Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman Wins Best Newcomer Acting Award

Going from poker pro to TV star sounds like the wrong way round, but for Ross Boatman it has led to one of the industry’s major accolades – the Hendon Mobster winning 'Best Newcomer' award at the British Soap Awards this week!

Have some of that! pic.twitter.com/MtR5SMoNGe

— Barny Boatman (@barnyboatman) June 11, 2022

Ross, along with brother Barney who tweeted his congratulations above from the WSOP in Vegas, Ram Vaswami and Joe Beevers were the original Hendon Mob.

The London-based quartet shot to fame and fortune in the late 90’s on the back of Late Night Poker, the iconic show bringing smoky backroom cash games to a televised audience.

With $2million of sponsored buy-ins from Prima Poker and later sponsorship from Full Tilt, the four pros went on to bag almost $12million between them in tournament cashes:

• Ross Boatman: $2,000,597
  
• Barney Boatman: $3,595,000
  
• Ram Vaswami: $3,553,682
  
• Joe Beevers: $2,595,911
  

Ross, however, already had an acting career, starring on both TV and the big screen as far back as 1987 and appearing as Kevin Medhurst for several years in the hit drama London’s Burning, about firefighters in the English capital.

This week’s award as 'Best Newcomer' award at the British Soap Awards is for his role as Harvey Monroe in the long-running soap Eastenders, which he joined last July.

Although he has said many times that he prefers acting to poker, Ross still finds time to play, a 2nd spot in the Seniors 50+ event at the recent Irish Poker Open in Dublin testament to his skills.

Ross Boatman isn’t the only actor/poker pro, of course, “Chucky” star Jennifer Tilly one of the most famous to mix both games while High Stakes Poker commentator, Gabe Kaplan, was famous for his role as schoolteacher Gabe Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter before turning to cards.

Double Academy Awards nominee, James Woods, spends more time at the poker tables than in front of a camera, and the list of actors who play poker and poker players who have been in movies is a long one indeed.