Maxton Gig Beesley, Jr. (Max) is born in 1971 in Burnage, and is the son of British jazz drummer Maxton Beesley and jazz singer Chris Marlowe. His parents separated when young Max was only 18 months, but his father stayed living near, so he could go to see him whenever he wanted to. His mum died some years ago because of a tragical accident in the hospital.
Max has a stepbrother Jason Milligan, who he is really close to.
When Max was three, his father gave him a pair of drumsticks. At 11, five music schools had offered him scholarships. He chose to go to nearby Chetham's as a choral scholar and at 17 went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study piano and percussion. But within months The Style Council offered him a job on their tour as a session musician. He got an ulcer after a year on the road, but by his early twenties was earning up to pounds 5,000 a week. His career took an abrupt twist when he became an actor at the age of 23. He had just played at the MTV awards for George Michael when he watched Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. He was so impressed that he decided to become an actor too.
He went to New York and signed up with a method acting coach. A year later he landed the starring role in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Critics and audiences labelled his performance as Tom Jones in the television mini-series as charming, sexy and charismatic. It was enough to keep him out of unemployment as he was soon offered jobs on feature films like The Match, Five Seconds to Spare, and Kill Me Later.
In 2001 he landed his first big budget starring role alongside singing sensation Mariah Carey in Glitter. Unfortunately this film got horrendously panned. He then had several other film-projects and was on tour with Robbie Williams in 2003 as he is a really talented percussionist and keyboarder as well.
Max did also the BBC Drama "Bodies" in 2004. This series was a really big success in England and it will be on BBC with a second series and a 90-minutes special "show-down".
His recent projets is the second season of "Hotel Babylon". The first season has been aired in 2006 and will be continued in 2007 again.
For knowing more about his films, klick here ;)
Films
2005: Her name is Carla
2004: Torque as Luther
2003: Red Roses and Petrol as Johnny Doyle
2003: The Emperor's Wife as Emperor
2003: Robbie Williams "What we did last summer"
2002: Anita and Me as Hairy Neddy
2001: Glitter as Julian Dice
2001: Hotel as Antonio
2001: The Last Minute as Billy Byrne
2001: Kill Me Later as Charlie Anders
2000: It Was an Accident as Mickey Cousins
1999: The Match (also known as "The beautiful game") as Wullie Smith
1999: Five Seconds to Spare as William
TV
1994: Surf Potatoes
1997: "The History of Tom Jones" (mini) TV Series as Tom Jones
1997: "The Broker's Man" for BBC
1997: "Thief Takers" for ITV
2 March 2000: "It's Only TV... But I Like It" as himself (episode # 2.2)
2002: Fields of Gold as Mark Hurst
29 November 2004: "The Paul O'Grady Show" as himself (episode # 1.36)
2004/2005: "Bodies" as Dr. Rob Lake
26 April 2005: "Hustle" as "Jake Henry" (episode # 2.5)
26 May 2005: "This Morning" as himself
2005: Bloodlines as DC Jake Bannerman
2005: Forty years of Fuck as Narrator
2005/2007: Hotel Babylon as Head Receptionist Charlie
8 July 2006: "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" as himself
4 August 2006: "The Kumars at No42" as himself
2006: "House of crime" as Narrator
2006: A taste of my life as himself
13 December 2006: Bodies "The finale" as Rob Lake
23 May 2007: "This Morning" as himself
2007: Talk to me as Mitch Moore
2007: The last enemy as Michael Ezard
