Karl Johnson

Karl Johnson

1948-03-01 Wales, UK 54 Credits

Biography

Karl Johnson is a Welsh actor, appearing on stage, film and television. His most notable role to date is the title role in Derek Jarman's 1993 film Wittgenstein and those of Cato the Younger in the television drama series Rome and of Twister Turrill in the BBC costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford.

Known For

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Complete Filmography

National Theater Live: The Crucible

National Theater Live: The Crucible

2023

8.0
Acting

A witch hunt is beginning in Arthur Miller's captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Brendan Cowell (Yerma). Raised to be seen...

National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood

National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood

2021

as Richard Jenkins

Acting

A community is sleeping. If you listen closely, you can hear their dreams. The retired sea captain yearning for his lost love. The landlady living ...

Dream Horse

Dream Horse

2021

as Kerby

7.0
Acting

The inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes. With very little money and no experience, ...

Endgame & Rough for Theatre II

Endgame & Rough for Theatre II

2020

as Nagg

Acting

Hamm is an ageing, blind tyrant who is confined to a wheelchair – but soon becomes locked in a bleakly funny and subversively devastating stalemate. ...

The Last Vermeer

The Last Vermeer

2019

as Bernard Bakker

6.5
Acting

A soldier and member of the Dutch resistance investigates stolen art in the wake of the Second World War, including a Vermeer sold to the Nazis by a f...

Peterloo

Peterloo

2018

as Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary

6.8
Acting

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Mancheste...

King Lear

King Lear

2018

as Fool

6.0
Acting

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope

2017

as John

5.6
Acting

A psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between a middle-aged man and his mother.

The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin

2017

as Dr. Lukomsky

7.0
Acting

When dictator Joseph Stalin dies, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to become the next Soviet leader. As they bumble, brawl...

Winter Thaw

Winter Thaw

2016

as Stepanovich

Acting

In late nineteenth-century Russia, Martin Avdeitch is a humble shoemaker whose life has been characterized by grief. Martin must find the courage to l...

Aberfan: The Green Hollow

2016

6.3
Acting

A film poem to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, written by Owen Sheers and performed by a stellar cast of Wales's best-known ...

The Carer

The Carer

2016

as Joseph

6.7
Acting

Dorottya is a young Hungarian actress with a burning desire: to make it on the English stage. Legendary actor, Sir Michael Gifford suffers from an inc...

Mother

Mother

2016

as Old Man in Café

Acting

In the aftermath of his mother's death, Edwin reaches out to his extended family for support.

National Theatre Live: Hamlet

National Theatre Live: Hamlet

2015

as Ghost / Gravedigger

7.5
Acting

As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages again...

Mr. Turner

Mr. Turner

2014

as Mr. Booth

6.5
Acting

Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful ...

The Gospel According to St Derek

The Gospel According to St Derek

2014

as Self

Acting

Using interviews with close family, friends and collaborators, The Gospel According to St. Derek bears witness to Derek Jarman’s unique approach to lo...

Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood

2014

as Drowned / Voice

6.0
Acting

An all star cast unite to perform a distinctive BBC Wales Television adaptation of Dylan Thomas's radio play, presented in collaboration with National...

Mr Invisible

2013

as The Handler

7.0
Acting

A lonely old man seems invisible to the world around him. But when he journeys to the heart of London, being 'invisible' proves to be his greatest wea...

The Sea

The Sea

2013

as Blunden

5.8
Acting

A man returns to the sea where he spent his childhood summers in search of peace following the death of his wife.

Good Vibrations

Good Vibrations

2012

as George Hooley

6.8
Acting

The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label ...

The Deep Blue Sea

The Deep Blue Sea

2011

as Mr. Miller

5.9
Acting

The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

The Pier

The Pier

2011

as Larry McCarthy

Acting

After 20 years of no contact with his father, Jack McCarthy (played by Hurley) travels from New York to his father Larry's death bed in Cork. Upon arr...

National Theatre Live: Frankenstein

National Theatre Live: Frankenstein

2011

as De Lacey

7.9
Acting

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. M...

Third Star

Third Star

2010

as Ticket Seller

7.0
Acting

James and his three closest lifelong friends go on an ill-advised trip to the stunning coastal area of Barafundle Bay in West Wales. What follows is a...

Is Anybody There?

Is Anybody There?

2009

as Arthur (uncredited)

6.2
Acting

A young boy who lives in an old folks' home strikes up a friendship with a retired magician.

I Know You Know

I Know You Know

2009

as Ernie

5.8
Acting

Jamie, an 11-year-old boy, is fascinated by his father Charlie’s espionage work until the world of spies becomes all too real. Charlie lives in his ow...

