatrical releases he has been seen opposite Woody Harrelson in The Walker (2007), Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes (2009),^[2] and The Whistleblower (2010) with Rachel Weisz and Legacy with Idris Elba. His most recent television work included playing Matt LeBlanc's agent in Episodes (2011). He was also in Luc Besson's The Lady (2012) about the life of Aung San Suu Kyi and in 2011 he guest-starred in the BBC's final series of Spooks (2002) and alongside Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (2012).

Since 2009, he has been heard as many of the voices of the Thomas & Friends children's TV and DVD series. He also returned to the horror genre, working in the Solar Film's experimental Dark Floors, released in Europe in 2008. He is regularly heard on BBC Radio and is part of the BBC "Broken News" cast. He appeared in a book tour with Tim Parfitt, his brother-in-law.^[3]

Filmography

Self

• Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (2007) - Charles Wilbour
• Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens (2003) (V) - Himself
• McLibel (1998) - Guardian Newspaper Representative

Video games

• Hitman: Blood Money (2006) (VG) (voice) - Guard At Metal Detector (uncredited)
• Kameo: Elements of Power (2005) (VG) (voice) - Halis (as Bill Hope)
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2005) (VG) (voice) - Ultimate Carnage Vocal-Effects (uncredited)
• Aliens vs Predator (2010) (VG) (voice) - Dr. Groves/Predator/Alien
• Driver: San Francisco (2012) (VG) (voice) -
• Alien Isolation (2014) (VG) (voice) - Marshal Waits

References

External links

• William Hope at the Internet Movie Database
• William Hope at Flixster
• William Hope at TV Guide
• William Hope at Fandango
• William Hope films at New York Times