Anatol Yusef

Many of the viewers who knew Anatol Yusef for his memorable performance as Prohibition-era gangster Meyer Lansky on the series "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-14) might be surprised to hear him speak in his native accent. Far from an old-school American criminal, Yusef was born in England in 1978, to parents of Turkish Cypriot heritage. Yusef was only 12 when he booked his first major job, appearing in two episodes of the hit Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie comedy "Jeeves and Wooster" (ITV, 1990-93). By the time he was a teenager, Yusef was ready to study his craft in a formal setting, enrolling at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Not long after graduating, he made his feature film debut in the drama "Last Orders" (2001). Yusef would also continue to act on stage, earning notable acclaim for his performance as Mercutio in a production of "Romeo and Juliet" at the Birmingham Rep in 2006. It was in 2010 that Yusef was cast as Meyer in "Boardwalk Empire," and he stuck with the series until it wrapped in 2014. Then in 2017, Yusef took on the role of a heavenly being with a very tough job on the series "Preacher" (AMC, 2016- ), adapted from the comic of the same name.