Leo Wringer

Leo Wringer is a British Shakespearean actor who has also performed in many television and film roles.

Early life and education Wringer was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica to Aston Charles Wringer and Cynthia Wringer. The family lived in Tottenham. He was schooled in England. He went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He graduated in 1978 and was awarded the Shakespeare Prize.

Shakespeare Wringer understudied Paul Rhys as Hamlet and performed in this role at the Globe Theater in Tokyo in 1999. He occasionally plays these roles with a Jamaican or "broad Caribbean" accent, contrasting the classic characters with more modern-sounding dialogue.

In 2018 he performed in The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, an adaptation by the Royal Shakespeare Company of the 18th-century comedy The Beau Deceived. Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts suggested that Wringer was miscast as the nobleman and criticized what he called the company's "clunking approach to politically correct casting." The Company responded condemning Letts for his "ugly and prejudiced commentary." Wringer responded with an essay in the Sunday Times headlined "And why shouldn't I play a country squire?" calling Letts' comments "an unforgiveable racial slur against me and my fellow actors of colour."

Other credits Wringer won a Time Out Award with Colin McFarlane for Best Actor in Two Horseman in 1994. His television credits include The Moonstone, Silent Witness and Gangsta Granny. He played the role of Marvin Gaye senior in Royal & Derngate theatre's dramatization of Gaye's life, called Soul.

He teaches at the British American Drama Academy's London Theatre Program, working there in the Greek Theatre, London Theatre, and Midsummer in Oxford programs.