Leon Dominic Cooke (born 8 August 1991) is an English actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer.
Leon Cooke | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leon Dominic Cooke 8 August 1991 Stoke-on-Trent, UK |
| Years active | 1999 – present |
Early life
editThis section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (November 2023) |
Leon Cooke was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. His parents are Joy and Michael Cooke, a former dancer and dance teacher, respectively. He has seven siblings who are also dancers: Tara, Zena, Cassandra, Damian, Anastasia, Valentina, and Dmitri.
Cooke started training at The Marilyn Jones Dance Centre at the age of two years. He learned ballet, tap, gymnastics, theatre craft, song and dance, and street dance. He was a junior and mid-associate with the Royal Ballet in Birmingham and graduated from the Millennium Performing Arts College.
Career
editThis section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (November 2023) |
Cooke was cast as Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical in September 2005. During his time as Billy Elliot, BBC's Blue Peter followed and filmed Cooke for a day on November 18, 2005.[citation needed] After completing 21 months and 200 shows as Billy, Cooke left the cast on July 7, 2007.[citation needed]
Between December 2008 and February 2009, he appeared as Tadzio in the English National Opera's production of Death in Venice at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and two shows at the Grande Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg.[citation needed] Cook appeared as Quaxo and Mr. Mistoffelees in the musical Cats at Jersey (Fort Regent) and Guernsey (Beau Sejour) in 2009.[citation needed]
In March 2010, he returned to the stage of the Victoria Palace Theatre to take part in a specially choreographed finale to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical opening in the West End.[1] He completed the United Kingdom's second tour of We Will Rock You directed by Ben Elton.[citation needed] Cooke made his Chichester Festival debut as Wilton in Barnum, returning the following year to perform in Amadeus.[citation needed]
He has performed in the musical Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre and as part of the West End Live cast in Trafalgar Square, London. He performed in Mamma Mia at its new venue, the Novello Theatre.[citation needed] Between 2014 and 2015, Cooke was cast in Miss Saigon in the West End. He worked with the National Theatre in their production of the musical Wonder.land, playing the role of Dee.[citation needed] His workshops with the National Theatre include Helen by Euripides (2016, Paris) and The Threepenny Opera (2016).[2]
Choreography
editLeon Cooke choreographed the Songtime Theatre Arts Billy Youth Theatre's production at the Richmond Theatre in 2010.[citation needed] He was an assistant choreographer for the BBC 2 series Our Dancing Town which aired in January 2017.[3]
Television
editWhile in Billy Elliot the Musical, Cooke appeared on Blue Peter, Ready Steady Cook, the Paul O'Grady Show, Happy Birthday Bafta, and as a guest performer on Any Dream Will Do.[citation needed] He also performed with the cast on Sunday Night at the Palladium for their tenth anniversary. Cooke appeared in Series 3 of Sky One's Got to Dance, where he gained three gold stars for a tap routine that was described by Adam Garcia as "awesome".[citation needed]
He performed at the Royal Variety Performance, the Olivier Awards 2015, and the Olivier Awards in 2016.[4][5][6] In March 2016, Cooke returned to the Mamma Mia cast for a one-off television performance on ITV's Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.[citation needed] In 2019, he performed on television for the D-Day 75th Anniversary commemorations in front of veterans and world leaders.[7]
Commercials
editCooke had featured roles in commercials for Gap, Old Navy, and McDonald's in 2015.[8] In 2019, he had a featured role in a commercial for Nestle. He also made commercials for the Disney Channel and Colgate.[citation needed]
Credits
editTheater
edit- 1999 – The Nutcracker, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome[citation needed]
- 2001 – The Nutcracker, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome[citation needed]
- 2002–2003 – Aladdin[citation needed]
- 2002 – Tosca, UK National Tour[citation needed]
- 2003 – The King and I, UK National Tour[citation needed]
- 2003–2004 – John Darling in Peter Pan[citation needed]
- 2005–2007 – Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical, West End[citation needed]
- 2009 – Tadzio in Death in Venice, English National Opera in Belgium and Luxembourg[citation needed]
- 2009 – Mr Mistoffelees in Cats, Channel Islands[citation needed]
- 2010–2012 – Cliff Richard and Rebel Leader Cover in We Will Rock You, 2nd UK National and International Tour[citation needed]
- 2012 – Pepper and 1st Cover/Ensemble in Mamma Mia, West End[citation needed]
- 2013 – Wilton in Barnum, Chichester Festival Theatre[citation needed]
- 2014 – Ensemble, Amadeus, Chichester Festival Theatre[citation needed]
- 2014–2015 – acrobat/ensemble, Miss Saigon, West End[citation needed]
- 2015 – Daniel Pontipee in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Regents Park Open Air Theatre[citation needed]
- 2015–2016 – Dee in Wonder.land, Royal National Theatre[citation needed]
- 2017 – Ensemble/Swing, On the Town, Regents Park Open Air Theatre[9]
Film
edit- Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014)[2]
- Prison Inmate in Paddington 2 (2016)[2]
- Leerie in Mary Poppins Returns (2016-2017)[2]
- Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2017)[2]
- Hugh in Rocketman (2019)[2]
- Axia Restaurant Bartender in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)[2]
References
edit- ^ "Elton still 'blown away' by Billy Elliot". BBC News. 1 April 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Leon Cooke, Actor, London". Mandy. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ "Our Dancing Town - Clips". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ "The Home of London Theatre". officiallondontheatre.co.uk.
- ^ "West End Frame: Review: Seven Brides For Seven Brothers at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre". westendframe.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2015.
- ^ "REVIEW: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ✭✭✭". britishtheatre.com. 6 August 2015.
- ^ "In pictures: D-Day 75th anniversary commemorations". CNN. 6 June 2019.
- ^ "Meet Billy Elliot: Leon Cooke". BETM. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- ^ "On the Town". openairtheatre.com.