Born in London andraised in Tokyo until the age of eight,Will Sharpeis half-Japanese, and half-British, and grew up that way. His exposure and growing up in two cultures influenced his acting, writing, directing, and comedy. He often incorporates the idiosyncrasies of both countries in his best works, such asGiri/Haji, andFlowers, a show he created, directed, and starred in and eventually gave him the recognition he deserved.
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In every film or television series he is involved in, he makes a masterpiece out of; Will Sharpe is the next face of film and television and one who is worth looking out for. His melancholic comedies will make you laugh one minute and immediately cry the next.
‘The White Lotus’ (2021 - 2023)
The White Lotusis an anthology television series that follows a week in the life of the guests and employees of the White Lotus resort chain. With each episode, these picture-perfect tourists and employees unravel their deepest impulses and darkest sides that stem from a place of privilege and power. Each season follows different stories and characters; the first season is in Hawaii, and the second is in Sicily, Italy.
In the most recent second season, Will Sharpe plays the role of Ethan Spiller, a wealthy tech entrepreneur, who agrees to go to the White Lotus resort on a couples’ vacation with his wife, Harper (Aubrey Plaza). They also invite their wealthy friends, Cameron (Theo James) and his wife, Daphne (Meghann Fahy), to come along. As the story progresses, they show their inner demons and the true meaning behind their relationships and friendships.The second season ofThe White Lotushas been fully released on Netflix.
‘The House’ (2022)
The Houseis a stop-motion animated anthology film that follows different stories and characters from different eras but is set inside the same house. The film is divided into three stories: “I - And heard within, a lie is spun;” “II - Then lost is truth that can’t be won;” “III - Listen again and seek the sun.” Will Sharpe voices the character of a cat, Elias, in “III - Listen again and seek the sun.”
The Houseexplores and deals withthemes of wealth, obsession, and the pursuit of happiness.It also won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for the film’s animator,Kecy Salangad.
‘Landscapers’ (2021)
Landscapersis a black comedy crime drama miniseries inspired by the real-life events of a couple, Susan (Olivia Colman) and Christopher Edwards (David Thewlis), who killed Susan’s parents and buried their bodies in the back garden of their home in Mansfield, England. For years, the couple covered their crimes by pretending that Susan’s parents were still alive, such as sending Christmas cards and reassuring people that Susan’s parents were on vacation. InLandscapers, we attempt to understand how the seemingly meek-appearing pair ended up doing such heinous acts to those close to them and how their crimes remained undiscovered for over a decade.
Created byEd Sinclairand directed byWill Sharpe,Landscapersowes its success to Sharpe’s unique directorial take on a true crime event which achieved a “more experimental and playful piece of work” and the two phenomenal performances of Colman and Thewlis.
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‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’ (2021)
Set in the early 1900s and based on the life of British artistLouis Wain(Benedict Cumberbatch),The Electrical Life of Louis Wainshows how the eccentric artist changed our perception of cats through his playful and psychedelic pictures of them. The public’s view of cats as semi-wild creatures whose only function was to kill rodents transformed into the idea that they could be harmless domestic pets.
Despite being an incredible artist, Wain’s ideas and beliefs became delusional; cats would soon be able to communicate with humans and turn blue. Not only that, he has a particular obsession with electricity as he “believed it to be a free-floating entity that drifted around the ether.” His only salvation might have been the mutual love he shared with his wife, Emily Richardson (Claire Foy). Will Sharpe brought eccentricity and boldness to the biopic of the equally eccentric and whimsical life of Louis Wain.
‘Giri/Haji’ (2019)
Tokyo detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira) travels to London to look for his brother, Yuto (Yōsuke Kubozuka), who had previously been assumed dead. As Kenzo navigates an unfamiliar London, he crosses paths with DC Sarah Weitzmann (Kelly Macdonald), who works in the Metropolitan Police, and a young half-Japanese, half-British sex worker, Rodney Yamaguchi (Will Sharpe). Kenzo struggles to juggle between looking for his brother in a foreign city and having to support his family back in Tokyo.
