Martin Ball is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 theatre and television actor. He was born and grew up in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. He trained at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art

The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...

, and graduated in 1992.

Career

Recent theatre includes Harry Bright in Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not...

, Richard in Terry Johnson

Terry Johnson (dramatist)

Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. He is a Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. At The Court he directed Dumb Show by Joe Penhall and opened his play Piano/Forte...

's Dead Funny at the Nottingham Playhouse

Nottingham Playhouse

The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...

; Colin in Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn

Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...

's Absent Friends

Absent Friends (play)

Absent Friends is a 1974 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.When Colin, a friend who has been absent, comes back to his circle of friends, his friends are worried about how to approach him over the death of his fiancée, Carol . Diana organizes a tea party for Colin's arrival...

, directed by Ayckbourn at his Stephen Joseph Theatre

Stephen Joseph Theatre

The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain....

 in Scarborough; Lord Fancourt Babberley in Charley's Aunt

Charley's Aunt

Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....

at the Crucible Theatre

Crucible Theatre

The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....

, Sheffield; Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...

at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

; originating the role of Dr. Dillamond in the West End production of Wicked

Wicked (musical)

Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...

, and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...

on a national tour.

Martin's television work includes playing Mr Steel, the Headmaster, in two series of Bernard's Watch; the twins' father in two series of Home Farm Twins; Andrew in two series of Keeping Mum

Keeping Mum

Keeping Mum is a 2005 British black comedy film starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze.-Plot:In the opening scene, as pregnant young Rosie Jones rides on a train, her very large trunk starts leaking blood...

; Dan McGill in two series of Chalk

Chalk (TV series)

Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997...

; Reverend Tim in Down To Earth; Dr Dave Masters in Casualty

Casualty (TV series)

Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...

and Reverend Mordaunt in Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Lord Fauntleroy is the first children's novel written by English playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was originally published as a serial in the St. Nicholas Magazine between November 1885 and October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's in 1886...

.

Other recent roles include Tim Frazier, QC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 in Family Affairs

Family Affairs

Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...

, Clive in Everything I Know About Men, Tim in Wild West

Wild West (TV series)

Wild West is a situation comedy screened from October 2002 until 2004 starring Dawn French and Catherine Tate. It was described as a dark comedy from the pen of Simon Nye and was filmed on location in Cornwall. Set in the hamlet of St Gweep, Wild West observes the strange goings-on in the local...

, Dr. Harry in Strange, Paul, the games master in My Dad's The Prime Minister, Frank in Back Home, Robert in Preserves (three-hander with Phyllida Law

Phyllida Law

-Personal life:Law was born in Glasgow, the daughter of William and Megsie Law, who divorced after World War II. She was married to Eric Thompson from 1957 until his death in 1982. Their two children Emma and Sophie Thompson are both actresses...

 and Elizabeth McGovern

Elizabeth McGovern

-Early life:McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Katharine Wolcott , a high school teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, Jr., a university professor. Her paternal grandfather was adventurer William Montgomery McGovern and her maternal great-grandfather was U.S. diplomat...

), Stephen Millar in The Bill

The Bill

The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

, Henry in Human Remains, Dennis Cooke in Badger, Simon Mugham in The Missing Postman, Harper in Wycliffe

Wycliffe (TV series)

Wycliffe is a British TV series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe . It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a...

, Jeff Hawkes in The Bill, Simon Lester in Anna Lee, Herr Koch in Genghis Cohen, a small part as Roger Davey in the 2008 Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

series premiere "Partners in Crime

Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)

"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride"...

" and Mark, a solicitor, in Summerhill

Summerhill (TV series)

Summerhill is a British children's television drama about the famously radical Summerhill School. Written by Alison Hume and directed by Jon East, it was first broadcast on the CBBC Channel in January 2008 and was subsequently nominated for three children's BAFTA awards - Best Drama, Best Writer ...

a CBBC drama.
Radio work includes Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...

, Jeffrey (plus various other characters) in The Cricket Plays, and Brian Dixon in Clare In The Community, all for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

Between June 2008 and April 2009, he starred as Mr Banks in the UK tour of Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins (musical)

Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...

, for which he was awarded a TMA Theatre Award for Best Supporting Performance in a [touring] Musical. From June 2009 until June 2011, he appeared in the London company of Les Misérables

Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

playing Thenardier. From August 2011 he will play Horace in the UK tour of Top Hat

Top Hat

Top Hat is a 1935 screwball comedy musical film in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick . He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont to win her affection...

 along side Summer Strallen

Summer Strallen

Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London...

 and Tom Chambers

Tom Chambers

Thomas Doane Chambers is a retired American NBA basketball player. Known for his strong shooting and high-flying dunks, Chambers was a NBA star during the 1980s and 1990s...

.

MusicalTalk

Martin Ball presented three episodes of the MusicalTalk - The UK's Musical Theatre Podcast. Such topics discussed thus far by Martin include Wicked, "Stagedooring" and The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto and opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old...

.

Personal life

Ball was once engaged to actress Letitia Dean

Letitia Dean

Letitia Dean is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Sharon Watts in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, who was one of the serial's original characters. Dean was part of the original cast in 1985 and remained in the series until 1995...

, most famous for playing the role of Sharon Watts

Sharon Rickman

Sharon Anne Rickman is a fictional character from the popular BBC1 soap opera EastEnders, played by Letitia Dean, who was a regular cast member for the first 10 years after the programme began on 19 February 1985. She returned in May 2001, and appeared on and off, having most recently appeared in...

 in the BBC soap opera EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

.

External links

• Something Good – Martin Ball's official fan site