12 Successful Liverpudlians And Their Achievements

Here Are 11 People From The Pool Of Talent That Might Surprise You

There is a reason Liverpool is nicknamed The Pool of Talent. The Liverpool City Region is a hub of talent with highly successful people coming from all six of the Region's Boroughs; brimming with writers, actors, directors, artists, dancers and comedians. When people think of famous Liverpudlians from the Liverpool Region; their mind is immediately drawn to people that are frequently named such as Paul McCartney, Cilla Black, Taron Egerton, Steven Gerrard, John Bishop, Daniel Craig and Jamie Carragher. I have selected successful people that you may just not realise are from the Region.

David Morrissey

David Morrissey is a phenomenal actor and director that has been entertaining us for years on stage, through radio, television and in films. He has held main character roles in numerous high profile productions such as the TV Series 'Blackpool', his main role in AMC's The Walking Dead as Philip Blake, AKA The Governor, Sky Atlantic's new action-fantasy series Britannia as well the BBC's TV Series The City and the City. Morrissey is a true Liverpudlian success story.

Clive Barker

Clive Barker is a much celebrated horror writer and director. His work spans numerous mediums including novels, comic books, film, video games, plays and collectables. He is a horror icon on par with that of Stephen King and John Carpenter. He is possibly most notable for his novels Hellraiser and Candyman being turned into major motion pictures. He took strong creative direction with how the epicly successful franchises were shaped as he either directed, produced, or wrote them (or did a mixture of the three roles).

As a gay man, Barker portrays the LGBTQ+ community through his work in which the community has strongly applaud him for, it has also been appreciated that he has portrayed LGBTQ+ characters is done in a realistic and tasteful way. Barker is a keen artist and has had his paintings and illustrations exhibited, featuring in galleries across the United States.

Craig Charles

Craig Charles has had a fantastically varied career. He is a famous face across the UK that I have known growing up; from his role as Lloyd Mullaney on Coronation Street to the host of the much adored TV Series Robot Wars and as main character Dave Lister in BBC's TV Series Red Dwarf for more than 70 episodes to date. He has also been a DJ for BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music. In addition to all of these accomplishments, Charles has also turned his hand to stand-up comedy, film acting and even writing where he authored his autobiography, and even had a monthly column in The Liverpool Echo during the mid 2000s.

Rebecca Ferguson

Rebecca Ferguson is a singer that rose to prominence after coming 2nd Place in The X-Factor in 2010. She moved around the city as she grew up; living in areas such as Huyton, Woolton and Anfield. Rebecca has released 5 Studio Albums and has been nominated for awards such as The MOBOs and The MTV Music Awards. She has been signed with record labels including Sony, Epic and Columbia.

Shirley Ballas

Shirley Ballas, The Queen of Latin. Shirley is from Wallasey in the Wirral Borough of the Liverpool City Region. She has won a number of Championships which resulted in her nickname, The Queen of Latin. She has now become both nationally and internationally famous as Head Judge of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing TV Series, after replacing Len Goodman in the role. Ballas has also recently appeared on BBC's highly emotional Who Do You Think You Are? TV Show where she delves into her family's history.

Willy Russell

Willy Russell is an exceptionally famous and critically acclaimed playwright, lyricist and composer from Whiston. He is known for creating Educating Rita, Blood Brothers, Shirley Valentine and Our Day Out. Educating Rita became a highly successful film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters playing the lead roles, Russell himself won an Oscar for his screenplay.

Ray Quinn

Born in Liverpool's Borough of Knowsley, Ray Quinn has appeared on the hugely popular Liverpool-based Brookside TV Series and built on that success by coming in 2nd Place on The X-Factor in 2006. He has since won the 4th Series of ITV's beloved Dancing on Ice TV Series in 2009 and then won again in 2014 in Dancing on Ice: All Stars! He has had a #1 UK Chart song 'Doing It My Way', appeared in a large number of film and TV roles, in addition to narrating books on the radio and appearing in theatre plays and musicals.

Jason Isaacs

Isaacs has had countless major roles in numerous films, television shows, video games and in performances on stage. From his early role as a main character in the cult classic Event Horizon to his more recent roles as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter Saga spanning seven global hit films, Hap in Netflix's innovative original The AO and as Captain of The Discovery, Gabriel Lorca, in Netflix's original epic Star Trek TV Series.

Peter Serafinowicz

Peter Serafinowicz is an actor, voice actor, writer & comedian who has achieved outstanding feats during his career so far. He has been seen on television and in cinemas countless times with many credits to his name. He is the main character in Amazon Prime's The Tick, Garthan Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy, the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Aldo in 2015's action packed comedy 'Spy' alongside Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham.

Kim Cattrall

Kim Cattrall is a wonderful actress from Mossley Hill who has appeared on TV, film and on Broadway! Kim is known worldwide for her main role as Samantha Jones in HBO's Sex and the City in which she was nominated for and has won numerous Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards! She also won the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady is a national treasure. Born Liverpool's Borough of Wirral, the multi-talented star is an actor, writer, TV presenter, comedian, former Drag Queen, radio show host and personality. He has continually jumped from strength to strength with over 700+ episodes of his teatime talk show, 'The Paul O'Grady Show', which aired for 15 Seasons. He has also hosted a number of TV Shows such as 'For The Love of Dogs' and 'Animal Orphans'.

O'Grady has truly become a beloved entertainment icon across the UK, with fans able to enjoy his comforting Scouse accent on BBC Radio 2 and watch his heartwarming television shows. He has been recognised for his contributions to entertainment with Liverpool John Moores University presenting him with a Fellowship and The Queen honouring him with an MBE.

Jodie Comer

Jodie Comer is an actress that has risen to stardom through her incredible, starring performances Killing Eve, The White Princess and Doctor Foster. Jodie has also appeared in a considerable number of other TV Shows such as Law & Order: UK, Thirteen, Doctors, Holby City, Casualty and Good Cop.