Robert Sean Leonard makes earnestness worth watching. His Neil Perry gives Dead Poets Society much of its urgency, and we value the way he works alongside another actor without making the scene a competition.
Fi1m perspective
In Dead Poets Society (1989), Robert Sean Leonard makes a schoolboy's wish for a less prescribed life feel urgent. As Neil Perry, he gives the invitation to think independently a weight that the film's classroom lessons alone could not supply. Ethan Hawke is more hesitant in his response to encouragement, and Peter Weir lets both actors take their time. We were moved by the boys' responses because Leonard's eagerness and Hawke's hesitation make the same invitation matter in different ways.
His Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) belongs to a different kind of ensemble. In Kenneth Branagh's adaptation, our chief pleasure is the sparring romance between Branagh and Emma Thompson. It is chiefly for those two that we recommend the film, with a reservation about physical comedy that sometimes needs reining in. It is still worth following Leonard there, particularly as an introduction to the classical material that occupies a substantial part of his stage career.
The theatre work includes A. E. Housman in The Invention of Love (2001) and Edmund Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night (2003). His stage credits encompass Shakespeare, Stoppard, O'Neill and Shaw. Television gave him a long-running part as Dr James Wilson in House (2004–2012), alongside Hugh Laurie. As the lead character's best friend and the programme's moral centre, Wilson offers a place for the loyalty and emotional nuance that suit Leonard. There is no need to treat supporting work as a disappointing substitute for film stardom.
The caution is that sincerity needs a director who will let it do its work. In Dead Poets Society, the script and score sometimes insist on the lessons after Leonard and Hawke have made them felt. Weir's patience with their performances earns our recommendation despite that tidiness. Start there for Leonard, and pay as much attention to the pupils as to the man standing in front of them.
Biography
Robert Sean Leonard is an American actor. Born Robert Lawrence Leonard on 28 February 1969 in Westwood, New Jersey, he trained at Fordham University, Columbia University and HB Studio in New York.
He began his career on stage in the 1980s and has appeared in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Leonard won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in The Invention of Love (2001).
On screen he is known for the role of Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society (1989) and Dr James Wilson in the series House (2004–2012). His other film credits include The Age of Innocence (1993) and Much Ado About Nothing (1993), in which he played Claudio.
