Mark Umbers

Last updated

Mark Umbers
Born (1973-06-17) 17 June 1973 (age 51)
Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
NationalityEnglish
Education Malsis School
Sedbergh School
Alma mater Oxford University
OccupationActor
Years active1995–present

Mark Umbers (born 17 June 1973) is an English theatre, film and television actor.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, Umbers was brought up in Wetherby and was educated at Malsis School before attending Sedbergh School. In 1995 he graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Latin and Greek literature and philosophy.

Career

Umbers' first professional engagements were in 1997 in the BBC dramas The Student Prince and Berkeley Square . [1] His theatre debut was the lead role in a production of The Pirates of Penzance which transferred to Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London. [2] [3]

Trevor Nunn and John Caird cast Umbers in their multi-award-winning 1999 season at the Royal National Theatre, where he appeared in productions including The Merchant of Venice , which was later filmed for broadcast by the BBC. [4] After playing Lord Sidney opposite Richard E. Grant in the BBC series The Scarlet Pimpernel , [5] Umbers returned to the National to play Freddy in the acclaimed 2001 revival of My Fair Lady, later transferring to Theatre Royal Drury Lane. [6] In her Evening Standard review, Zoe Williams suggested that Umbers was ‘known throughout the western world as the most beautiful man ever seen’. [7]

In 2002 Umbers appeared alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Vortex, Michael Grandage's inaugural production at the Donmar Warehouse. [8]

In 2004, he was cast opposite Scarlett Johansson in A Good Woman . [9]

In 2005, he played the lead role of Perkin Warbeck in Channel 4's historical drama Princes in the Tower. [10] After playing opposite Anjelica Huston and Lauren Bacall in These Foolish Things , [11] [12] his third role that year was alongside John Malkovich in Colour Me Kubrick . [13] [14] He then played Lt. Robert Maynard in the mini-series Blackbeard (2006) opposite Jessica Chastain. [15]

In 2007, Umbers played the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie alongside Jessica Lange in the West End to critical acclaim. [16] [17] [18] [19] Later that year Steven Soderbergh cast Umbers as Roth in Che: Part Two . [20] The following year, he starred in the second series of the BBC drama Mistresses [21] and the BBC film of The Turn of the Screw , playing the Master opposite Michelle Dockery. [22]

The Menier Chocolate Factory cast Umbers in their revival of Sweet Charity , the first production of the show to have only one leading man, [23] with Umbers playing all the love-interest roles. The production transferred to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2010. [24] [25] Of Umbers' performance, Michael Coveney wrote in The Independent that "it's unusual to have such a level of performance in a musical...and it raises everyone else's game." [26]

After appearing in the ITV drama Eternal Law, in 2011 Umbers played Frank Hunter in The Browning Version opposite Anna Chancellor at Chichester Festival Theatre. The play was performed in a double bill with David Hare's new play South Downs and transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in April 2012. [27] [28]

Umbers returned to the Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2012, to play the central role of Franklin Shepard in Maria Friedman's multi-award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along . [29] [30] [31] The production transferred with its original cast to the Harold Pinter Theatre on 1 May 2013, [32] [33] [34] receiving (at that time) more 5 star reviews than any other production in West End history, [35] along with the Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best Musical revival. The production was filmed and subsequently screened in cinemas worldwide. [36]

Between 2014 and 2016, Umbers played Wing Commander Nick Lucas in the ITV and PBS World War Two drama Home Fires. After playing the lead role of Georg in She Loves Me at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2016, [37] he played Robert Walsh in David Hare's Netflix series Collateral alongside Carey Mulligan. [38]

In August 2017, he reprised his role as Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along for Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, again directed by Friedman. The Boston Globe described his performance as "simply extraordinary". [39] HuffPost cited Stephen Sondheim as having said that Umbers was the best in the role that he had ever seen. [40] Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times: "For the first time in my experience, Frank is the beating, shattered heart of the show...a consequence Mr. Umbers’s startlingly sympathetic performance of a (usually unsympathetic) man to whom fame happens." [41]

Umbers played Roger Moore in the HBO Hervé Villechaize biopic My Dinner with Hervé . Umbers and Peter Dinklage recreated the fight scene between James Bond and villain Nick Nack from The Man with the Golden Gun for the film. [42] [43]

