AJ Donnelly is a British actor and voice artist. Born in Bedford, England, AJ has worked in professional TV, film, theatre productions and commercials for more than a decade. In 2021, he was chosen by directors Zhang Yimou and Zhang Mo to play southern US Army officer Captain Williams in the movie ‘Ju Ji Shou’ (Snipers), which was released in Chinese cinemas on February 1st 2022. Most recently, he has worked with directors Chen Kaige (The Great War) and Li Jun (The Silicon Waves), meaning he has now worked with the three highest acclaimed directors in China.
While commonly seen in dramatic roles, AJ’s passion is for comedy. He performed for the first time at the age of 7, and appeared in multiple productions throughout his childhood, both at school and with various drama clubs, continuing into early adulthood when he joined local amateur theatre group the Bedford Marionettes, where he developed his skills in physical comedy.
Having been involved in theatre throughout his entire childhood and teen years, in 1999 AJ took a break from acting, returning to the stage in 2011 with amateur theatre group Beijing Playhouse’s production of the comedy ‘Love, Sex and the IRS’, playing the lead role of Leslie Arthur, and then in the Christmas panto ‘Cinderella’, playing Cinderella’s father, The Baron. After spending several years focusing on theatre in Beijing, in 2013 he landed a small role in the Chinese TV drama ‘Rong Hong’, which reignited his interest in on-camera acting.
AJ Donnelly returned to the stage in 2016 and 2017, as the first foreigner to star in a Chinese play at the Beijing Capital Theatre, playing Mr. Sattel in the drama ‘Paifang’, directed by Yang Lixin. Some of his many film and TV roles over the past few years include ‘Stride Across the Yalu River’ (2020), ‘The 13 Hongs of Canton’ (2021) and ‘Sea of Stars’ (2022).
Aside from acting, AJ also works as a voice artist, providing voice work for educational institutes in China, the UK and Singapore and doing movie narration and dubbing in Chinese productions such as The 800, The Foreigner, Defiance, Chasing the Dragon and Karl Marx.
(Source: IMDb Mini Biography)