• Shaun Dooley is a British actor and narrator known for his roles in The Witcher, Coronation Street, EastEnders, and other films and series.
• He studied at Arden School of Theatre in Manchester in 1995 and debuted in a short film in 1997.
• Shaun is also a narrator on British television and a patron of the Pink Ribbon Foundation and Pippa Jones Little Treasure Trust.
• He and his wife Polly Cameron organized a charity event entitled “Got It Covered” in 2019.
• His net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.
Contents
Shaun Dooley is a famous British actor, who appeared in “The Witcher” series in the role of King Foltest in 2019. He is also well-known for being the narrator of numerous BBC documentaries, as well as acting in multiple TV series and films.
Early life and family
Shaun Dooley was born 30 March 1974, in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, so holds British nationality and his zodiac sign is Aries. His parents’ names are Ann and Denis Dooley, to whom Shaun is the oldest child – he has two younger sisters, Stephanie Ann and Kimberly, who are both actresses. Shaun once shared in his interview to the Huffington Post that he had a very close relationship with his father – his father’s words once changed his whole life, when he was sixteen years old, failing his exams to become a vet.
When Shaun understood he was not going to enter any veterinarian college, his theatre group teacher at school advised Shaun to become an actor, and he went to his father to ask what he thought about that. Shaun’s father, who was an experienced miner, told him: ‘You’re going to be unemployed whatever you do, so you might as well be unemployed chasing the dream’, so Shaun went for acting.
Educational background
Shaun matriculated from his local high school in Yorkshire in 1992, and then studied at Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, from which he graduated in 1995.
Career
Acting career
Shaun debuted in the short film “Groove on a Stanley Knife” (1997), then he appeared in the very long-running British soap opera “Coronation Street” in the role of Ritchie Fitzgerald from 1997 to 1998. From 2001 to 2004 he made several appearances in another popular ‘soapie’ “EastEnders”, landing the role of Tom Stuart, a vicar in the Walford parish. However, in 2004 Shaun was replaced in his role of Tom, as he was busy with his filming in “The Street” series in the role of Peter Harper. He also appeared in “P.O.W.”, “Dalziel and Pascoe” and “Peak Practice”.
In 2005 Shaun appeared in more than six series, among them “Murphy’s Law”, “Vincent”, “The Ghost Squad” and “New Tricks”, landing episodic roles.
Shaun played Trevor Rees Jones in “Diana: Last Days of a Princess” (2007), and in 2010 Darren Paige in an episode of “Inspector George Gently” (2007 – 2017). Shaun can also be seen in “The Woman in Black”, a horror movie with Daniel Radcliffe. He also appeared in “The White Queen” (2013), “Hoff the Record” (2015 – present) and “Cuffs” (2015), a mini-series, in which Shaun landed the role of DC Carl Hawkins. Among his latest roles there are such series and movies as “Gunpowder” (2017), in which Shaun portrays Sir William Wade, “Official Secrets” (2019) as John, and “The Corrupted” (2019), in which Shaun plays Eamonn McDonagh.
Shaun Dooley is one of the most demanded narrators on British television
Shaun has vast experience in voice-overs too, and is one of the most in-demand narrators.
In 2012 he was a narrator in BBC’s “Our War”, a documentary about the war in Afghanistan, as seen by the soldier of the British Army. In October 2012 he narrated the story of Felix Baumgartner, who broke the skydiving record, when the BBC made a documentary entitled “Space Dive” about that. He has also narrated in such TV series as “Richard III: The Princes in the Tower” (2015), launched by Channel 4; “SAS: Who Dares Wins” (2015) and “The Force”, which follows the daily routine of Greater Manchester Police officers. He was also the narrator for “American Justice”, the series launched by BBC Two, and another project of the company, “Surgeons: At the Edge of Life”. In 2018 ITV released a documentary about the terrorist attacks in 2017, and Shaun was a narrator for this, which was entitled “Four Days That Shook Britain”.
In 2019 Shaun worked on the documentary “Railroad Australia”, launched by Quest, narrating the stories of Australian drivers and engineers of tourist and freight trains. He also narrated Guy Martin’s “D-Day Landing”.
King Foltest in “The Witcher”
In 2019 Shaun appeared in the role of King Foltest in “The Witcher”, the new series launched by “Netflix”, based on the book series of the Polish fantasy writer, Andrzej Sapkowski. According to the plot, King Foltest was in love with his own younger sister, Adda, and the latter got pregnant from Foltest. Their child was cursed in the womb, so Adda gave birth to a striga. Geralt claimed he could rescue the girl and turn her back to a human. Foltest agreed, and the witcher succeeded. King Foltest appears in two episodes of the show, “Betrayer Moon” and “Much More”.
As one of the most influential sovereigns, Foltest will take part in the war between the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaard, so we’re going to see Shaun in the second season of the show in 2021.
Personal life, wife Polly Cameron Dooley
Shaun married his long-term girlfriend Polly Cameron in January 1999. Polly is a casting director, producer, and the granddaughter of Joss Ackland, the actor famous for his roles in “The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It” (1977), “The Man Who Lived at the Ritz” (1998) and “Above and Beyond” (2006). Polly and Shaun have four children, son Jack, and three daughters, Millie, Naomi and Bea. Millie, the eldest of the Dooleys daughter, has survived meningitis twice, and is now an ambassador for Meningitis Research Foundation, raising awareness of the disease. In his interview to Huffington Post, Shaun shared that he felt happiest when he was with his wife and the kids.
He told they like spending holidays without any outside interference. They also like travelling around England and Europe, exploring new places and being tourists in their own country. As they have a large family of six, they rarely stay in the hotels, as it would be very expensive for them (according to Shaun’s words), so they prefer to sleep in the tent, cook on an open fire, and enjoy their off-line time with no ‘phones or wifi signal. They also like going to the sea, or swimming in the pool when it is warm enough. Shaun shared he would never change anything in his life: ‘The mistakes I made, everything I went through, brought me here to my beautiful wife and kids, so I honestly wouldn’t change a thing’, he reflects, appreciating the life he has now.
Charity
Shaun Dooley is a patron of the Pink Ribbon foundation, which raises awareness and helps people and families who suffer from breast cancer. Though Shaun mentioned that there was no breast cancer in his family, he had seven women around him: his mother, two sisters, three daughters and a wife, so he knows that this topic was quite important. Shaun is also a patron of the Pippa Jones Little Treasure Trust.
BBC Children in Need
In 2019 Shaun and Polly organized a charity event entitled “Got It Covered”. They invited such celebrities as Helena Bonham Carter, Luke Evans, Suranne Jones and many others, to record covers of popular songs, and to pass all the money raised from sales to charity, particularly to BBC’s project “Children in Need”. Shaun also recorded a cover for the album, Taylor Swift’s “Never Grow Up”. Taylor came to England to support Shaun during the recording process, which was a surprise for him.
Ha!!! Didn’t really throw them at our wonderful costume designer sharon Gilham. But maybe I should have done!! ????? ? https://t.co/B6X8jAKPO3
— Shaun Dooley (@shaundooley) March 4, 2020
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
Shaun likes football (soccer) very much and attends all home games of Barnsley FC. Shaun shared he would love to see the film he wrote to be made, a novel he wrote to be successfully published, and the song he wrote to be played once on the radio. Shaun believes that when a person dies, s/he goes on living with their loved ones.
Appearance
Shaun has light brown hair and blue eyes. He is 6ft (1.83m) tall and weighs around 190lbs (87kgs). He sometimes wears glasses.
Net worth and salary
As of 2020, Shaun’s net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.
