Actor turned activist dies preparing for protest
Raphael Coleman, who quit university to ‘rebel full time’, collapsed while training to tackle poachers
RAPHAEL COLEMAN, a former child actor who left a career on screen and in science to become an influential Extinction Rebellion activist, has died while preparing to challenge poachers.
The protest group announced that he collapsed during physical training in South Africa on a trip to tackle illegal hunting and died aged 25.
His family said they were “utterly devastated but immensely proud of Raphael”, and were taking comfort in the legacy of conservation and activism the young man left behind.
Mr Coleman starred as a young boy in the 2005 film Nanny Mcphee, playing a rebellious child with a powerful intellect.
The actor abandoned his career as an actor to concentrate on his intellectual passions, then cut short his scientific ambitions to “rebel full time” as an environmental activist under the name James “Iggy” Fox.
He was said to be among the “first and most active members” of Extinction Rebellion.
Mr Coleman, who was arrested outside the Brazilian embassy in London last year during a demonstration against the burning of the Amazon rainforest, wrote that he was willing to face the perils of protest and would continue his work “in love for this world”.
His mother, writer Liz Jensen, said he was preparing to defend himself in court before he died.
She said on behalf of her family: “We are utterly devastated but immensely proud of Raphael, and comforted by the messages of support we have received from young activists all round the world.
As a zoologist, he had already seen first hand the dangers to wildlife in conservation projects all over the world, and he dedicated his life to halting the extinction of life as we know it.
“But let’s not just mourn him. Let’s do more. Let’s do what he would want if he were here now, to act for justice for wildlife, for ecosystems, for indigenous people, and for all those already suffering the devastation wrought by a fossil-heated world. Let’s shape a better future for us all.”
Mrs Jensen’s husband, Danish author Carsten Jensen, wrote online that Mr Coleman was one of the “first and most active members” of Extinction Rebellion, for which he produced videos and managed social media.
He added that Mr Coleman wore a defiant smile as he was arrested by police during protests in August 2019.
His activism followed an acting career spanning films such as It’s Alive and The Fourth Kind. In Nanny Mcphee he played Eric, one of the seven Brown children, in the 2005 film, when he was 11 years old.
His co-stars included Dame Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. The rebellious part he played was said to resemble his own character.
Mr Coleman abandoned a film career to travel, then take up academia, studying zoology at the University of Manchester
before ultimately cutting short plans for a masters to join burgeoning international protest group Extinction Rebellion.
In an article published by the group, the activist states his reasons for changing his career: “Science alone is silence. For people to act on science’s warnings and apply its solutions, its message needs shouting from the rooftops. Scientists are getting on the streets, refusing to be scribes of the apocalypse.”
‘Let’s not just mourn him. Let’s do what he would want if he were here now... Let’s shape a better future for us all’