Giri/Hajiis a perfect juxtaposition yet a fusion between good and bad, English and Japanese, male and female. The beautifully stylized series is praised for Sharpe’s (who also starred in it) direction, script, cinematography, complex characters, and actors.Giri/Hajiexcelled in every aspect of its filmmaking, especially in steering away from Hollywood clichés and providing an experience of an unstereotypical and unfetishized Japanese culture.
‘Defending the Guilty’ (2018 - 2019)
Defending the Guiltyis a British sitcom thatfollows a young and naive pupil barrister, Will Packham (Will Sharpe), who is competing with three others for the only available place in the chambers as a criminal barrister.
Other than calling herself “Mummy,” Caroline Bratt (Katherine Parkinson) serves as a mentor to Will and the three other pupil barristers whom she refers to by nicknames such as DJ Stupid (Will Packham), Angry Chav (Danielle Sadler, played byGwyneth Keyworth), Lanky Poison Twat (Liam Mingay, played byHugh Coles), and Hot Robot (Pia,Hanako Footman).
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‘Flowers’ (2016 - 2018)
The Flowers family consists of the depressed father and children’s author Maurice (Julian Barratt); the overthinking music teacher wife Deborah (Olivia Colman); the envious and competitive son Donald (Daniel Rigby); the bipolar musician daughter Amy (Sophia Di Martino). When a Japanese fan, Shun (Will Sharpe), writes a touching letter to tell Maurice how much his work means to him, Maurice invites Shun to come to the Flowers’ home in England and offers him a position as his illustrator.
Despite the differences between Japanese and English cultures, Shun quickly becomes an integral member of the Flowers family. And although Shun appears to be an optimistic, happy-go-lucky individual, he and every other member of the Flowers family tackle the everyday struggle of mental health. Created, written, and directed by the impeccable Will Sharpe, the touching dark comedy,Flowers,portrays an honest depiction of mental healthand the importance of understanding those who live with it every day.
‘The Darkest Universe’ (2016)
Zac (Will Sharpe) has lost everything in his life; his job, his girlfriend Eva (Sophia Di Martino), and most recently, his younger sister Alice (Tiani Ghosh), who vanished without a trace after going on a narrowboat trip with her mysterious boyfriend, Toby (Joe Thomas). As Alice has become a missing person, Zac goes to extreme lengths and makes it his mission to find his sister.
Zac becomes increasingly desperate with each passing day and begins to remember the weeks leading up to her disappearance. He wonders about her strange relationship with Toby and whether it had anything to do with their disappearance.The Darkest Universewas co-directed by Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe and written by Sharpe and Tiani Ghosh, who played the roles of Zac and Alice, respectively.
‘Sherlock’ (2012)
In “The Hounds of Baskerville,” the second episode of the second series ofSherlock, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his crime-solving sidekick, John Watson (Martin Freeman), work the case of Henry Knight (Russell Tovey).
Their investigation leads them to Baskerville, a military research base, where they meet Corporal Lyons (Will Sharpe), who shows them around the military base. While Sherlock and Watson successfully disguise their positions within the military, Corporal Lyons shows suspicion when they ask him questions about things that he expects them to know if they are who they claim to be.
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‘Black Pond’ (2011)
In another collaboration between Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe, the two ambitious filmmakers directed and edited a low-budget independent tragicomedy film,Black Pond. While walking his dog by a beauty spot, Tom Thompson (Chris Langham) meets and befriends a widower, Blake (Colin Hurley), who seems unstable and irrational. Despite this, Tom invites him to his house for a meal. However, an unexpected event occurs when Blake dies at their dinner table, leaving Tom and his wife, Sophie (Amanda Hadingue), shocked.
Six months later, their family friend Tim (Will Sharpe), who lives in a London flat with the two Thompson daughters, Jess (Helen Cripps) and Katie (Anna O’Grady), gets therapy from an unlawful therapist, Eric Sacks (Simon Amstell). Soon, the story accusing the Thompson family of “murdering” someone at the dining table of their house finds its way to the press. While the media bends the facts of reality, the Thompsons become publicly known as “The Family of Killers.”
