dazzling - The Guardian (National Theatre)
Both shows are lit up by ...Vera Chok - What's On Stage (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company)
York and alternately clownish and tragic Vera Chok are the standouts - Time Out (The Shed, NT)
Vera Chok is bewitching - Sunday Times
Chok is remarkable - Exeunt
Most recently on screen as series regular Honour Chen-Williams in Channel 4’s flagship show, Hollyoaks, head of the FIRST EVER East Asian family in a British continuing drama. I trained at The Poor School, Ecole Philippe Gaulier and on the job. Currently touring multiple award-winning 2:22 - A Ghost Story.
I’ve also worked in most of the UK’s major theatre houses - The Globe, The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court, Manchester Royal Exchange, and been on in the West End several times. I love the process of working with writers to develop exciting new writing, but also relish the challenge of classics and long to play Shakespeare at The Globe, or Chekhov at the Barbican.
In the UK, Spotlight is the platform which holds our acting cvs. My Spotlight profile includes my screen showreel and voice reels.
IMdb stands for the Internet Movie Database and is an international industry list of recognised screen credits. This is my IMdb profile.
My journey (ack!) to becoming an actor
I started my formal training at The Poor School where I learned traditional fourth wall acting and the style was ultra-naturalistic. With this under my belt, I then did the required time in UK regional touring. I discovered - with great delight - that I knew how to work crowds of kids (the harshest critics) and adults (drunk or sober) in interactive, participatory, fast and physical shows. This is where I got my first taste of performing comedy.
However, I was swiftly drawn back into the world of drama, featuring in a spate of classic and political plays in London - the multiple Olivier-winning Chimerica (Almeida and West End), then The World of Extreme Happiness, and Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem at The National. I then played Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the exquisite Open Air Theatre, then joined Dame Judi Dench, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Zoe Wanamaker onto the West End again for the inaugural season of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company.
I returned to pursue comedy and clown skills by travelling to Paris. At Ecole Philippe Gaulier, whose famous alumni include Sacha Baron Cohen, Emma Thompson, Simon McBurney, and Isla Fisher, I learned, like Hilary and Chelsea Clinton did recently, to explore the power of comedy to change people’s lives.
In the background, I was also honing my physical theatre and ensemble performance skills by following Polish practitioners, following Grotowski and M. Chekhov’s teachings.
While I make my own work, I do love “straight” acting, where I can leave the responsibility of making behind me, and dive fully into a role. All the cliches apply - I long to take a break from myself, to speak beautifully crafted words, be feel extreme feelings in extraordinary circumstances, be the hero in the story, on stage or on screen, affect the life of whoever is watching and change it for the better, even if it’s momentary.
I’ve hired by most of the big new writing theatres, done heaps of radio and audiobooks, toured the UK in a small van, worn prosthetics and played aliens. I’ve had big agents and boutique ones, met with a LA exec and scammed by a photographer. At the end of the day, as Gaulier says, “people first, then theatre.” I take this as a reminder that my job or career does not nourish or define me. The people around me do.
It’s a privilege to have travelled this far, and to have more mentors, collaborators, audiences, and friends to meet ahead.