Brendan Coyle (born 2 December 1962) is a British-Irish actor. He won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for The Weir in 1999. He also played Nicholas Higgins in the miniseries North & South, Robert Timmins in the first three series of Lark Rise to Candleford, and more recently Mr Bates, the valet, in Downton Abbey, which earned him a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Brendan Coyle was born David Coyle in Corby, Northamptonshire, on 2 December 1962, the son of a Patrick B Coyle and Bedelia M B Anderson. He has an older brother named Shaun Due to his British birth and Irish heritage, he holds both British and Irish citizenship. He is the great-nephew of football manager Sir Matt Busby. He studied drama in Dublin in 1981 and received a scholarship to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London in 1983. Coyle received a Laurence Olivier Award in 1999 for his performance in Conor McPherson's The Weir and won a New York Critics Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut for the same play in its New York production. In 2001, Coyle appeared in the film Conspiracy as Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller. He played Kaz Sweeney in the British drama True Dare Kiss, and Nicholas Higgins in North & South for the BBC. From 2008 he played Robert Timmins in three BBC series based on the Lark Rise to Candleford novels, written by Flora Thompson. In 2010, he began playing John Bates, valet and former British Army batman to the Earl of Grantham in Julian Fellowes's period drama series, Downton Abbey. Fellowes wrote the part for Coyle, and it won him nominations for a BAFTA and IFTA as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Awards as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2012. He also won three Screen Actors Guild Awards 2013–16. Coyle also played the character of Terry Starling in the short-lived Sky comedy series Starlings. ​ 브렌던 코일(1963년생, Corby, Northamptonshire, England, UK) 는 배우로, 대표작으로 미 비포 유, 다운튼 애비, 컨스피러시가 있으며, 그 외에도 무언의 목격자, 쉐임리스, 12 몽키즈, Waking the Dead, The Bill, Rockface, Prime Suspect, Blue Murder, Lark Rise to Candleford, 007 네버 다이, Saving Lives at Sea, 메리, 퀸 오브 스코틀랜드 등 다양한 작품에 출연했다. 특히 2026년에는 The One-Minute Problem에도 참여해서 활동중이다. (오뜨랑에서 실시간으로 번역된 한글 프로필도 확인할 수 있어요) 2026년 The One-Minute Problem에서 Wopsie 역을 맡았다. 2025년 다운튼 애비: 그랜드 피날레에서 John Bates 역을 맡았다. 2025년 몹랜드에서 Tosh Wick 역을 맡았다.