History Creator / AndySerkis

Andrew "Andy" Clement Sarkisian (born April 20, 1964 in Ruislip Manor, England) is an English actor, painter, and director. He has three sisters and a brother. As a child, Serkis wanted to be an artist; he was fond of painting and drawing, and visualized himself working behind the scenes in productions. Serkis studied visual arts at Lancaster University. There he became involved in mechanical aspects of the theatre and did stage design and set building for theatrical productions. Then Serkis was asked to play a role in a student production, and made his stage debut in Barrie Keefe's play ''Gotcha''; thereafter he switched from stage design to acting, which was a real calling that transformed his life.

* ''Film/{{The Batman|2021}}'': Alfred Pennyworth

* ''The Batman'': Alfred Pennyworth

* AwardSnub: Despite pioneering a new style of acting, popularizing the technology that goes with it, ''and'' being a damn fine actor to boot, Serkis has received relatively few nominations, and even fewer wins.

* HeReallyCanAct: Some people (like voters at the Oscars) may credit CGI teams as the actual people bringing life to his characters. Serkis, however, has demonstrated throughout his career and his live-action performances that he has acting chops that would put career veterans to shame, often putting in vast amounts of research and training to really immerse himself into his roles.

Andrew "Andy" Clement Sarkisian (born April 20, 1964) is an English actor, painter, and director. He has three sisters and a brother. As a child, Serkis wanted to be an artist; he was fond of painting and drawing, and visualized himself working behind the scenes in productions. Serkis studied visual arts at Lancaster University. There he became involved in mechanical aspects of the theatre and did stage design and set building for theatrical productions. Then Serkis was asked to play a role in a student production, and made his stage debut in Barrie Keefe's play ''Gotcha''; thereafter he switched from stage design to acting, which was a real calling that transformed his life.

* Untitled ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'' Sequel [[note]]directing only[[/note]]

-->'''-- WebVideo/HonestTrailers''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOIi9SjJvgU The Lord of the Rings]]''

In 1999, Andy Serkis [[StarMakingRole landed the prize role]] of Gollum in Creator/PeterJackson's epic film trilogy based on Creator/JRRTolkien's saga ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', which quickly made him the best known motion capture performer in the movie industry, and TropeNamer for SerkisFolk. He spent four years on the part and received awards and nominations for his performance as Gollum, a computer generated character in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'' (2002) and ''The Return of the King'' (2003) which won eleven Oscars.[[note]] Many people feel Serkis should've at least been nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Gollum, but the Academy jury is still out on whether SerkisFolk performances are acting in the traditional sense that might fall under acting award criteria, instead of lesser special effects categories.[[/note]] Notably, Smeagol/Gollum's distinct voices were achieved with little to no computer trickery - Serkis can and does do them at live appearances. Serkis also used this art form in his performance as Kong in ''Film/{{King Kong|2005}}'', which won him a Toronto Film Critics Association Award (2005) for his unprecedented work helping to realize the main character, and a Visual Effects Society Award (2006) for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture.

* EvilSoundsDeep: Despite his most famous role being [[Film/LordOfTheRings a high-pitched talkative loon]], he is perfectly capable of using this trope as well, such as Snoke from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/TheLastJedi''.

* ManOfAThousandVoices: More like Man of a Thousand ''[[SerkisFolk Bodies]]'', but let's put it this way: Would ''you'' have guessed that [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin Captain Haddock]], [[Film/LordOfTheRings Gollum]], and [[Film/TheForceAwakens Supreme Leader]] [[Film/TheLastJedi Snoke]] were all voiced by the same person?

Andrew "Andy" Clement Sarkisian is an English actor, painter, and director, born April 20, 1964. He has three sisters and a brother. As a child, Serkis wanted to be an artist; he was fond of painting and drawing, and visualized himself working behind the scenes in productions. Serkis studied visual arts at Lancaster University. There he became involved in mechanical aspects of the theatre and did stage design and set building for theatrical productions. Then Serkis was asked to play a role in a student production, and made his stage debut in Barrie Keefe's play ''Gotcha''; thereafter he switched from stage design to acting, which was a real calling that transformed his life.

* The Batman: Alfred Pennyworth

* Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman

* ''Film/{{Mowgli}}'' [[note]]Also his directorial debut[[/note]] (2018): Baloo

!!Tropes that apply to Mr. Serkis:

* SerkisFolk: The TropeNamer, naturally, after his pioneering work in Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Surprisingly, he averts this as [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ulysses]] [[Film/BlackPanther Klaue]].

* SerkisFolk: The TropeNamer, naturally, after his pioneering work in Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''.

At the end of 2018, Serkis made a return to make a [[https://youtu.be/Tjp5OmoDYQM satirical video]] crossdressing as British Prime Minister Theresa May while acting in-personality as Gollum and Smeagol as a TakeThat to her Brexit strategy.

* FieldPromotion[=/=]YouAreInCommandNow: As a director for ''Film/TheHobbit''.

* ClusterBleepBomb: In character as Gollum. As Sméagol protests. And Serkis himself looks on in horror. It is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUNYCGZMtI8 glorious]]. It was written by Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Met his future wife when they were in a stage production. They went on a date in character, and the rest is history.

* ClusterBleepBomb: In character as Gollum. As Sméagol protests. And Serkis himself looks on in horror. It is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUNYCGZMtI8 glorious]].

* FakeAmerican: Put on a New York accent for ''Film/ThePrestige''.

* BreakthroughHit: As Gollum, still easily his most famous role.
* DirectedByCastMember: He became the second unit director of ''Film/TheHobbit'', and is the director of ''Film/{{Mowgli}}''.
* DyeingForYourArt: Of the weight/strength gain genre, to emulate Ian Dury's handicap left over from a bout of polio.
** Also packed on muscle to play Klaue in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Despite his most famous role being [[Film/LordOfTheRings a high-pitched talkative loon]], he is perfectly capable of using this trope as well, such as narrating the teaser trailer for ''Film/TheForceAwakens''.

* TalkingToHimself: As Gollum and Smeagol. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny He even used both personas on the]] DVDCommentary of ''Return of the King''.