Jonathan Harden(I)
- Actor
- Director
Jonathan Harden is an Irish actor of Central European heritage, born in Belfast in 1979 to an American mother. He is best known Brendan in Jimmy McGovern's prison drama Time, 'Jonty' in the BAFTA-winning Blue Lights, the abusive Martin Baxter in SXSW winner Mix Tape, and Gregory in the final series of Peep Show.
Harden is a much in-demand voice actor and voiceover artist, and provided the narration for 2015 BAFTA-winning short film Boogaloo and Graham. He has also provided voices for several video games, most notably as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. In 2014, Harden was responsible for bringing a new species in the Halo universe to life on screen, playing Axl in the Ridley Scott produced, Halo: Nightfall.
Harden's stage credits include Henry Joy McCracken in Stewart Parker's Northern Star at the Finborough Theatre and Children of the Sun at the Royal National Theatre under the direction of Howard Davies.
In 2015, Harden launched The Honest Actors' Podcast, a project centered on interviews with other jobbing actors and available on iTunes. It made top podcast lists on Buzzfeed and the iPaper and was a Metro Podcast of the week, before winning the UK Blog Award in the Best Arts category.
In 2017, he produced and directed his first film project, Guard, a female-led boxing film set in Belfast. It had its debut at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2017, and soon after had its North American premiere at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. In 2018, it was followed by Troubles, on the subject of male mental health, which again debuted at the Galway Film Fleadh.
In 2021, Harden appeared in Jimmy McGovern's prison drama Time as lifer, Brendan Murphy. The role earned him praise from many, with Esquire calling this performance, "a highly-charged, emotive turn, and the Sunday Life noting it as "superb". Since then, he has worked a further two times with director Lewis Arnold, while also appearing in three series of Blue Lights, alongside a steady train of other screen work.
He has been married to writer/actress Bronágh Taggart since 2008.
Harden is a much in-demand voice actor and voiceover artist, and provided the narration for 2015 BAFTA-winning short film Boogaloo and Graham. He has also provided voices for several video games, most notably as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. In 2014, Harden was responsible for bringing a new species in the Halo universe to life on screen, playing Axl in the Ridley Scott produced, Halo: Nightfall.
Harden's stage credits include Henry Joy McCracken in Stewart Parker's Northern Star at the Finborough Theatre and Children of the Sun at the Royal National Theatre under the direction of Howard Davies.
In 2015, Harden launched The Honest Actors' Podcast, a project centered on interviews with other jobbing actors and available on iTunes. It made top podcast lists on Buzzfeed and the iPaper and was a Metro Podcast of the week, before winning the UK Blog Award in the Best Arts category.
In 2017, he produced and directed his first film project, Guard, a female-led boxing film set in Belfast. It had its debut at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2017, and soon after had its North American premiere at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. In 2018, it was followed by Troubles, on the subject of male mental health, which again debuted at the Galway Film Fleadh.
In 2021, Harden appeared in Jimmy McGovern's prison drama Time as lifer, Brendan Murphy. The role earned him praise from many, with Esquire calling this performance, "a highly-charged, emotive turn, and the Sunday Life noting it as "superb". Since then, he has worked a further two times with director Lewis Arnold, while also appearing in three series of Blue Lights, alongside a steady train of other screen work.
He has been married to writer/actress Bronágh Taggart since 2008.
