When he was 8, he was cast in his first production playing an “off to the side courtier” in his elementary school’s Christmas pageant. The boy with the starring role as the king was supposed to yawn in the role. “But he couldn’t do a good yawn,” says Godley. “I remember looking at him and thinking, I know how to yawn. I felt very jealous that he got to play the king.” That yearning, along with encouragement from his late mother, would take him far. “I was an unusual kid who was undisciplined at school and not good at sports. I was struggling in many areas and my mother allowed me to try all sorts of different things,” shares Godley, who grew up in Hertfordshire outside London and has lived in the U.S. for the past 15 years. “I joined a drama club and immediately felt like I had come home.” His career was launched. By the time he was 9, Godley had his first professional acting gig in a production of Ernest Hemingway’s My Old Man on BBC radio. Since then he has remained a force on film, TV and stage. He can morph from playing Elliott Schwartz, the co-owner of Gray Matter in Breaking Bad to becoming Archbishop Archie in the comedy-drama The Great to voicing the chimpanzee Pogo in the Netflix hit, The Umbrella Academy. (Season 3 of the science fiction series will be out sometime in 2023.) Right now, through Jan. 2, Godley is dazzling audiences on Broadway in The Lehman Trilogy. Directed by Sam Mendes, the play, tells the fascinating story of the rise and demise of the Lehman Brothers. In the mid-1800s the three immigrant brothers arrived from Germany with nothing. Ultimately, the financial firm they built became one of the world’s major players in the global banking industry. Yet on Sept. 15, 2008, after 158 years in operation, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. With $619 billion in debt, the company’s collapse is said to have set in motion the nation’s crippling financial crisis. In the most innovative, enthralling way, the play takes us behind the scenes of the rise of American capitalism. Written by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, The Lehman Trilogy feels like an epic symphony with just three actors and one pianist who plays throughout. “It’s a story of America, of immigrants overcoming adversity,” says Godley, who alone plays about 40 characters. His co-stars, Simon Russell Beale and Adrian Lester, also play dozens of characters, sometimes switching to another mid-sentence. “The three of us together feel like we are mountaineers shackled together,” says Godley. “I know I have these two wonderful colleagues to work with and we are going through it united as a trio.” How do you switch from one character to another on a dime in The Lehman Trilogy? We always wear our original costumes and don’t change them. But we found we could step in and out of very different kinds of characters with no costume change at all, with just a flick of a collar or change in our stance, voice and attitude. We discovered during our extensive rehearsal period that we could do that as quickly, efficiently and entertainingly as possible. It took some time to get this up to speed where we could go in and out of these very different characters quickly. It’s quite tricky because it requires so much concentration. It demands everything that we have as actors. And that’s challenging and thrilling and exhausting. You can’t take your eye off the ball for a second. Yet, although each act lasts an hour, for us, it feels like 10 minutes. You voice Pogo in Umbrella Academy. Is Pogo coming back in season 3? The show jumps forward and back and plays around with time and memory in such an imaginative and brilliant way. All of these characters can kind of reappear at any point. And Pogo certainly is back for season 3 of Umbrella Academy. The show is so incredibly cool and everybody in it is wonderful. And who gets to play a talking monkey? How often does that happen? I absolutely love it. What is unusual for me is that I interact with those other characters in post-production. I’m not physically on set with them. They film my face, I record my voice and then this incredible company, Weta, creates the monkey. And the actor, Ken Hall, creates the physical presence, providing the body. Then I provide the expressions and voice. You have played so many varied roles in your career. What do you like about morphing from one character to another? It’s one of the enormous pleasures and privileges of acting. I always love playing all sorts of different roles and moving between film and TV and theater. The Lehman Trilogy allows all of us to explore that level of variety with playing such an incredible cross-section of different things from babies to women, to old people, to young people to teenagers. It’s thrilling. Also, I believe that our director, Sam Mendes, has created an extraordinary, entertaining piece of theater. It stretches the bounds of what you can do in theater and how to tell a story. It’s a real celebration every night. Here are a few more details you may not know about Adam Godley.
When did Adam Godley move to the United States?
In 2007, Adam Godley moved to the United States.
At what age did Adam Godley begin acting professionally?
After acting in radio a production of My Old Man on the BBC, when he was 9, Adam Godley first performed on stage in a production of the play, The White Devil. The 11-year-old Godley played Prince Giovanni.
Where does Adam Godley live?
Adam Godley lives in North Carolina. However, right now, while he performs in The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway, he lives in New York City.
How old is Adam Godley?
At the time of this writing, Adam Godley is 57 years old. He was born July 22, 1964.
How tall is Adam Godley?
Adam Godley is 6-foot, 1-inch tall.
Who did Adam Godley play in Suits?
In Suits, Adam Godley played lawyer Nigel Alexander Nesbitt who is a senior partner at Darby International.
Who did Adam Godley play in Breaking Bad?
In Breaking Bad, Adam Godley played lawyer Elliott Schwartz, the former college science partner of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and co-owner of Gray Matter Technologies.
What part does Adam Godley play in The Umbrella Academy?
Adam Godley is the voice of the chimpanzee Pogo in The Umbrella Academy. Next, 5 Surprises from the Final Season of Suits