As of 2023, Umbers is currently playing Cecil Ainsworth in the ITV drama Hotel Portofino.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998 Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon PC Denham
2004 A Good Woman Robert Windemere
2005 Colour Me Kubrick Piers
2005 These Foolish Things Douglas Middleton
2013 Merrily We Roll Along Franklin ShepardFilm recording of the musical [44]
2017 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Baron #2
2020 Dolittle Lieutenant

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1997The Prince of HeartsElliotTelevision movie
1998 Silent Witness Male StudentEpisodes: "An Academic Exercise: Parts 1 & 2"
1998 Berkeley Square Sidney ChambersEpisode: "Gone a'Hunting"
1998 Casualty Nick WorthingtonEpisodes: "Internal Inferno: Parts 1 & 2"
1999 The Bill David WebsterEpisode: "Long Term Investment"
2000 Trust SimonTelevision movie
2000 The Scarlet Pimpernel Lord SidneyEpisode: "A Good Name"
2001 Masterpiece Theatre SolanioEpisode: "The Merchant of Venice"
2003 Foyle's War Rex TalbotEpisode: "Among the Few"
2004 Midsomer Murders Neville WilliamsEpisode: "Sins of Commission"
2005Princes in the Tower Perkin Warbeck Television movie
2006Pirates:The True Story of Blackbeard Lt. Robert Maynard 3 episodes
Television miniseries
2007 Heartbeat Jimbo BradyEpisode: "Out of Africa"
2008 Midsomer Murders Harry FitzroyEpisode: "Blood Wedding"
2008 Harley Street James DavisonEpisode: #1.4
2009 Mistresses Dan Tate6 episodes
2009 The Turn of the Screw MasterTelevision movie
2012 Eternal Law Major John Parker2 episodes
2014Agatha Christie: Ordeal by InnocenceCalgary3 episodes
Television miniseries
2015–2016 Home Fires Nick Lucas11 episodes
2018 Collateral Robert Walsh2 episodes
Television miniseries
2018 My Dinner with Hervé Roger Moore Television movie
2019 Father Brown Nicholai SoloveyEpisode: "The Honourable Thief"
2020 Grantchester Wyatt RogersEpisode: #5.3
2020 Brave New World Warden CortezEpisode: "Want & Consequence"
2022 Hotel Portofino Cecil AinsworthMain role

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Beckley</span> Australian actor

Michael Beckley is an Australian actor. He has worked with major theatre companies in both Australia and the United Kingdom, appearing on London's West End in A Few Good Men(starring Rob Lowe) and Cabaret He is best known for playing Rhys Sutherland in Australian television series Home and Away from 2000 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Russell</span> British actress

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George in the West End and on Broadway, receiving the Tony Award nomination and the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. She has also appeared in several television series, including Born and Bred and EastEnders.

Maria Friedman is a British actress and director, best known for her work in musical theatre.

Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana, Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space, and The Great (2020–2023).

John Doyle is a Scottish stage director of musicals and plays, as well as operas. He served as artistic director at several regional theatres in the United Kingdom, where he staged more than 200 professional productions during his career spanning over 40 years.

<i>Merrily We Roll Along</i> (musical) 1981 musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth

Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Lonny Price is an American director, actor, and writer, primarily in theatre. He is best known for his New York directing work, including Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, Company, and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his creation of the role of Charley Kringas in the Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along, Neil Kellerman in Dirty Dancing, and Ronnie Crawford in The Muppets Take Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menier Chocolate Factory</span> Theatre in Southwark, London

The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat Off-West End theatre, which comprises a bar and theatre offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janie Dee</span> British actress

Janie Dee is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Evans (actor)</span> Welsh actor

Daniel Gwyn Evans is a Welsh actor and director.

Clare Foster is a British actress, known for portraying the role of PC Millie Brown in the ITV series The Bill. Foster appeared in the 2011 London revival production of Crazy for You, which played at the Novello Theatre, in the 2016-2017 revival production of Tom Stoppard's Travesties first at the Menier Chocolate Factory and later at the Apollo Theatre and in the 2018 West End revival of Consent.

Josefina Gabrielle Holmes, professionally known as Josefina Gabrielle, is a British actress and former ballet dancer, best known for her performances in West End musicals and plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonia Friedman</span> British theatre producer (born 1965)

Sonia Friedman is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first person to win the award three times. In 2018, Friedman was featured in "TIME100", Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was named Broadway Briefing's Show Person of the Year. In 2019, Sonia Friedman Productions was ranked The Stage 's most influential theatre producer in The Stage 100.

