{{Short description|Young English actors who have achieved success in Hollywood}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} "'''Brit Pack'''" is a term that has been used to refer to specific groups of young British actors who have achieved success in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]], as well as more generally to the entire group of such actors. According to [[TalkTalk Group|TalkTalk]], "every decade brings a new Brit Pack, another disparate group of actors backed by the media to achieve simultaneous Hollywood stardom."<ref name="talktalk.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/tim-roth/biography/122|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701231929/http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/tim-roth/biography/122|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-07-01|title=Tim Roth – Biography|author=Dominic Wills|publisher=[[TalkTalk Group|TalkTalk]]}}</ref> However, the term is most closely associated with the crop of English actors that emerged in the late 1980s, because of the prominence of the American [[Brat Pack]] actors at that time.
==History== In November 1986, journalist Elissa Van Poznak conducted an interview with [[Colin Firth]], [[Spencer Leigh (actor)|Spencer Leigh]], [[Paul McGann]], [[Bruce Payne]], and [[Tim Roth]] for the January 1987 edition of ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]''. [[Daniel Day-Lewis]] and [[Gary Oldman]] were also invited, but were unable to attend due to acting obligations (although Oldman gave his own interview at a later date). The title of the article was "The Brit Pack":<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Van Poznak|first=Elissa|date=January 1987|title=The Brit Pack|url=http://www.agwlbp.com/facejan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007181058/http://www.agwlbp.com/facejan.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2011-10-07|magazine=[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]|access-date=1 August 2019}}</ref> this moniker stuck and has been referenced in subsequent pieces regarding actors from that period.<ref name="talktalk.co.uk"/><ref name="beast">Stern, Marlow. [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/07/gary-oldman-talks-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-batman-retirement.html "Gary Oldman Talks 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' 'Batman' Retirement"]. ''[[The Daily Beast]]''. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Doctor Who: A History |first=Alan |last=Kistler |publisher=[[Lyons Press]] |location=[[Guilford, Connecticut]] |year=2013 |page=198 |isbn=978-0-7627-9188-0 |quote=… commentators grouped McGann… into "the Brit Pack." |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXRBBAAAQBAJ&dq=bruce+payne+brit+pack&pg=PA198 |access-date=20 November 2021 |url-access=limited |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the February 1988 issue of ''[[Film Comment]]'', Harlan Kennedy stated that Day-Lewis and Oldman, along with [[Rupert Everett]] and [[Miranda Richardson]], were the "pack-leaders".<ref name="americancinemapapers.com">{{cite magazine|last=Kennedy|first=Harlan|date=February 1988|title=Brit Pack: A Clutch of Actors|url=http://www.americancinemapapers.com/files/BRIT_PACK.htm|magazine=[[Film Comment]]|access-date=1 August 2019}}</ref> According to a 2011 retrospective article by Marlow Stern in ''[[The Daily Beast]]'', the British press anointed Oldman "[[de facto]] ringleader" of the Brit Pack.<ref name="beast"/>
Unlike the Brat Pack or other similarly defined groups of American actors, Brit Pack actors rarely associated with each other socially or in film. Harlan Kennedy wrote that the group "aren't seen together at parties or in restaurants or in gossip columns. And since British cinema has had no equivalent to Hollywood's Eighties conveyor-belt youth movies – ''[[Weird Science (film)|Weird Science]]'', ''[[About Last Night (1986 film)|About Last Night...]]'', ''[[St. Elmo's Fire (film)|St. Elmo's Fire]]'', et al. – they don't keep re-meeting each other on-screen either".<ref name="americancinemapapers.com"/>
A July 1993 article in ''The Face'' was titled "The New Brit Pack", which included [[Naveen Andrews]], [[Jaye Davidson]], [[Craig Kelly (actor)|Craig Kelly]], [[Jude Law]], [[Rufus Sewell]], [[David Thewlis]], and [[Samuel West]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=The Face Magazine Editors|title=The Face Magazine – Jaye Davidson Cover|url=http://www.crazyaboutmagazines.com/ourshop/prod_571877-The-Face-magazine-Jaye-Davidson-cover-July-1993-Volume-2-No-58.html|accessdate=1 November 2015|work=[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]|date=10 July 1993}}</ref> In later years, the phrase "Brit Pack" has been used to describe disparate groups of young British actors of rising prominence.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-britpack--our-new-generation-of-movie-stars-takes-tinseltown-841199.html | location=London | work=[[The Independent]] | date=6 June 2008 | title=The Britpack – Our new generation of movie stars takes Tinseltown}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/g3778/hot-british-men/|title=Hottest British Actors – 10 Best British Actors|author=Rebecca Cope|work=[[Harper's Bazaar]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/eddie-redmaynes-star-making-turn-in-les-miserables-and-the-new-brit-pack|title=Eddie Redmayne's Star-Making Turn in 'Les Miserables' and The New Brit Pack|journal=The Daily Beast|first=Marlow|last=Stern|date=14 July 2012|accessdate=21 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/total-redmaynia-a-guide-to-the-most-hysterical-culprits-of-eddie-redmayne-10028314.html|title=Total Redmaynia: why everyone wants a piece of Eddie Redmayne|journal=Evening Standard|first=Phoebe|last=Luckhurst|date=6 February 2015|accessdate=21 February 2022}}</ref> Publications also began including actresses such as [[Holliday Grainger]], [[Kaya Scodelario]], and [[Suki Waterhouse]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/27/-sp-new-brit-pack-uk-actors-storm-la-waterhouse-scodelario-grainger|title=The new Brit pack: UK actors storm LA|journal=The Guardian|first=Abigail|last=Radnor|date=27 September 2014|accessdate=21 February 2022}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Brat Pack]] *[[Child actor]] *[[Frat Pack]] – 1990s and 2000s *[[Rat Pack]] – 1950s and 1960s *[[Splat Pack]] *[[Typecasting (acting)|Typecasting]]
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brit Pack (Actors)}} [[Category:British film actors]] [[Category:Groups of entertainers]]