Michael Sheen is a Welsh stage and screen actor. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sheen made his professional debut in 1991, starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre. He worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s and made notable stage appearances in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool With Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997) and Henry V (1997). His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively.
In the 2000s, while continuing to make sporadic stage appearances, Sheen became known primarily as a screen actor. In 2003, he starred in the film Underworld as Lucian, the leader of the Lycans, a role he had once again in 2006's Underworld: Evolution via archive footage. Also in 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse and had a breakthrough performance as the British politician Tony Blair in the television film The Deal . He received a BAFTA Award nomination in 2004 for his work in the ITV drama Dirty Filthy Love . In 2006, Sheen starred as the troubled comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's Fantabulosa! and came to the attention of an international audience when he reprised his role as Blair in The Queen . Both performances were BAFTA Award-nominated. Sheen received a fourth Olivier Award nomination in 2006 for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon at the Donmar Warehouse and he later revisited the role of Frost in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. In 2009, Sheen appeared in two fantasy films, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and The Twilight Saga: New Moon , and starred as the outspoken football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United .
In the 2010s, Sheen has divided his time between film, television and theatre work. In 2010, he made a four-episode guest appearance in the NBC comedy 30 Rock and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Blair in the HBO film The Special Relationship . He appeared in the science-fiction film Tron: Legacy (2010) and Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011). At Easter 2011, Sheen directed and starred in National Theatre Wales's The Passion, a 72-hour secular passion play staged in his hometown of Port Talbot. From October 2011 until January 2012, Sheen played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic.
Sheen has also appeared in many radio productions, particularly in the early years of his career. Notable radio play appearances include Strangers on a Train (1994) opposite Bill Nighy, The Importance of Being Earnest (1995) opposite Judi Dench, Romeo and Juliet (1997) opposite Kate Beckinsale, Troy (1998) opposite Paul Scofield and The Pretenders (2004) opposite, again, Paul Scofield. He has also narrated five novels and presented a series of documentaries for BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4.
Year | Title | Role | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Gallowglass | Joe | BBC2 | |
Maigret | Philippe | ITV | Episode: "Maigret and the Night Club Dancer" | |
In Suspicious Circumstances | William Wright | Episode: "Candle in the Window" [15] | ||
Sean's Show | James | Channel 4 | Season 2, episode 6 | |
1997 | The Grand | Thomas Jordon | ITV | Season 1, episode 4 |
1998 | Lost in France | Owen | BBC2 | |
Animated Epics: Beowulf | Wiglaf (voice) | HBO, BBC, S4C | ||
1999 | Doomwatch: Winter Angel | Angel (voice) | Channel 5 | |
2003 | The Deal | Tony Blair | Channel 4 | |
2004 | Dirty Filthy Love | Mark Furness | ITV | Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actor Nominated – Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor |
2006 | Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire | Nero | BBC One | Season 1 episode 1 |
H. G. Wells: War with the World | H. G. Wells | BBC Two | ||
Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! | Kenneth Williams | BBC Four | Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actor | |
Bremner, Bird & Fortune | David Frost | Season 9, episode 1 [16] [17] | ||
2009 | A Child’s Christmases in Wales | Narrator (voice) | ||
2010 | 30 Rock | Wesley Snipes | NBC | 4 episodes – Season 4, episodes 14, 15, 21 and 22 Nominated – Online Film & Television Association Awards for Best Guest Actor In A Comedy Series [18] |
The Special Relationship | Tony Blair | HBO | Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Online Film & Television Association Awards for Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries [19] | |
2011 | Doctor Who | House (voice) | BBC One | Episode: "The Doctor's Wife" |
Passion in Port Talbot | BBC One Wales | Director | ||
2013–16 | Masters of Sex | William H. Masters | Showtime | Also producer Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama Nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series |
2014 | The Spoils of Babylon | Chet Halner | IFC | 2 episodes |
2015 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Season 4, episode 17 | |