Jamie Lloyd is a British director, best known for his work with his eponymous theatre company The Jamie Lloyd Company. He is known for his modern minimalism and expressionist directorial style. He is a proponent of affordable theatre for young and diverse audiences, and has been praised as "redefining West End theatre". The Daily Telegraph critic Dominic Cavendish wrote of Lloyd, "Few directors have Lloyd’s ability to transport us to the upper echelons of theatrical pleasure."

David Loud is an American music supervisor, music director, conductor, vocal and dance arranger, pianist and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with and interpretations of the music of both Kander and Ebb and Stephen Sondheim.

Anna Francolini is an English actress.

Michael Hayden is an actor who has appeared both on the Broadway and West End stage, as well as on television. His best known role was Billy Bigelow in the stage musical, Carousel. He received both Laurence Olivier Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for his performance in the role.

Damian Humbley is an Australian singer and actor. Born in Queensland, he trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He is best known for his work on the stage in the UK, notable credits including acclaimed productions of Stephen Sondheim musicals such as Company at the Sheffield Crucible and Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Glyn Kerslake is a British actor who was born in 1967 in Devon. He trained as an actor at Arts Educational Schools, London. He has had an extensive career spanning more than 30 years playing leading roles in the West End and regional theatres nationwide, and has been a soloist in many orchestral concerts and radio broadcasts.

Sylphide Charity Vaigncourt-Strallen, known professionally as Zizi Strallen, is a British actress, singer and dancer best known for playing Mary Poppins in the Cameron Mackintosh theatrical production of Mary Poppins.

References

  1. ↑ IMDb, Mark Umbers
  2. ↑ Miles Kington article in The Independent 1998
  3. ↑ Michael Billington's Guardian review of The Pirates of Penzance, 2000
  4. ↑ Masterpiece Theater, The Merchant of Venice
  5. ↑ IMDb The Scarlet Pimpernel: A Good Name
  6. ↑ Variety review "My Fair Lady" 20 March 2001
  7. ↑ "Fair Lady fails to impress all". 10 April 2012.
  8. ↑ Shenton, Mark (11 December 2002). "In the grip of the Vortex". BBC. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Washington Post review of A Good Woman 2006
  10. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald interview with Mark Umbers, 2008
  11. ↑ IMDb credits, These Foolish Things
  12. ↑ "These foolish things".
  13. ↑ IMDb credits, Color Me Kubrick
  14. ↑ Austin Chronicle review, Color Me Kubrick
  15. ↑ Laura Fries review of Blackbeard, Variety 2006
  16. ↑ Financial Times review The Glass Menagerie 2007
  17. ↑ Review round-up The Glass Menagerie 2007
  18. ↑ Evening Standard review The Glass Menagerie 2007
  19. ↑ "'The Entertainer' outshines 2 other revivals on London stage (Published 2007)". The New York Times .
  20. ↑ IMDb credits, Che: Part Two
  21. ↑ BBC press release: Mistresses
  22. ↑ BBC press release: The Turn of the Screw, 2009
  23. ↑ Official London Theatre interview, 2010
  24. ↑ The Spectator review Sweet Charity 2009
  25. ↑ The Independent review Sweet Charity 2009
  26. ↑ The Independent review Sweet Charity 2010
  27. ↑ "South Downs/The Browning Version, Harold Pinter Theatre, review". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 22 October 2021.
  28. ↑ The Arts Desk review The Browning Version 2012
  29. ↑ "Merrily We Roll Along – review". The Guardian . 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022.
  30. ↑ The Arts Desk review Merrily We Roll Along 2012
  31. ↑ "London Theater Journal: Memory Plays". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 8 March 2022.
  32. ↑ "Merrily We Roll Along, The Harold Pinter Theatre, review". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 7 April 2023.
  33. ↑ The Independent review Merrily We Roll Along 2013
  34. ↑ Daily Express review Merrily We Roll Along 2013
  35. ↑ Official London Theatre, 2013
  36. ↑ New York Times article by Ben Brantley, October 2013
  37. ↑ The Observer review of She Loves Me, 2016
  38. ↑ Digital Spy, 2018
  39. ↑ Boston Globe review of Merrily We Roll Along, September 2017
  40. ↑ HuffPost interview with Mark Umbers, August 2017
  41. ↑ Ben Brantley's New York Times review of Merrily We Roll Along, October 2017
  42. ↑ Sir Roger Moore on Twitter, 2017
  43. ↑ Mark Umbers interview, October 2018
  44. ↑ "Sondheim Guide / Merrily We Roll Along" . Retrieved 19 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.