He decided to pursue a professional acting career after being encouraged by his father and leaving Harrow Weald Grammar School.
[8][9] He appeared as an Irish-American mob boss in Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night, which was released in December 2016.
[10] He has been cast twice in Doctor Who, playing Salateen in The Caves of Androzani (1984) (opposite his Sink or Swim co-star Peter Davison) and Thomas Edison in "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" (2020).
[11] In June 2022 he appeared as Detective Inspector Salisbury in Sherwood, a BBC serial written by James Graham.
[15][16] In April 2019, it was reported that lawyers acting for a company owned by Glenister – Big Bad Wolff – had lost an appeal in a long-running battle with HM Revenue and Customs regarding liability for National Insurance contributions.