The Spoils Before Dying | Kenton Price | 4 episodes | ||
7 Days in Hell | Caspian Wint | HBO | Television film | |
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off | Himself | BBC One | Third episode of the four-part charity version of The Great British Bake Off [20] Won the title of Star Baker | |
2017 | Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special | Carl Flossy | Netflix | Variety special |
The Simpsons | William H. Masters (voice) | FOX | Episode: "Kamp Krustier" | |
2018 | Animals. | Trotts / Motts (voice) | HBO | 2 episodes |
2019 | The Good Fight | Roland Blum | CBS All Access | 7 episodes [21] |
Pobol y Cwm | Dr. Hughes | S4C | Guest role | |
Celebrity Chase: Soccer Aid Special (spinoff of The Chase) | Himself | ITV | Contestant [22] | |
Pointless Celebrities | BBC One | Contestant [23] | ||
2019–2021 | There's Something About Movies | Team Captain | Sky One | 4 series |
Prodigal Son | Dr. Martin Whitly | FOX | Main role | |
2019–present | Good Omens | Aziraphale | Amazon Video, BBC Two | Miniseries Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in Streaming Presentation Nominated – Tell-Tale TV Award for Favorite Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie [24] Tell-Tale TV Award for Favorite Performer in a Sci-fi / Fantasy / Horror Series [25] Nominated – ASTRA Television Award for Best Actor in a Streaming Comedy Series [26] |
2020 | Quiz | Chris Tarrant | ITV | Three-episode miniseries Nominated – OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Limited Series [27] Nominated – Welsh BAFTA Award for Best Actor [28] Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor [29] [30] |
2020–2022 | Staged | Michael | BBC One | 20 episode comedy, 3 series Also executive producer |
2022 | The Sandman | Paul | Netflix | Episode: "Dream of a Thousand Cats" |
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama | David Sherborne | Channel 4 | Main role in two-part drama series | |
2023 | Best Interests | Andrew | BBC One | Main role [31] Also executive producer Series Mania for Best Actor in International Competition [32] [33] |
2024 | The Way | Denny Driscoll | BBC One | creator, director and executive producer [34] [35] |
A Very Royal Scandal | Prince Andrew | Amazon Prime Video | ||
The Wheel | Panel | BBC One | Series 5, episode 4 [36] | |
2025 | Michael McIntyre's Big Show | Send To All guest | BBC One | Season 8, episode 2 [37] [38] [39] |
Year | Title | Voice role | Radio Station / Production Company |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Much Ado About Nothing | Claudio | BBC |
1994 | Crime and Punishment | Narrator | Naxos AudioBooks |
Strangers on a Train | BBC Radio 4 | ||
Great Poets of the Romantic Age | Narrator | Naxos AudioBooks | |
1995 | The Idiot | ||
The Picture of Dorian Gray | Narrator | ||
Dangerous Liaisons | Vicomte de Valmont | ||
Alaska | Frank | BBC Radio 4 | |
The Importance of Being Earnest | Jack | ||
1996 | The Old Testament | Narrator | Naxos AudioBooks |
The Great Poets – John Keats | |||
1997 | Poets of the Great War | ||
Lady Windermere's Fan | Lord Darlington | ||
Romeo and Juliet | Romeo, Director | ||
The Great Poets – Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Narrator | ||
The West Pier | Gorse | BBC Radio 4 | |
A White Merc With Fins | Narrator | ||
1998 | Walton: Henry V | Naxos AudioBooks | |
Troy | Paris | BBC Radio 3 | |
1999 | A Lover’s Gift: From Him to Her - poetry anthology | Narrator | Naxos AudioBooks |
Oedipus | Oedipus | ||
The Essential Dylan Thomas: Poetry and Stories | Narrator | ||
Walton: Hamlet/As You Like It | |||
Hamlet | Hamlet | BBC Radio 3 | |
2004 | The Pretenders | Håkon Håkonsson | |
2005 | Stories from Shakespeare | Narrator | Naxos AudioBooks |
2007 | Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | BBC Radio 4 | |
2010 | Hello, Good Evening and Welcome: The David Frost Story | Presenter | BBC Radio 2 |
Kenneth Tynan's Theatre Writings | BBC Radio 4 | ||
The Richard Burton Legacy | |||
Playing the Dane | |||
2011 | A Month of Sundays | BBC 6 Music | |
2013 | The Ocean at the End of the Lane | Narrator | BBC Radio 4 |
2017 | La Belle Sauvage | Reader | Audible |
Port Talbot Paradiso | Narrator | BBC Radio Wales | |
2018 | Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds - The Musical Drama | George, The Journalist | Audible |
2019 | The Secret Commonwealth | Reader | |
2020 | The Sandman | Lucifer | |
2021 | Christmas Day with Michael Sheen | Presenter [40] | BBC Radio Wales |
2022 | Michael Sheen: Margins to Mainstream | Presenter | BBC Radio Wales [41] [42] |
2024 | Michael Sheen Gets Into Character | Presenter [43] | BBC Radio 4 |
Buried | Hearsay witness [44] | BBC Radio 4 | |
Poetry Please | Guest | BBC Radio 4 [45] [46] |
Sheen has appeared in many other productions for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service including The Blind Men, The Left Over Heart (Johnny), Sailing with Homer, The Life of Christ and Wiglaf . However, the broadcast dates of these productions are unknown.
