Marsan was born on 9 June 1968[1] in the Stepney district of London to a working-class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother was a school dinner lady and teaching assistant.[2][3] He was brought up in Bethnal Green and attended Raine's Foundation School.[4] He left school at 16 and initially served an apprenticeship as a printer before beginning his career in theatre.[3]
He trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, graduating in 1991,[5] and went on to study under Sam Kogan[6] at the Kogan Academy of Dramatic Arts,[7] now known as The School of the Science of Acting,[7] of which Marsan is now a patron.[8] His first year at drama school was funded by Mr Benny, a bookmaker who ran a menswear shop where Marsan worked; he obtained scholarships for the rest of the course. It took many attempts for Marsan to get a place at drama school.[9]
Career
Marsan at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Marsan appeared as Mitch Winehouse, father of Amy Winehouse, in the biopic Back to Black, which was released in 2024.[17]
Personal life
Marsan married make-up artist Janine Schneider in 2002. They have four children.[18] Marsan is a humanist and was appointed a patron of Humanists UK in 2015.[19] He was critical of the lack of representation of working-class people in the arts in 2015 on BBC Radio 5 Live in which he stated too much drama is written from "the white, privileged, middle class perspective".[20] In 2024 he was interviewed on HARDtalk with an episode entitled "Do the arts neglect working-class people?".[9]
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