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Paul Shelley, a classically trained English character actor, was born Paul Matthews in Leeds, Yorkshire. He was one of three children of Henry Matthews, a shop steward, and his wife Kathleen. His elder brother was actor Francis Matthews, best known for voicing Captain Scarlet and portraying the refined detective Paul Temple in the 1969 television adaptation of Francis Durbridge's work.
Shelley's passion for acting began during his university years. After graduating from RADA in 1966, he built an extensive stage career, starting with repertory theatre and the Bristol Old Vic, later joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre for extended periods. His notable stage roles include Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Edmund in King Lear, and lead parts in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare's Globe. He also portrayed Duncan in Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre, with performances extending to the West End and New York. Additionally, Shelley has directed productions at the Theatre Royal in York and the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. As a prolific audiobook narrator, he has won the Audiophile Earphones Award three times.
Shelley debuted on screen in 1968 as Frank, the nephew of the Cheeryble Twins, in a BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby. Over a decade later, he appeared in another Dickens adaptation, playing both Charles Darnay and Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities (1980). His recurring role as a charming British agent in the WWII drama Secret Army (1977) led to the spin-off The Fourth Arm (1983), where he starred as the commander of a special unit sent to occupied France to sabotage Nazi V-1 missile sites. He also had a leading role as a jazz-playing country doctor in Paradise Postponed (1986), an ITV/Thames production based on John Mortimer's novel, later reprising the role in its sequel, Titmuss Regained (1991). Shelley's guest appearances include Blake's 7 (1978) as Major Provine, Doctor Who (1963) as the Minister of Persuasion, a shape-shifting android, and Midsomer Murders (1997) as Chief Constable Richard Lovell, Barnaby's superior.
Since 1999, Paul Shelley has been married to actress Paula Stockbridge. They met while touring with a stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. In a 2003 interview with The Northern Echo, Shelley remarked, "Our relationship developed over the snooker table. We were the only two members of the company who played snooker. And what else were we going to do in the afternoons?
