Jesse Birdsall is an English actor, known for his role as Marcus Tandy in the BBC1 soap opera Eldorado, his role in the adventure series Bugs as Nick Beckett and his role as Fraser Black in Hollyoaks.
Education
As a child, he attended the Anna Scher children"s theatre school in Islington, and in his teens appeared in Nanette Newman"s children"s cooking programme, Fun Food Factory and in several television plays and series, usually with his trademark rockabilly look.
Career
Also an extra with one line, ("Watch it mate!"), in an episode of Minder from 1980 entitled "Don"t Tell Them Willie Boy was Here". He first came to wider public attention in the serial Annika in 1984, his first notable television role. He then subsequently appeared in the films Wish You Were Here (1987), directed by David Leland and co-starring Emily Lloyd, Getting lieutenant Right (1989), and Beyond Bedlam (1994).
Another notable television role was his portrayal of slick playboy Marcus Tandy in the infamous BBC1 soap opera Eldorado, which ran for just one year from 1992-1993 and gained a reputation as one of the biggest television flops of all time.
Nonetheless, the amount of coverage the programme received for its perceived low quality and lack of success would gain Birdsall much exposure, and from 1995 to 1999 he played one of the lead characters in another BBC1 programme, the successful futuristic action/adventure series Bugs. In 2002 he appeared in an episode of "Murder in Mind", S2xE04, called "Swansong".
Twice he guest-starred in Midsomer Murders - in the episodes Market for Murder and Small Mercies (as two separate characters). He also appeared in several episodes of the Independent Television police drama The Bill in 2003 as a character named Ron Gregory, and for the same network appeared as a regular in series 3-5 of the popular drama Football player"s Wives.
He had a small role in the British Broadcasting Corporation One soap opera EastEnders in August 2012, playing John Hewland, jilted fiancé of Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), in two episodes.
He played the role of Fraser Black in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks but left the show in spring 2014 following a whodunit storyline in which he was murdered.