Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952^[1]) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Thomas More in Wolf Hall, Harold Macmillan in The Crown, Clement Attlee in A United Kingdom, Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour,^[2] and Major Partagaz in Star Wars: Andor. An associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has performed numerous Shakespearean roles on stage and television.

Born in Birmingham,^[3] the son of David Lesser and his wife Amelia Cohen, Anton Lesser was educated Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool, where he read architecture. He then went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and on graduation in 1977^[4] was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year.^[3] He is of Jewish background.^[5]

As an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Lesser played many of Shakespeare's great roles. In the BBC Television Shakespeare productions he was Troilus (Troilus and Cressida), Edgar (King Lear), and Feste (Twelfth Night). On stage, he has portrayed Romeo, Hamlet, Brutus, Petruchio, Richard III, and others.^[6]

Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Marcus Didius Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens. His recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost, Homer and Rumi^[7] to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers.^[8]

In 2013, during the third season of the HBO Max series Game of Thrones, Lesser began playing the recurring role of Qyburn, an enigmatic mad scientist who served as part of the retinue of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Qyburn, and Lesser's portrayal of him, were popular with fans, particularly as the series went on and the character appeared more frequently and had greater influence over the narrative.^[9][10] The Ringer described him as "the last curious man in Westeros" and noted that the character "refuses to seem like a MacGuffin, despite totally being one."^[11] The character returned across the remainder of the series' run until the finale in 2019; Qyburn was one of the characters who perished in the final episode, which led to many fans producing memes about his abrupt death.^[12]

In 2015, Lesser was announced as a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK.^[13]

Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.^[14]

In 2022, Lesser played Major Partagaz, a supporting antagonist in the Star Wars spinoff Andor. His performance of Partagaz, a ranking member of the Empire's intelligence agency, the Imperial Security Bureau, was noted by critics. Digital Spy noted that Lesser delivered dialogue on Imperial bureaucracy with "powerful coolness."^[15]

With his wife Madeleine Adams, Lesser has two children, Harry and Lily. Lily Lesser is an actress and has acted alongside her father in Endeavour and Wolf Hall.^[16]

• Romeo and Juliet Romeo, 1980, RSC
• Hamlet Hamlet, 1982, Donmar Warehouse, London
• Troilus and Cressida Troilus, 1981, RSC
• The Plantagenets (Henry VI, part 1–3 and Richard III) Richard III, 1988, RSC
• Two Shakespearean Actors Edwin Forrest, 1990, RSC
• Richard II Henry Bullingbrook,^[17] 1990, RSC
• The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio, 1992, RSC
• The Merry Wives of Windsor Frank Ford, 1992, RSC
• 'Art' Serge, 1997, Wyndham's Theatre, London
• Private Lives Elyot, 1999, Lyttelton Theatre, London
• Cymbeline Iachimo, 2003, RSC
• Julius Caesar Marcus Brutus, 2005, Barbican, London
• The Winter's Tale Leontes, 2006, RSC
• The Vertical Hour Oliver Lucas, 2008, Royal Court Theatre, London
• A Doll's House Dr. Rank, 2009, Donmar Warehouse, London