Glenn Carter

Glenn Carter (born 27 March 1964) is an English stage actor and singer-songwriter performing leading roles in musicals staged in London's West End. He is a longtime leader of the British branch of the international UFO religion, the Raëlian Movement.

Early life

Carter was born in Staffordshire, England and grew up in Connah's Quay. He trained at the Arts Educational School in London.

Performing career

West End productions

Carter has appeared on London's West End stages in musical productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Chess, Whistle Down the Wind, and Les Misérables.[1] In 2008, Carter took up the role of "Tommy DeVito" in the London premiere of the musical, Jersey Boys, a part which he continued to play until March 2010.

Carter has been cast as Jesus in several productions of Jesus Christ Superstar.[2] In 1996, 23 years after the closure of the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar, the Really Useful Theatre Company revived the show in the West End, in which Carter replaced Steve Balsamo as Jesus. In 1998, Really Useful mounted a touring production in the UK which did not include Carter in any of the leading roles. In 1999, Really Useful planned to tour North America with the production, but eventually curtailed the tour to just Broadway. Carter was again cast as Jesus in this production.[1] In 2004/2005, Carter toured the UK for six months in the lead role as 'Jesus' in the new UK touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Other

In 2011, Carter played the title role in Floyd Collins at Southwark Playhouse directed by Derek Bond.[3] Carter has also worked in repertory theatre at the Derby Playhouse, his most recent role being Buzz Aldrin in Moon Landing (music drama). He has played roles in the TV shows The Bill and Doctors. Carter was cast as the corrupt and hypocritical fictitious chat show host Patrick Chase in British music act Chase and Status video for their 2010 single "Let You Go".

A film adaptation of "Jesus Christ Superstar" was released in 2000, starring Carter as Jesus, Jérôme Pradon as Judas, Renee Castle as Mary Magdalene and Rik Mayall as Herod. The film was directed by Gale Edwards and Nick Morris.

Involvement with the Raëlian Movement

Carter has been the President of the UK branch of the Raëlian Movement since 2002.[4][5] According to Raëlian doctrine, humans were created by 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) aliens. The organisation's head, Raël (former auto racer Claude Vorilhon), founded the Movement in 1973 at the instigation of one of the aliens and declared that the world should be governed in the form of a "money-less society, governed by a World College of Geniuses".[6]

In 2002, in the week following the claim by Clonaid (which has ties to Raëlianism) to have cloned a human, Carter told the press "the evidence would be supplied in the next few days".[7] In February 2003, it was announced that Carter would participate in a panel debate on the ethics of human cloning before an audience of Oxford University students.[8][9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Internet Movie Database, Glenn Carter page
  2. ↑ Tim Rice Website, Jesus Christ Superstar page
  3. ↑ http://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/index.php/archives/floyd-collins/
  4. ↑ Glenn Carter Raelian site, Are you a cult?
  5. ↑ Rael.org, "Meet Raelians". Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  6. ↑ Rael Press, item.90.1 (13 May 2008)
  7. ↑ "Calls for UK review of cloning". BBC News. 28 December 2002. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  8. ↑ "Raelian cloning debate". 6 February 2003. Archived from the original on 7 September 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "Raelians!". 13 February 2003. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2008.

References

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