Career
Born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, Godley began his acting career at the age of 9, in a British Broadcasting Corporation radio production of Hemingway"s My Old Manitoba His first stage role came at age 11, as Prince Giovanni in The White Devil at The Old Victoria His childhood career also included work at the National Theatre, in Lillian Helman"s Watch on the Rhine, and Close of Play, directed by Harold Pinter.
In 1984 Godley joined Alan Ayckbourn"s theatre company in Scarborough, where he stayed for three seasons.
Productions included June Moon and The Revengers" Comedies, both of which transferred to the West End, and Mr A"s Amazing Maze Plays, which transferred to the National Theatre. after which Godley went on to create a series of roles at the National, including Kenneth Williams in Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick. Michal, in Martin McDonagh"s The Pillowman, and the title role in Howard Davies" production of Paul.
He also played Jack Worthing in the West End production of The Importance of Being Earnest and Victor in both the West End and 2001 Broadway production of Noël Coward"s Private Lives. He played Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in Roundabout Theatre"s multi award winning Broadway revival of Anything Goes, and was Raymond Babitt in the West End production of Rain Manitoba opposite Josh Hartnett.
He was most recently seen in the lead role in a new adaptation by Dennis Kelly of Georg Kaiser"s 1912 German expressionist masterpiece, From Morning to Midnight, at the National Theatre.