Paul Kaye

Paul Kaye's career is a masterclass in reinvention. He first detonated onto British television in the 1990s as Dennis Pennis, a fanged, peroxide-blond interviewer whose sole mission was to ask celebrities brutally inappropriate questions. It was a punk-rock performance art piece that made him infamous. But Kaye, a trained actor from the Central School of Speech and Drama, had far more range. He shed the Pennis persona to dive into deeply felt, often eccentric character work. His breakthrough dramatic role came as the disheveled, fire-wielding priest Thoros of Myr in 'Game of Thrones', a performance of weary gravitas that introduced him to a global audience. Since then, he has consistently surprised, moving from the sinister Vinculus in 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' to poignant turns in Ricky Gervais's 'After Life'. Kaye's journey proves that the sharpest comic minds often harbor a profound capacity for drama.