Harry Holland is a British actor, director, and writer. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him.

Life and career

Harry Holland was born in 1941 in Glasgow. He spent his childhood in various parts of the UK before settling with his mother, stepfather and brother in London in 1951. He was educated at Rutlish Grammar School, Merton. From 1965 to 1969, he studied at Saint Martin's School of Art, where he exhibited at the graduation show in 1969. Initially working mainly as a copyist and illustrator, Holland went on to teach at Coventry College of Art, also in Stourbridge and Hull, before moving to the Cardiff School of Art in 1973. By 1978, he was able to commit solely to painting, following the purchase of his work by the collector Charles Saatchi.

Holland was one of four "painters of promise for the 1980s" nominated by the Financial Times critic, William Packer, in a 1978 Vogue magazine article spotlighting a new generation, published as Packer was curating the British Art Show which would open in 1979.

During the 1980s, Holland exhibited in New York, Brussels and Paris. In London, his work was shown at the Thumb Gallery (later known as the Jill George Gallery) from 1988, and also at the Albemarle Gallery. Since 1992, Holland has exhibited regularly at the Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff, where he has had several one-man shows. He has also had long associations with the Mineta Move gallery in Brussels and with Il Polittico in Rome.