Edward William "Ed" Wilson, FRSA (13 July 1947 – 2 February 2008) was an English actor and the artistic director of the National Youth Theatre from 1987 to 2003; he later moved to Los Angeles.
Born in South Shields, County Durham, the son of Thomasina (née Moore), and William James Wilson, a pitman, he attended the local grammar school.
[1][2][3] While still a schoolboy, Wilson performed at the National Youth Theatre (NYT) in London during his summer holidays, having auditioned for its founder-director Michael Croft.
There he auditioned and nurtured many notable talents, including Daniel Craig, Orlando Bloom, Catherine Tate, Jessica Hynes (Stevenson) and Little Britain stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
[2] He directed the West End premiere of Nightshriek, a rock musical interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth by Trisha Ward, which won a Time Out Critics' Award (1986) for its teenage writer, beating such professional productions as The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.