Paul Henshall was born in Staffordshire to Raymonde and Jullian Henshall. Being nine weeks premature left Paul with cerebral palsy and doctors said he’d never sit up or speak. Luckily he’s been able to prove them wrong.

During his final years at Blackfriars School in Newcastle - under- Lyme he began to appear in school productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver and My Fair Lady in which he played Professor Higgins at 14! After leaving school he enrolled at Stoke-on-Trent College on a Performing Arts First Diploma which led to a BTEC National Diploma.

Paul found his first year at college to be terrifying, overwhelming, but hugely exciting all at the same time and it gave him the confidence to appear at his favourite theatre, the Theatre Royal, Hanley, as Herod in “Jesus Christ Superstar” in a purple toga and eyeshadow! After being at school studying everything but drama, (the very subject he wanted to study,) Paul found college afforded him the opportunity to finally learn what he wanted and landed roles in “An Inspector Calls”(Mr Birling) and the stage version of “Cabaret” (Herr Shultz).

After college Paul enrolled at drama school, which wasn’t easy as, at the time, very few drama schools had wheelchair access or even accepted that actors with disabilities were worth training. Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre was different, however, and Paul became the first wheelchair user to train there.

Performances whilst training included Richard III, Robbie Ross in “Our Country’s Good” and Gayev in “The Cherry Orchard” in a very rickety old Victorian bath chair (except for one scene where he ran across the stage on his crutches!) Paul also became the first disabled person to take and pass the British Academy of Dramatic Combat’s stage fighting exams.

Before he was even out of drama school Paul was invited by Graeae Theatre Company to play The Father in their tour of “Blood Wedding” – a bizarre experience as the actress playing his daughter was two years older than him!

Upon graduating, Paul landed the roles of David Hobbs in the final series of BBC1’s “Playing the Field”, and Chris Parsons in “The Nature of Vikings” for Radio 4.

Paul surprised himself at college by enjoying contemporary dance, something he thought he’d never be able to do, and spent two years with Frontline Dance a contemporary dance company based in Stoke-on-Trent, which integrates disabled and non-disabled dancers.

In 2001 Paul was one of winners of BBC Talent, which led to a guest role in “Casualty” He followed this with an acclaimed performance as Michael Scant opposite Paul Nichols in “A Thing Called Love” which he says is his favourite TV role to date. His performance as Michael impressed the producers of “Holby City” and they cast him as Dr Dean West, a role he played for 2 years.

His most recent role as Paul in BBC 3’s “I’m With Stupid” began in 2005. It was the first sitcom in which half the cast had disabilities and every disabled character was played by a genuinely disabled actor. The pilot episode was aired to critical acclaim and won a Royal Television Society award for Best Comedy.  

Since leaving Holby City,  Paul has worked on a rehearsed reading of a new play for Birmingham rep and appeared at the  Edinburgh fringe in 'Mutton' another new play at the Gillded Balloon.  Television wise, Paul can be seen in 'Rock Rivals' on ITV1 in 2008.