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Luke Rollason is a British actor and physical comedian. He plays a lead role in the Disney+ series Extraordinary, as Jizzlord.

Early life

Rollason studied English at the University of Oxford where he received the Mansfield Scholarship.

Career

Rollason attended clown school in France at the L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier. However, he told the British Comedy Guide he favours the use of the term “physical comedian” for himself. After university, he moved to London and where he performed comedy with homemade props. Seeing physical comedian Trygve Wakenshaw was “a revelation” to him, expanding his ideas of what could be done onstage. Rollason said the best advice Gaulier gave him was, "We are always searching. When you find your style, that is a good day to die".

At the 2022 Brighton Festival, Rollason set up The Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary to encourage performers from alternative backgrounds to bring unusual approaches to comedy. The bursary offers the cost of their registration fee, contributions to marketing costs and free rehearsal space. His 2022 show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was called Bowerbird. He had previously performed it at the 2021 fringe as a work-in-progress. It was described as a “madcap potpourri of mime and existential angst”.

In 2023 Rollason appeared in the lead role in Jack, a film about a university student, told from the point of view of his penis. He also had some small telelvision roles, including Becoming Elizabeth and Industry.

In December 2021, Rollason was cast in the Disney+ series Extraordinary as Jizzlord, a shapeshifting cat/human. The show was broadcast in January 2023 and was well received enough to be renewed for a second season by Disney+ that same month. Rollason described Extraordinary as "probably the first thing that I auditioned for where the script made me laugh out loud". He said his background in physical comedy helped him with his role in the show, and that where he always had "quite an unusual body…very slender and quite bony looking", being a physical stage performer "helped me feel a lot more confident about my body, in ways that now feel like very second nature to me". Although Extraordinary is nominally a super-hero series, Rollason spoke about how "those powers often end up being a reflection of that character's own insecurities about themselves". Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote that Rollason played the part "with great charm". His performance was named one of the 10 best TV performances of 2023 by The Hollywood Reporter.

Selected filmography

References

1. "FROM THE SENIOR TUTOR". issuu.com.
2. "Luke Rollason". Onthemic.co.uk.
3. "Luke Rollason". Comedy.co.uk. 23 January 2023.
4. "Luke Rollason interview". Squaremile.com. 25 January 2023.<
5. "WINDOW: Luke Rollason's Planet Earth". Voice Mag.
6. "Comedian Founds Own Memorial Bursary for Brighton Fringe". Beyond The Joke. 5 January 2022.
7. "Interview with physical comedian Luke Rollason". Voicemag.uk.
8. "A Digital Pint with… Luke Rollason, bringing his Psychedelic Domestic Breakdown 'Bowerbird' to EdFringe 2022". Binge Fringe.
9. "Luke Rollason Bowerbird". List.co.Uk.
10. "Jack". Comedy.co.uk.
11. "Extraordinary cast: Meet the stars of Disney Plus superhero comedy". Radio Times.
12. "Luke Rollason Stars In Disney+ Superhero Comedy Extraordinary". Comedy.co.uk. 6 December 2021.
13. "Disney+ Greenlights Second Season Of Superhero Series 'Extraordinary' From 'Killing Eve' Producer Sid Gentle". Deadline. 25 January 2023.
14. "I TALK TO Luke Rollason". I talk telly. 23 January 2023.
15. "'Extraordinary' Cast Talks Superpowers and What Drew Them to the Series". Collider. 28 January 2023.
16. "'Extraordinary' Review: The Power of Powerlessness". New York Times.
17. "Best TV Performances of 2023". The Hollywood Reporter. 18 December 2023.

External links

• Luke Rollason at IMDb

• Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford
• Living people
• English television actors
• English male comedians
• English clowns
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors