About Me
some background
About Me
Bill Ward is a multi award winning British actor and photographer, born and raised in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
He has a degree in Modern British History (Class 2.1) from Bristol University.
Bill started out in the Advertising Industry, and for over a decade had a successful career firstly as an Account Director, latterly as a Senior Strategic Planner for some of the UK’s top ad agencies (inc BBH, Saatchi and Saatchi).
A professional actor since 2000, his career includes extensive West End appearances (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Spamalot, Million Dollar Quartet, Viva Forever), UK Tours (The Glee Club, Shakespeare in Love, Legally Blonde, Look Back in Anger), Rep Theatre (Bath Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Royal Exchange, Nothern Stage, Theatr Clwyd), New Writing (National Theatre Studio, Battersea Arts Centre, White Bear), Off West End (Southwark Playhouse), Film (A Dark Reflection, Great Ghost Rescue, Ellie Rose) and TV (Vera, Before We Die, After Life, Silent Witness, Robin Hood, Footballers Wives, Cold Blood, Jonathan Creek, Midsomer Murders, Casualty, The Bill, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders etc.)
He is probably best known for playing the badly behaved builder Charlie Stubbs in the UK TV show Coronation Street, a role he played for over 400 episodes and three and a half years, and for which he won numerous awards. He also played the long suffering farmer, James Barton, in Emmerdale, for over 300 episodes, and for which he was also nominated for a number of awards.
Bill has had an extremely busy Pandemic: he was at the start of a national tour of “The Glee Club” when the government shut the theatres, and has since filmed back to back on the BBC Drama “Casualty”, the ITV Drama “Vera”, the feature film “To A Cinder”, as well as the acclaimed 6 part drama “Before We Die” for Channel 4/Worldwide. He also voiced the major four part documentary series “Natural History Museum – World of Wonders” for Channel 5, and has spent the last 6 months touring theatres as they reopened across the UK with a brand new production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. He is about to start filming on the British independent Feature film “It’s the Blackness”, as well as a major Drama for ITV1.
For full CV etc, do feel free to visit Bill’s Spotlight page.
As a photographer, Bill is self taught, and has been taking photographs since he was 6. He has been a Brand Ambassador for Pentax Cameras and Ricoh Imaging since 2014. He gives talks at camera clubs and photographic societies all over the UK, and is proud to be a tour/workshop leader for Light and Land, and a judge at UK Landscape Photographer of the Year 2022.
Bill has won many awards and commendations, both nationally and internationally, including the Adobe Prize at UK Landscape Photographer of the Year, and Best Seascape at Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year (see attached Photography Awards tab for full list). His work has also been featured in a number of books, newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, and on the BBC website. He is a regular contributor to the worldwide ICM Photo Magazine, and shoots for the photographic agencies Robert Harding and ArenaPAL.
He has a permanent collection with the Mick Oxley Gallery in Craster, Northumberland, and has had solo exhibitions at the Wendy J Levy Gallery in Manchester, The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, The Number Ten Gallery in Rochdale, Hollingworth Lake nr. Littleborough, and The Alhambra Gallery in Sydenham. His work has also been exhibited at The Diemar Noble Gallery in London,The Contemporary Six Gallery in Manchester, Webbs Fine Art Gallery in London, The Louise Janetta Studio in Buxton, the Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival, the Manchester Buy Art Fair, as well as numerous bars, restaurants and cafes.
Constantly in search of peace and quiet, his photography is a response, and in many ways an antidote, to the time he spends as an actor working in the public eye.
His primary photographic interest is landscapes, whether natural, urban or industrial. He is specifically drawn to water, and has a strong interest in history. Things that were once great, faded glory, a wistfulness for a time when, loom very big on his radar.
He is particularly interested not just in the places he goes, but the time that he spends in them. It’s this “time”, the time spent in, and with, a place, that forms the basis of his work. His photography is a deliberate attempt to explore how it felt to be there: specifically how it felt to spend this particular time, with this particular place.
Since 2012, he has been a vocal advocate and practitioner of ICM (Intentional Camera Movement – the process of deliberately moving the camera whilst taking a picture) and in-camera Multiple Exposures, which he finds particularly revealing of the “essence” of any meeting between a person and wherever they happen to be.
He’s a fundamental believer not just in the beauty, but also the wonder of planet earth, and the privilege we all have of spending the limited time we have on it, and with it.
Bill won the inaugural Adobe Prize at the 2015 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards. He recently won Best Seascape at the 2020 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, was Runner Up in the “Your Vision” Category at the 2021 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, and has had over 20 photographs shortlisted at Outdoor Photographer of the Year.
- 2021 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2021 Close Up Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2021 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year – Runner Up “Your Vision” (Creative Photography) category, Shortlisted
- 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards – Final Stages
- 2020 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year – Commended, Shortlisted
- 2020 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year – Winner Best Seascape, Highly Commended, Commended, Shortlisted
- 2020 Historic England Lockdown Collection – Judge’s Choice, South West England
- 2020 IPA (International Photography Awards) One Shot Movement – Honourable Mention
- 2018 IPA (International Photography Awards) – Honourable Mention
- 2018 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year – Commended, Shortlisted
- 2018 Outdoor Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2017 Outdoor Photographer of the Year – In the book, Shortlisted
- 2017 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2016 Fine Art Photographer of the Year – Nominated 4 times
- 2016 International Photographer of the Year – 2 Honourable Mentions
- 2016 Outdoor Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2015 U.K. Landscape Photographer of the Year – Winner Adobe Prize, Shortlisted
- 2015 Outdoor Photographer of the Year – Shortlisted
- 2013 U.K. Landscape Photographer of the Year – Commended
For James Barton, Emmerdale, 2013 – 2017
2018:
- British Soap Awards – Hotten ByPass Crash voted Greatest Moment in Soap Awards History
2017:
- Inside Soap Awards – Winner Best Showstopper (Hotten ByPass Crash/James’s Death), Nominated Best Exit, Nominated Best Shock Twist (Emma kills James)
- British Soap Awards – Nominated Scene of the Year (Hotten By Pass Crash)
For Charlie Stubbs, Coronation Street, 2003 – 2007
2010:
- Tracey kills Charlie voted no. 4 in ITV’s Top 50 Coronation Street Moments of the last 50 years
- Charlie Stubbs voted the 3rd sexiest Coronation Street character of last 50 years – Inside Soap Awards
2007:
- British Soap Awards: Winner Best Storyline, Winner Best Exit, nominated Best Actor, nominated Best Dramatic Performance, nominated Best On Screen Partnership
- TV Quick Awards: Winner Best Storyline
- Charlie Stubbs’s Coronation Street Exit Episode on January 15th 2007 was the 4th most viewed programme on British TV in 2007 with 13.1m viewers, and a 49.5% total audience share (The first three were Doctor Who, an Episode of Eastenders, and the Rugby World Cup Final) – source BARB
2006:
- Inside Soap Awards – Winner Best Bad Boy
- Daily Star – Winner Best Soap Actor
- British Soap Awards – Nominated Best Villain, nominated Best On Screen Partnership
2005:
- Uned 5 Awards – Winner Best Villain
- Inside Soap Awards – Winner Best Bad Boy
If there's anything you'd like to discuss re my work, do feel free to
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