Derek Lawson

A native of the North East of England, I started acting at my local theatre group in Sunderland, after which I made my way to London. In the early 1980’s, I moved on to the USA and studied with the acclaimed improvisation tutor, Viola Spolin. I appeared in many film and television productions. I was seen at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. During 2013 I worked in the USA where I was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award at the 2013 Filmed in Utah awards for my portrayal of Frank Sarvis in the Amazon Prime TV series ‘Day Zero’. I am featured using one of the many accents in my repertoire in the First Bank of Israel advert as Dada that was made in 2018 and that can be seen in my portfolio. Recently I was featured in the 2019 North European Film Festival Best Short Film award winner, Car Pool Poker as Car Sick Sam.
I made my London debut as a Director with Educating Rita (Willy Russell) and followed that up with Middle Aged Spread (Roger Hall) and Anton Chekov’s, The Proposal.
Additionally, I have written three full-length plays, Run For Home and Bad Moon Rising, which are adaptations of books by crime novelist, Sheila Quigley and Snatched From Home based on a novel by Graham Smith. All were produced at Houghton Feast and the Greater Manchester Fringe Festivals. My first radio play, Murder Mystery Murder was produced and recorded in February 2015.