David Suchet

Early life and family David Suchet was born on 2 May 1946 in the Paddington area of London, the son of Jack Suchet and his wife Joan Patricia (; 1916–1992), an actress. Jack emigrated from South Africa to England in 1932, trained to be a physician at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, in 1933, and became an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Suchet's father was of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, the son of Izidor Suchedowitz, originally from Kretinga in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. At some point, the family name was recorded as "Schohet", a Yiddish word, from Hebrew shohet, defining the profession of kosher butcher. Suchet's father changed his surname to Suchet while living in South Africa. David's mother was born in England and was Anglican. She was of Russian-Jewish descent on her father's side, and English Anglican on her mother's side.

Suchet and his brothers, John and Peter, attended Grenham House boarding school in Birchington-on-Sea, Kent. Then, after attending another independent school, Wellington School in Somerset, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 16. He trained and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where he later became a vice president, retiring in 2018.

Career

Theatre Suchet began his acting career at the Gateway Theatre, Chester in 1969. He then appeared in many reps, including Worthing, Birmingham, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Liverpool Playhouse, and the Watermill Theatre. In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. From 1981 to 1982, he played Bolingbroke in Richard II opposite Alan Howard. In 1993 he played "John" in the drama Oleanna at the Royal Court Theatre. It was directed by Harold Pinter, and co-starred Lia Williams as "Carol".

He made his West End debut opposite Saskia Reeves in the Kempinski play Separation, at the Comedy Theatre in 1987. From 1996 to 1997 he played opposite Dame Diana Rigg in the West End production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was featured as Salieri from 1998 to 2000 in the Broadway production Amadeus. In 2007, at the Chichester Festival Theatre, he played Cardinal Benelli in The Last Confession, about the death of Pope John Paul I. In 2014, he reprised the role of Benelli in the Australian tour of the play.

He has been starring as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde at the Vaudeville Theatre in London since June 2015 and on tour. In January 2022, Suchet had a three-week residency at the Harold Pinter Theatre performing Poirot and More, A Retrospective.

Television and film In 1985, he played Inspector Japp in the Hercule Poirot television film Thirteen at Dinner, which starred Peter Ustinov as the main character that Suchet later played from 1989 to 2013 in the Agatha Christie's Poirot television series.

In 1985, Suchet played Blott in Blott on the Landscape.

In 1988, Suchet played Leopold Bloom in the Channel 4 documentary The Modern World: Ten Great Writers, in which some of James Joyce's Ulysses was dramatised. The same year, Suchet appeared as scheming adulterer Yves Drouard in A Time to Die, the penultimate episode of television series Tales of the Unexpected.

In 1989, he took the title role of Hercule Poirot for the long-running television series Agatha Christie's Poirot. In his book, Poirot and Me, Suchet mentions that prior Poirot actor Peter Ustinov one day approached him and told him that Suchet could play Poirot and would be good at it. Suchet then spoke to Brian Eastman from ITV, who sent him some of the novels to read. "And as I did so, it slowly dawned on me that I'd never actually seen the character I was reading about on the screen...He was quite, quite different: more elusive, more pedantic and, most of all, more human than the person I'd seen on the screen." Suchet went on to play the role in adaptations of every novel and short story featuring the character written by Agatha Christie. In preparation for the role, he says that he read every novel and short story and compiled an extensive file on Poirot.

In 2003, Suchet starred as the ambitious Cardinal Wolsey in the two-part ITV drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone as Henry VIII and Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn. In May 2006, he played the role of the fallen press baron Robert Maxwell in Maxwell, a BBC2 dramatisation of the final 18 months of Maxwell's life. In 2006, he voiced Poirot in the adventure game Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express.

He starred in the 2009 CBC made-for-TV film Diverted. He starred as the main antagonist, Reacher Gilt, in the 2010 Sky TV adaptation of Going Postal, based on Pratchett's book of the same name. He appeared in the film Act of God as Benjamin Cisco. In 1987, Suchet played a bigfoot hunter in Harry and the Hendersons. He had roles in two Michael Douglas films, A Perfect Murder and The In-Laws. In 1997, he starred in the independent film Sunday.

Between 2014 and 2015, Suchet appeared in and narrated two BBC Television documentaries, undertaking an epic journey spanning the Mediterranean, inspired by the life and travels of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.

In 2016, Suchet took on the role of the narrator in the BBC live production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, where he serves as the sole "professional" among the cast. At one point during the broadcast, when one of the actors, Annie (who is playing Tinker Bell), is electrocuted, he is asked to distract the audience. His solution is to take Captain Hook's moustache and start acting like Poirot, even delivering his lines in a Belgian accent. This prompts the director, Chris Bean (who is also playing Captain Hook), to retrieve the moustache and dismiss Suchet.

In 2017, Suchet starred as Dr Fagan in the BBC One adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, and guest starred in the role of a character called "The Landlord", for an episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who entitled Knock Knock.

He was the presenter for the documentary Travels with Agatha Christie & David Suchet and in 2026 he was the presenter for another documentary Mysteries on the Nile with Sir David Suchet.

Canal Trust and River Thames Alliance After starting work at Stratford-on-Avon in 1973, Suchet had a narrowboat named Prima Donna fitted out to his specification as a residence there. He later became vice-president of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement has been securing funding, via an appeal and from influencing government decisions, concerning the building of the new M6 Toll motorway, where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal and the Hatherton Canal, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened.

