John Noble
John Noble
John Nobleis an Australian actor and theatre director of more than 80 plays. He is best known for his roles as Dr. Walter Bishop in the American Fox science fiction television series Fringe, and Henry Parrish in the Fox action-horror series Sleepy Hollow. His most high-profile film role was as Denethor in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also provided the voice of the DC Comics supervillain Scarecrow in the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight, where...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth20 August 1948
CountryAustralia
Many very strong fathers have turned out ineffectual sons by not allowing them to grow as men.
I think main storylines are what always intrigued me, with those that were the relationships between the characters against whatever backdrop, whether it was in an ordinary universe or a universe in the future.
I have a very special love for all of those actors [in Fringe] and I'll miss them.Over the five years, we were given the chance to develop some pretty close bonds, both with our characters and personally, and we did.
I remember when I read Walter, for example, six years ago now, I said, "This is the role for me." I said that to my family. There was something there that I knew was absolutely right, and that was just based on the character. That's when gut instinct comes into play. I know there are certain things I won't do.
We've had such a close relationship with the fans. Through social networking and the internet, we have much more contact, and we did go to things like Comic-Con. So, I think people know most of our secrets.
Working in television is very hard. I think people know that.
Doing animation is great fun. It's like a different world.
I loved playing Walternate because he was completely the same character, version 1985, and then it developed in such a different way, physically and mentally. So, to be able to play that, in the same television series, as playing the other ones was a fantastic gift for me.
My last two characters have been Denethor and Walter Bishop. Both will be hard acts to follow. That sits in the hands of my managers, at present. I just have no idea what's going to be offered to me.
Fringe is essentially a love story, so the scenes where Walter had close connection with Peter, but also with Anna's character or Jasika's character, were very special to me.
With science becoming far more accessible to all of us, I've become a pretty avid reader and devourer of it. One of the objectives that I had working with Fringe was to get more people talking about it because it's such fun.
Walter is incredibly complex. I do a lot of thinking about the work I do, and try to get the rhythms of scenes.
I didn't drop into the mannerisms of another version of the character, but I guess I was pretty alert to that.
You basically go in animation and it's all in the imagination. There aren't even pictures to look at. You usually go in there and work with whoever the director is to create this voice and this character.