Bruce Payne

 ( Alumni Of The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art ) 

In 1993, Payne played a "charismatic" werewolf named Adam Garou in Full Eclipse. Joseph Savitski, who reviewed the film for Beyond Hollywood, stated, "Payne is masterful as Detective Garou, a seductive and evil villain with arrogance and confidence to spare. When he's on screen, Payne demands the attention of the audience, and you're hard pressed to resist his performance. Payne is also the perfect adversary, the kind you're supposed to hate, but who has the charisma to draw you in nonetheless".

In 1995, Payne played a "rogue FBI agent" named Karl Savak in director Kurt Wimmer's One Tough Bastard. One reviewer described Savak as "one of the most entertaining movie villains in low budget action flick history" and noted that "so awesome is Karl Savak that some lunatic has created a Facebook page in his honor". Another reviewer stated that "Bruce Payne, with his Whitesnake hair and nose ring is slimeball perfection as the villain". In 1998, he played Jurgen, a first-class and charismatic operative in season two of La Femme Nikita.

Salon.com's reviewer wrote that "Payne playing Kell as a cockney thug with triple crucifixes embedded in the heels of his Doc Martens, Payne is more fun than either of the stars". A reviewer for Trash City stated that " Endgame is pretty good, largely thanks to Bruce Payne's efforts as the bad guy, who is right up there with Clancy Brown's original decapitator", the Kurgan. Marke Andrews, writing for The Vancouver Sun, stated that Payne provided the "focal point" in the film and that he dived "into his role with gusto". Andrews also stated that Payne's 'facial expressions rival Jim Carrey's in The Mask'. Cherriece Wright, who reviewed the film for The Dispatch, stated that it contained "brilliant performances by Christopher Lambert and Bruce Payne". Wright stated that Payne "delivers a great performance as Jacob Kell blending smoothly the malicious vindictiveness of the embittered immortal with a sarcastic wit that provides needed humor".

In the same year, Payne played Damodar in Dungeons & Dragons, henchman of the malevolent Profion (played by Jeremy Irons). Although the film was critically panned, Payne's performance was reviewed favourably. One reviewer said that "Bruce Payne (Damodar) as Profion's nefarious assistant in his power-hungry schemes was the stand-out performance of all the actors in the film. Payne has a true lock on how to play a character that is menacing even without any show of power. His portrayal of Damodar calls to mind Doug Bradley's portrayal of Pinhead in the Hellraiser films, so coldly, coolly arrogant and confident is his character. Above and beyond the grade I give to this film, Payne has earned himself an A+ in my gradebook." Dungeons and Dragons. Prof J's Movie Reviews Another reviewer stated that Payne's performance proved that he is "one of Hollywood's more reliable villains".

Branden Chowen, who reviewed the film for Indie Pulse, stated that "the standout in the film is the man who returns for the sequel: Bruce Payne. His character is written to be one-note throughout, but Payne still manages to create an excellent villain. Once the audience gets past his blue lipstick, which is no small feat, Payne is a formidable and passionate force". The Charlotte Observer stated that "menacing Bruce Payne gives the film's one potent performance". Abbie Bernstein for Audio Video Revolution declared that Payne was "enjoyably evil as the secondary baddie in charge of capturing the rebels"

In 2004, Payne appeared as the "snarling" Neighbour, who "dabbles" in producing kinky virtual games in the dystopian horror mystery Paranoia 1.0. The film was nominated in the best film category at the Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival and at the Sundance Film Festival, and won the best film award at the Malaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema. John Fallon stated that as the Neighbour, Payne "laid on the charisma and the macho-ness thick".

In 2005, Payne returned to the role of Damodar in . Payne was the only member of the original cast in the sequel.

In 2006, he helped to launch the National Youth Theatre's 50th-anniversary programme along with Ian McKellen, Timothy Spall, Diana Quick, Paula Wilcox, Jonathan Wrather, newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, and Little Britain's Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

In 2012, Payne voiced a demon in the found-footage horror film Greystone Park (also known as The Asylum Tapes).

In 2013, Payne appeared in the Warner Bros. action film Getaway. Payne also appeared in the action film Vendetta as a sinister Whitehall mandarin named Mr. Rooker. One reviewer of the film gave it eight out of ten and stated that Payne "nearly steals the movie with a plum role as the icy head of British black ops". In addition, Payne portrayed Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hoess n a "superciliously evil" manner, in the French film Victor Young Perez, which concerns the life of the Jew flyweight boxer Victor Perez.

In 2015, Payne played Winston, a religious fanatic, in the horror film Re-Kill.

In 2018 Payne appeared in the anthology film London Unplugged, which premiered at the East End Film Festival.

In 2019 Payne was nominated in the category of Best Actor in a Feature Film at the FANtastic Horror Film Festival in San Diego, for his performance as Jacob in the horror film Acid Pit Stop.

In 2021 Payne gave a "brief but stunning turn as Damien, the arch bad guy" in British gangster thriller Nemesis. Carl Marsh stated that one scene in the film with Payne's character (Damien Osborne) and Billy Murray's character (John Morgan) reminded him of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino meeting in the Michael Mann film Heat and "was masterful". Chris Gelderd stated that "Payne is the perfect intimidating big-boss going up against Murray's cool and care-free kingpin".

Payne has been cast as Frank Warren in Michael-The Michael Watson Story, a biopic of boxer Michael Watson. He is also cast in sequel of the Finland superhero film, .

• Neil Young- Over and Over (1990) as a Stanley Kowalski esque character. Directed by Julien Temple.

Television advertisements

• NatWest (1983) as a Punk rock youth.
• Budweiser Bud Ice (1995) as a sinister spokesman.