<P> Bean has done voice - over work, mostly in the British advertising industry . He has featured in television adverts for O2, Morrisons and Barnardos as well as for Acuvue and the Sci - Fi Channel in the United States . He also does the voice over for the National Blood Service's television and radio campaign . For the role playing video game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, he voiced Martin Septim . Bean's distinctive voice has also been used in the intro and outro segments of the BBC Formula 1 racing coverage for the 2011 and 2012 seasons . </P> <P> Bean completed a one - hour pilot, Faceless, for US television . He has also appeared in Outlaw, an independent British production, and a remake of 1986 horror film, The Hitcher (released in January 2007); here he used an American accent again . In 2009, he appeared in the Red Riding trilogy as the malevolent John Dawson . He also appeared in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), playing the role of Zeus, the king of Mount Olympus and god of the sky, thunder, and lightning . Also that year, Bean starred in Cash, playing the lead role of Pyke Kubic, a dangerous man determined to recover his wealth in a bad economy . Cash explored the role money plays in today's hard economic times . Bean also played the villain's twin brother, Reese . </P> <P> Bean starred in the first season of Game of Thrones, HBO's adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin, playing the part of Lord Eddard Stark . Bean and Peter Dinklage were the two actors whose inclusion show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss considered necessary for the show to become a success, and for whose roles no other actors were considered . His portrayal won him critical praise; as The A.V. Club's reviewer put it, he "portrayed Ned as a man who knew he lived in the muck but hoped for better and assumed everyone else would come along for the ride ." HBO's promotional efforts focused on Bean as the show's leading man and best - known actor . </P> <P> In August 2012, Bean appeared as cross-dressing teacher Simon in the opening episode of the second season of UK television series Accused, a role which would earn him a Royal Television Society best actor award . He starred in Soldiers of Fortune and the 2012 film Cleanskin, in which he plays a secret service agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a suicide bomber and his terrorist cell . </P>

Who plays eddard stark in game of thrones