The Edge of Love

The Edge of Love

2008

as Dai Fred

6.2
Acting

When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's child...

Dog Altogether

Dog Altogether

2007

as Jack

6.8
Acting

Joseph is a man plagued by a violence and rage who is driving him to self destruction. As he falls further into turmoil, Joseph scours the landscape i...

Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz

2007

as PC Bob Walker

7.6
Acting

Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he m...

Four Last Songs

Four Last Songs

2007

as Erico

5.4
Acting

A comic drama set on a Mediterranean island, where a motley collection of characters is seeking musical redemption.

Copying Beethoven

Copying Beethoven

2006

as Stefan Holtz

6.4
Acting

A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new sym...

The Illusionist

The Illusionist

2006

as Doctor / Old Man

7.3
Acting

With his eye on a lovely aristocrat, a gifted illusionist named Eisenheim uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a crown prince. But Eise...

Elizabeth David: A Life in Recipes

Elizabeth David: A Life in Recipes

2006

as Norman Douglas

2.0
Acting

Elizabeth David is the most important cookery writer of the 20th century. David's public image was of an elegant, respectable and somewhat austere fig...

Heidi

Heidi

2005

as Old Man

7.6
Acting

Swiss girl Adelheid 'Heidi' is orphaned young. Aunt Detie brings her to grandpa Alp and his wife, who live isolated in the Alps since his murder charg...

Frozen

Frozen

2005

as Coastguard Bill

5.7
Acting

It's two years since the mysterious disappearance of Kath Swarbrick's older sister Annie, but Kath remains haunted by a need to know what happened. Wh...

When I'm Sixty-Four

When I'm Sixty-Four

2004

as Billy

5.3
Acting

When widowed cabbie Ray and retired teacher Jim meet by chance, they discover they long for the same things from life: adventure, challenge and love. ...

England Expects

2004

8.0
Acting

The story follows former football hooligan Ray Knight (Steven Mackintosh), a normal everyday family man who works as a security guard at a financial t...

77 Beds

77 Beds

2003

as Spiritual Father

8.0
Acting

One sleepless night Ishmael, a young spacey urban nomad, starts counting back through all the beds he has ever slept in.

Tomorrow La Scala!

Tomorrow La Scala!

2002

as Sydney

9.0
Acting

Members of a British opera troupe mount a production of "Sweeney Todd" within a maximum-security prison.

Pure

Pure

2002

as Granddad

6.2
Acting

A young boy trying to deal with his mother's heroin addiction befriends a waitress who helps him cope with the tough situation.

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

1998

as John Deakin

6.0
Acting

In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, ...

Saint-Ex

Saint-Ex

1996

as Didier Daurat

3.0
Acting

Poetic biography of author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein

1993

as Ludwig Wittgenstein

6.4
Acting

A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose p...

Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes

1991

as Colin

5.9
Acting

After some years of tension, Richard begins a sexual relationship with his sister Natalie. Now married, the relationship proves dangerously obsessiona...

Let Him Have It

Let Him Have It

1991

as Parris

6.6
Acting

In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangs...

The Shawl

The Shawl

1989

as Charles

Acting

Miss A, troubled by problems, consults a clairvoyant. Can he solve them for her by summoning the spirits? Or is he just a fraud, out to steal her mone...

The Black and Blue Lamp

The Black and Blue Lamp

1988

Acting

Satirical and surreal play by Arthur Ellis, dealing with the manner in which the British police force has been represented on TV for four decades. In ...

A Prayer for the Dying

A Prayer for the Dying

1987

as Fitzgerald

5.8
Acting

Martin, an I.R.A. hitman, is seen by a Catholic priest while carrying out a hit. He grows a bond with the priest and his niece. But his past and his f...

Prick Up Your Ears

Prick Up Your Ears

1987

as Douglas Orton

6.7
Acting

When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they sta...

The Magic Shop

The Magic Shop

1982

Acting

A father and son enter a magic shop that may contain real magic.

Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers

1981

as Paul Morel

Acting

An adaptation for television by Trevor Griffiths of DH Lawrence's classic novel

The Tempest

The Tempest

1979

as Ariel, an airy spirit

5.8
Acting

Prospero, a potent magician, lives on a desolate isle with his virginal daughter, Miranda. He's in exile, banished from his duchy by his usurping brot...

Cold Harbour

1978

as Geoff

Acting

A beautiful Chilean exile called Tina is stranded in a new country.

Jubilee

Jubilee

1978

as Sphinx

6.0
Acting

Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.