Craig Robert Yates (full name) was born in Nottingham (England) as the youngest of five and started acting at the age of 10. His first professional job was the role of Mark, in Barry Hines’ ‘The Price of Coal’ at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1984. In his school years, he also played the title role in ‘Oliver’.
When he was 17, he decided to attend drama school in London, A chance audition for a pop band, steered Craig off in to the music business for a few years. The Group ‘Deuce’ scored 4 top ten British hits, a top twenty album and appearances on acclaimed show ‘Top of The Pops’ 7 times. Craig left the band in 1996 to resume his passion for acting. Not before becoming the new face of MTV in the UK, hosting the hugely successful show ‘Select’. This lead him to hosting for ‘GMTV’ (UK version of the Today Show). Then in 1999, a starring role on the award wining show ‘Dream Team’ beckoned : Craig played the villain Alex Wilkinson for 76 episodes.
His next move was a big one, across the Atlantic in fact, to the hills of Hollywood, where Craig met his manager Louisa Spring. Throughout the early 2000’s, Craig starred in a plethora of shows, including MTV’s ‘Spyder Games’, ‘S Club 7’, ‘Charmed’, ‘The District’, and ‘Sabrina The Teenage Witch’. Adapting to LA life, Craig missed treading the boards, so joined an all British theatre company called ‘Nomad’, here he performed in the plays ‘The body’ and ‘Red Star’, and ‘Boise, USA’. TV pilots followed on ‘Zoey 101′, playing Jamie Lynn Spears’ mentor. He then wrote and starred in a movie called ‘Wannabe’ that was bought by Warner Brothers and later developed into a TV Pilot with Marta Kaufman (The creator of ‘Friends’).
A role on Lost soon followed, which was the first of many JJ. Abrahms shows he has appeared in. In 2007, Craig starred in all episodes of Just For Kicks, the Whoopi Goldberg produced show for Nickelodeon, garnering great reviews for the role of Coach Moore. Craig has been busy in the last few years with movie roles in horror classic Slaughter for Lionsgate, and A Numbers Game alongside Steven Bauer. Starring turns in the TV shows What about Brian (JJ. Abrahms), David Mamet’s show The Unit, the remake of Melrose Place, and the fan favorite ‘Alfred Hoffman’ in the Sci-Fi Hit Fringe. This past year Craig played a recurring role on ABC Family’s 10 Things I Hate About You playing Frank Kline.
Craig stars as Piet Hartog in the World War 2 movie Return to the Hiding Place, a true story about a real life hero (Piet Hartog) as the leader of a Dutch resistance group which rescues the occupants of a Jewish orphanage in Haarlem.
He got ready to tread the boards again in Me, as a penguin, written by Tom Wells. The play makes its North American debut in January 2011. A guest star turn on the Hit CBS show NCIS: Los Angeles, as the Romanian ‘Dracul Comescu’.
Craig Robert Young recently joined the cast of Michael Bay’s The Last Ship which aired in the UK during the Summer ’15. Recent Guest starring roles in the last ever season of Hot in Cleveland and Hit the Floor, and a lead role in Caper Andreas’ Kiss Me, Kill Me will round out the year.
Nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Drama at the 2015’s LA Theatre Awards for his portrayal of Nicky Lancaster in Noel Coward’s The Vortex, he previously was named best actor at the LA Scene and Stage Awards for the same production.
In his spare time, Craig is the CEO of a business called ‘Brits in LA’, an online social community for British ex-pats in LA. He’s also the co-founder of UKares.
Updated on Sept. 21,2015
CRAIG ROBERT YOUNG ONLINE 