Valentine Pelka

Valentine Pelka is an English actor with a long record in film, television and theater, born in Dewsbury. He studied English at university and then trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, picking up stage combat and horse riding that later suited the historical and action parts he often played. His professional debut came in 1983, in the chorus of the Oedipus Trilogy, and he moved into television the following year, when his early roles were largely historical figures, among them Shammah in King David (1985). He played Roland, the rebel leader, in the first series of Crossbow in 1987, spent 1992 to 1993 with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he took the title role in Hamlet, and appeared as Kronos in Highlander: The Series. Other credits include Colonel Montoya in Queen of Swords, and the best known of his feature films was Roman Polanski's The Pianist.