Name
Ivan Kaye
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1961-07-01 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, UK
Biography
Ivan Kaye is internationally best known for his role as King Aelle in Vikings (2013-17). More recently, he has appeared as the goon leader Yankee in Gunpowder Milkshake (2021).
Kaye has been interested in acting from early childhood. A remarkably versatile actor, he already had a successful stage career in London's West End in dramatic and musical theatre before starting his work in television and film in his early thirties.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, he has been featured in over 50 roles in TV and film. Due to his enormous versatility, Ivan Kaye has been featured in a wide array of roles encompassing lead and main parts as well as antagonists, outright villains, and comical characters.
Recent major productions and roles include: drug baron Polo Yakur in Assassination Games (2011), the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza in The Borgias (2011-2013), Joshua Collins (father of the main character played by Johnny Depp) in Dark Shadows (2012), Ivar the Boneless in Hammer of the Gods (2013), King Aelle of Northumbria in Vikings (2013-2017), pub landlord Mick Sturrock in The Coroner (2015-2016) and goon leader Yankee in Gunpowder Milkshake (2021). All of these productions have reached an international audience and have been dubbed in several languages.
Kaye has also appeared in Layer Cake (2004) and is well-known in the UK as herdsman Bryan in BBC’s comedy series The Green Green Grass.
From October 2017 to January 2018 he returned to theatre after almost twenty years, starring as Tom Kettle in the critically acclaimed multi-award-winning stage play The Ferryman at the Gielgud Theatre London.
Kaye has also worked as a voice artist in several video games such as Star Wars The Old Republic, Stuntman, C-12 and more.
As a founder and director of Comedy Ink Productions together with actor/writer Douglas McFerran, he has produced and acted as a lead in short comedic offerings such as the mini-series Brilliant! (2007), the short film Sherlock Holmes Confidential (2013) and his recent dark comedy short Acter (2020).
Kaye has a reputation of being especially kind and appreciative towards his fans on social media and in person. He is a supporter of the Hounslow Urban Farm (where 'Green Green Grass' was partially filmed) and, with several other actors, the Justice for Andrew campaign, seeking justice for the murder of a young Liverpudlian. He has two grown-up daughters and lives in London.
Known For
6.106
Vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very ch...
6.913
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rule...
6.265
To protect an 8-year-old girl, a dangerous assassin reunites with her mother and her letha...
4.424
Action epic sees a passionate young man transform into a brutal warrior as he travels the ...
6.8
In this adaptation of the satirical British novel, Flora Poste, a plucky London society gi...
5.4
What started off as a whirlwind romance takes an unexpected turn when Mark discovers his b...
- 1995 Cold Comfort Farm as Reuben Starkadder
- 2021 The Dead Collectors as Peter
- 2012 Dark Shadows as Joshua Collins
- 2011 Assassination Games as Polo Yakur
- 2023 Apocalypse Clown as The Great Alphonso
- 2013 Hammer of the Gods as Ivar
- 2021 End of Term as Garth Stroman
- 2012 Tortoise in Love as Sean
- 2004 Control as Norton
- 2019 The King as Scrope
- 2019 For Love or Money as Patrick
- 2003 Inside the Mind of Paul Gascoigne as Narrator
- 2004 Layer Cake as Freddie Hurst
- 1997 Solomon as Adonijah
- 2021 Gunpowder Milkshake as Yankee
- 2019 Cliffs of Freedom as Ghazi Khalif
- 2004 Photo Finish as Herbie Harris
- 2020 The Dark Tower as Mayor Hart Thorin
- 1995 Bugs ( 1 episode )
- 2005 The Green Green Grass ( 32 episodes )
- 1984 The Bill ( 1 episode )
- 2013 Vikings ( 12 episodes ) as King Aelle
- 1998 Microsoap ( 26 episodes ) as Roger
- 1995 Faith in the Future ( 22 episodes )
- 2002 Dinotopia ( 1 episode )
- 2011 The Borgias ( 1 episode ) as Duke Ludovico Sforza
- 2011 The Borgias ( 3 episodes ) as Ludovico Sforza
- 1999 Bad Girls ( 2 episodes ) as Charlie Atkins
- 2015 Undercover ( 6 episodes ) as Garabed
- 2015 The Coroner ( 20 episodes ) as Mick Sturrock
- 2015 Vikings: Athelstan's Journal ( 2 episodes ) as King Aelle (archive footage)
- 1986 Casualty ( 1 episode ) as Guy
- 2022 Sister Boniface Mysteries ( 4 episodes ) as Ted Button
- 1989 The Paradise Club ( 1 episode ) as Arthur Burns
- 2011 Injustice ( 1 episode ) as DS Harry Bowman
- 2025 Brian and Maggie ( 2 episodes ) as Nigel Lawson
- 1997 Solomon ( 2 episodes ) as Adonijah
- 2000 A Dinner of Herbs ( 3 episodes ) as Dan Bannaman
- 2018 The Woman in White ( 1 episode ) as Pesca
- 2002 Lenny Blue ( 2 episodes ) as DI Ron Featherstone
- 1992 Sam Saturday ( 6 episodes ) as DI Sam Saturday