He was voted in as chairman of the River Thames Alliance in November 2005. At the July 2006 Annual General Meeting of the River Thames Alliance, he agreed to continue being chairman for another year. He is a patron of the River Thames Boat Project. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for "services to drama". On 18 March 2014, Suchet was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the RTS Programme Awards 2013 for his outstanding performance in Agatha Christies Poirot. Suchet is Honorary President of The Leica Society.

Suchet was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.

Personal life

Family and genealogy In 1972, Suchet first met his wife, Sheila Ferris, at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, where they were both working; he says that he fell in love with her as soon as he saw her, and that it took a while to persuade her to go out for a meal with him. They were married on 30 June 1976; the couple have a son and daughter.

Suchet is the brother of John Suchet, a former national news presenter for Five News, and former ITN newscaster, and presenter of the evening concert on Classic FM (2020).

Suchet's maternal grandfather, James Jarché, was a famous Fleet Street photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot (1909) and the Siege of Sidney Street. Suchet first became interested in photography when his grandfather gave him a Leica M3 camera as a present. Suchet stated in an interview with Strand Magazine: "I'm a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life. I very much believe in the principles of Christianity and the principles of most religions, actually—that one has to abandon oneself to a higher good."

In 2012, Suchet made a documentary for the BBC on his personal hero, Saint Paul, to discover what he was like as a man by charting his evangelistic journey around the Mediterranean. In 2014, he filmed a documentary about the apostle Saint Peter. Following the time when he bade farewell to his role as Hercule Poirot, Suchet fulfilled a 27-year ambition to make an audio recording of The Bible's New International Version, which was released in April 2014.

Political views In August 2014, Suchet was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in the September 2014 referendum on that issue.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Other notes 1971 The Taming of the Shrew: An Introduction Unknown Henry IV, Part 2: An Introduction 1980 Schiele in Prison Gustav Klimt 1982 The Missionary Corbett 1983 Trenchcoat Inspector Stagnos 1984 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Buller The Little Drummer Girl Mesterbein 1985 The Falcon and the Snowman Alex A Song for Europe Dyre 1986 Iron Eagle Minister of Defense Colonel Akir Nakesh 1987 Harry and the Hendersons Jacques LaFleur 1988 A World Apart Muller To Kill a Priest Bishop 1989 When the Whales Came Will 1993 Rudi Waltz 1996 Executive Decision Nagi Hassan / Altar 1997 Sunday Oliver / Matthew Delacorta 1998 A Perfect Murder Detective Mohamed Karaman 1999 Wing Commander Captain Jason Sansky 2000 Sabotage! Napoleon 2002 Pinocchio Geppetto / Judge English version, Voice 2003 The In-Laws Jean-Pierre Thibodoux Foolproof Leo Gillette 2004 Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets The Narrator TV movie, Voice 2006 Flushed Away Rita's Dad Voice Arthur and the Invisibles The Narrator English version, Voice 2007 Flood Deputy Prime Minister Campbell Maxwell Robert Maxwell 2008 The Bank Job Lew Vogel 2009 Act of God Dr. Benjamin Cisco 2011 All My Sons Joe Keller 2014 Effie Gray Mr. Ruskin Long Day's Journey into Night James Tyrone 2015 The Importance of Being Earnest Lady Bracknell 2016 Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story Himself 2017 American Assassin CIA Director Stansfield 2018 Dinner with Edward Edward

Television

Stage

Video games Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (2006)

Interviews and TV documentaries

Poirot and Agatha Christie David Suchet interviewed by Clive Anderson BBC, Wogan 1990s The Agatha Christie code ITV 2005 David Suchet on playing Hercule Poirot – Dead Man’s Folly Q&A – BFI David Suchet Final Poirot scene hardest of my career BBC 2013 Au revoir Hercule Poirot – BBC News Poirot's David Suchet ITV The David Suchet Interview by Studio 10 (Australia) The ultra-smooth talking David Suchet aka Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot drops by Studio 10. Premier.tv : David Suchet talks about Poirot Holly and Phil chat with David Suchet BBC – 13 November 2013 The Mystery of Agatha Christie ITV Perspectives, 2013. Agatha Christie BBC documentary Being Poirot BBC documentary (2014) Today Tonight – David Suchet Channel Seven, Perth (Australia) 2014 David Suchet on Poirot's Death Loose Women ITV 2015 Travels With Agatha Christie & Sir David Suchet, More4 2025 Mysteries on the Nile with Sir David Suchet, 2026

BBC documentaries David Suchet on the Orient Express (TV documentary) (2010) David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Paul (BBC documentary) (2012) David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Peter (BBC Documentary) (2015)

Other interviews The One Show: David Suchet – Interview (30 April 2015) BBC Long Day's Journey into Night David Suchet on acting, Digital Theatre Plus 2013 Roles, Characters, Empathy: David Suchet (On) Acting 2012 Suchet receives CBE BCC 2011 David Suchet, Actor – A Birthday Tribute 2011 International Emmy Winner – David Suchet BBC 2009 David Suchet – Who Do You Think You Are BBC 2009 Cannes Interview with David Suchet May 1997