Alec Newman was born in Glasgow, Scotland and trained at LAMDA. For 30 years he has worked across film, television, theatre and video games.
Playing Paul Atreides in the Sci Fi channel Dune introduced him to US audiences and lead to the title role in Hallmark’s Frankenstein and guest spots on Star Trek Enterprise and Angel.
In 2004 he won the coveted role of Barnabus Collins in the pilot for a Dark Shadows reboot at the WB but it was not picked up for series.
Series regular work in Strikeback for HBO, Amazon’s Rogue, and Kurt Sutters’ The Bastard Executioner for FX are part of a huge list of international TV credits. More recently that list includes Kennedy and Dept Q for Netflix, Hijack for Apple TV, and the upcoming series of ITV’s The Bay.
British audiences will be familiar with his time as the Headmaster of BBC’s Waterloo Road, Michael Byrne.
On film he most recently appeared opposite Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe in The Weight. Work with directors including George Clooney, Thomas Vinterberg and Thomas Alfredson has seen him feature in festivals the world over, including Cannes, Berlin and Sundance. Newmans leading turn in 2014’s
“Greyhawk” saw the film nominated for the Michael Powell Award.
He regularly returns to work on the UK stage and has appeared at the Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre, RSC and Almeida Theatre as well as the West End and in New York.
He is a leading voice actor appearing in many video games including Cyberpunk 2077, Assasins Creed, Alan Wake 2, Elden Ring, SAROS, Witcher 3 and many more.
He won the BAFTA Games award in 2025 for his performance as Caz Mcleary in Still Wakes the Deep and plays the lead role of Kliff in Crimson DesertHe plays Adam Smasher in both the Cyberpunk 2077 game and Edgerunners anime series.
Other passions include family, football, and a love of mountains. He has twice trekked in the Himalayas – including to Everest base camp.