Adam Brinley Woodyatt (born 28 June 1968) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Ian Beale in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role he has portrayed since the show's inception in 1985.[1]
Aged 13, Woodyatt appeared on stage at the National Theatre in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle.[5] Following the completion of his studies at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Woodyatt appeared in the BBC's children's drama series The Baker Street Boys and the ITV fantasy series The Witches and the Grinnygog, both airing in 1983. He then put his acting career on hiatus and worked as a butcher in Wales for a brief period, before joining the cast of BBC soap opera EastEnders. Not expecting to stay much beyond the first year,[6] Woodyatt has become the longest-serving male cast member in EastEnders. In 2013, his longevity was honoured at The British Soap Awards, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his portrayal of Ian Beale.[7]
Woodyatt has also appeared as a guest personality on several BBC game shows and charity fundraisers, including A Question of Sport, Robot Wars (winning the show's Celebrity Special with the robot Pussycat) and Children in Need. In 2015, Woodyatt played the henchman of the Wicked Queen in a pantomime production of Snow White at Swindon's Wyvern Theatre. Speaking about joining the production, Woodyatt commented: "I absolutely love performing in front of an audience as it's so different to camera – I love the reaction of the audience. I am very much looking forward to spending the Christmas season at the Wyvern Theatre, which I know has a reputation for staging outstanding pantomimes."[8]
On 24 April 2015, the comedy singer Gavin Osborn released a song titled "Adam Woodyatt", with the lines "Imagine how it feels, being Ian Beale".[9] In 2019, he appeared on Celebrity Masterchef.[10]
In August 2020, it was announced Woodyatt would be taking an "extended break" from appearing in EastEnders.[11] In 2022, he made a brief return for the funeral of Dot Branning (June Brown).[12] He returned on a permanent basis in August 2023, alongside the character's wife Cindy Beale who was supposedly killed off 25 years prior.[13]
Woodyatt is also a photographer, a hobby he took up while performing On The Razzle at the National Theatre when he was 13 years old.[15]
In 2008, he won the Architectural Photographer of the Year Award of The Societies of Photographers with a picture he took at St Pancras, where he was filming EastEnders.[16]
Personal life
On 8 April 1998, Woodyatt married dancer Beverley Sharp in a private ceremony at Disney World, Florida.[17] The couple have two children. For many years, the family lived in Southam, Warwickshire, some 72 miles northwest of the BBC Elstree Studios in south Hertfordshire, where EastEnders is recorded. On 21 August 2020, it was revealed that Woodyatt had decided to separate from Sharp the previous year, after more than twenty years of marriage.[18] Woodyatt is a supporter of Liverpool F.C.[19] and has been described by Digital Spy as a "huge sci-fi fanatic".[20]
Charity
Inspired by his father's death from cancer aged 58, Woodyatt has helped raise money for various cancer research initiatives, and broke his collarbone in June 2003 whilst training for a charity bicycle ride.[21]
Woodyatt was also involved in launching an Aid for Haiti event at Coventry's Ricoh Arena in February 2010, with many of his actor colleagues posing for photographs, signing autographs, and providing items for an auction, which raised £30,000. Woodyatt is also a supporter of Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance[22] and an Ambassador for the Children's Air Ambulance.[23]
In January 2019, it was announced that he would be running the London Marathon with some of his EastEnders co-stars for a Dementia campaign in honour of former Eastenders actress Barbara Windsor.[24]