John Michael Bird was an English actor, director, writer and satirist. He performed in the television satire boom of the 1960s, appearing in That Was the Week That Was. His television work included many appearances with John Fortune. Bird had an acting career in film, television, theatre and radio for over 55 years. He appeared in films including Take A Girl Like You (1970) and Jabberwocky (1977) as well as in television shows such as Joint Account, Marmalade Atkins, El C.I.D. and Chambers. He and Fortune also starred with Rory Bremner in the sketch show Bremner, Bird and Fortune (1993–2010), on Channel 4, which was nominated for BAFTA TV Awards.
John Courtney Fortune was an English actor, writer and satirist, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the television series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, an International Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Michael Christopher Sheen is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool with Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997), and Henry V (1997). He received Olivier Awards nominations for his performances in Amadeus (1998) at the Old Vic, Look Back in Anger (1999) at the National Theatre and Caligula (2003) at the Donmar Warehouse.
William Francis Nighy is an English actor. Known for his work in numerous stage, television and film productions, he has received several awards including a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award, and also has had nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005). He gained wider recognition for playing Tom Wambsgans in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards, two BAFTA TV Awards, and a Golden Globe Award.
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, his accolades include a British Academy Television Award and two Laurence Olivier Awards, along with nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.
Georgia Elizabeth Tennant is an English actress and producer. She played Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon's daughter Abigail in The Bill, Jenny in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter" and Lady Vivian in the show Merlin.
Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks, DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021) and Hannah Stern in The Split (2018–2024). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress. She is known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Kevin Edward Allen is an English actor, director, producer and writer. Allen came to prominence with the 1991 BBC film On the March with Bobby's Army, and for writing and directing his debut feature film, Twin Town, in 1997. He directed and co-wrote the movie adaptation of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood", submitted for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Oscars ceremony but not nominated, the Hollywood feature films, The Big Tease and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, and the first series of ITV's Benidorm, along with numerous other films and documentaries.
Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). From 2019 to 2022, she portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).
Joanna Marion Scanlan is a British actress and writer. On television, she is known for her roles in The Thick of It (2005–2012), Big School (2013–2014), Puppy Love (2014), No Offence (2015–2018), Requiem (2018), and The Larkins (2021). She was nominated for three BAFTA TV Awards for Getting On (2009–2012), including two for Best Writing.
Aneurin Barnard is a Welsh actor. He is known for playing Davey in Hunky Dory, Claude in The Truth About Emanuel, Bobby Willis in Cilla, Tim in Thirteen, King Richard III in The White Queen, William in Dead in a Week or Your Money Back, Gibson in Dunkirk, and Boris Pavlikovsky in The Goldfinch.
Monica Margaret Dolan is an English actress. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult (2011).
Adeel Akhtar is a British actor. He is known for his role in Murdered by My Father, for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2017. He is also known for Utopia, Ali & Ava, and Sherwood (2022), for which he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. He won the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards for his role in Sweet Tooth in 2023.
Thomas Cullen is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film Weekend (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series Downton Abbey, and as Sir Landry in the historical drama series Knightfall. He also appeared in another historical drama playing the role of Thomas Seymour in Becoming Elizabeth.
Best Interests is a four-part British television drama series, written by Jack Thorne. It stars Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen as a married couple, fighting for their disabled daughter's medical care. It premiered on 12 June 2023.
Misha Manson-Smith is a British director and screenwriter. He is known for directing high-end television dramas including The Feed, Kiss Me First and No Offence and for creating satirical comedy series with Marc Wootton that blur fiction and reality. He has been nominated for three BAFTAs including the Breakthrough Talent Award for Directing.
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