Neil was born in the Birmingham England to Parents of Jamaican heritage. He is the youngest of six children who was noticed for his talent in acting from a young age. After auditioning over 2,000 young people Neil was hand picked and gained one of twenty-four places in the Central Junior television Workshop – a pool of teenage actors sponsored by Central Television who cast them in professional roles on stage and screen. Neil was fortunate to play several roles professionally which deepened his interest in acting. Inspired by Actors Will Smith Denzel Washington Marlon Brando Al Pacino and Gary Oldman he decided he wanted to pursue a career in this field. He then moved to London and auditioned for drama school.
He graduated from the prestigious Rose Bruford College ( in which Oldman attended) and has now some twenty years experience in the industry. On Television has appeared in leading roles in programmes such as Doctor Who, Eastenders, Doctors and Holby City to name a few. In Theatre Neil played ‘Bernie’ in ‘Big Life’ the Musical appearing at the Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Ave; the first Black British musical to ever hit London’s West End which also got nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical 2008. Neil has played a variety of modern and shakespearean roles in seasons at the UK’s leading regional repertory theatres in London and around the UK. For the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company Neil played the part of ‘Mesrou’ in the European Premiere of Marivaux’s La Dispute and represented the British Council in Lisbon Portugal and on tour around Europe.
In Cinema Neil won the BFM 9th International Film Festival Best Actor 2007 sponsored by BET and has received another Best Actor nomination in 2008 for his portrayal of Nelson the Title role in ‘Win Lose or Draw’ in the following year. Since 2008 Neil has written, directed and produced his own short films for which he has won a number of awards.’ Wounded’ (in which Neil wrote starred and directed) won best short film at the Music Video and Screen Awards 2008 and was also nominated for best film at the Portobello International film festival 2008. Neil’s talent was again noticed at the screening of his film at a festival and was approach by a film director. As a result of the meeting he landed the lead role of ‘Kaoto’ in the feature film ‘Pearls of Africa’ which was shot on location in Kenya and London. He went on to play another lead in the highly acclaimed UK feature ‘Hard Time Bus.’ Neil was nominated for Best Actor 2014 in the American Black Film Festival (www.abff.com) for his role as Mark Bishop in the award winning feature and was offered representation by the reknowned Plaza7 Talent agency based in New York. Whilst continuing to work Neil set his mind on working in the US. Through networking and making contacts he filed for a performance visa with the help of a US Laywer
Neil returned back to the stage playing the part of ‘Pa’ in The European Premiere of The Color Purple Musical at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London. The Color Purple starring Cynthia Enrivo transferred to Broadway and was nominated and won several Tony awards in 2016. Neil then acted alongside Mackenzie Crook on the BAFTA award winning comedy series, ‘The Detectorists’ as Dr Tendai and played the lead role of Errol in a stage production called ‘Routes’ at the Welsh Millennium Centre which was also filmed for Made in Cardiff TV.
In commercials Neil also appeared in worldwide international campaigns for Virgin Atlantic and recently returned from Abu Dhabi where he played a featured part of a food and beverage manager in an Etihad Airline commercial starring Nicole Kidman.
In 2016 Neil roles to date have included Elliot(lead) in ‘Finding Patience’ a Nationwide film about Dementia for the National Health Service of Great Britain. Met officer in the new ITV 8 part drama series ‘The Level’ coming to our UK screens from September 2016. He went on to play the role of a doctor in the Popular TV soap ‘Emmerdale’ and is about to star as a guest lead in the well known British medical drama ‘Casualty which recently celebrated its 30th year on British Television. Neil’s role of ‘Winston’ in the film ‘Class 15’ has been selected to screen at the 22nd Encounters film festival in Bristol UK and the 20th Urbanworld film festival in New York 2016. Urbanworld is the second Oscar qualifying festival to accept the film alongside Encounters.
Hard Time Bus is still showing in Cinemas around the UK for further details visit www.hardtimebus.com.
In 2017 Neil was granted his 01 Visa by US government making him eligible to work in the US – a visa only granted to actors of a certain calibre. He then went to LA in spring 2018 for pilot season and generated a great deal of interest from Agents and personal managers. Neil was successful in joining the improv troupe LA connection ( Will Ferrell Matthew Perry) as well as being cast by top LA casting director kim Williams in a pilot for HBO. The pilot has since been entered into film festivals and continues to win awards. Most recently In 2019 Neil joined the cast of the award winning musical ‘The Boyguard’ playing the part of the Bill Devaney alongside singer Alexandra Burke. The production toured internationally as far as Japan and around the UK. The show was sold out in every venue performing to over a million people.
To date Neil’s talent and roles has given him the opportunity play alongside celebrities including Sir Derek Jacobi, David Tennant, John Barrowman, Mackenzie Crook, Shane Richie, Don Warrington, Martin Freeman, Cathy Tyson Alexandra Burke and Nicole Kidman.