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(born 5 February 1969), is a Welsh
stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave
in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre
in 1991. He worked predominantly on stage throughout the nineties and, while continuing to make sporadic stage appearances, he has appeared mainly on screen since 2003.
He is well-known for his portrayals of public figures, having starred as Kenneth Williams
in Fantabulosa!
(2006), as David Frost
in Frost/Nixon
(2008), as Brian Clough
in The Damned United
(2009) and as Tony Blair
in The Deal (2003), The Queen
(2006) and The Special Relationship
(2010).
"It's interesting that in searching for monsters to play you often end up playing leaders."
"It was a good place to grow up....I always loved it even though everyone else hated it and said, 'I can't wait to get out.' I suppose I always assumed that I would leave anyway so I never had a problem with it."
“I've never met anyone normal. Normal people - ie, people who aren't actors - are the most bizarre people you can ever come across. I'll talk to someone and come away thinking, they are clinically insane. The only way I can put that into what I do is by playing very extreme characters."
But I said to him look it must have been so strange for you to sit there, and watch someone playing you and acting out events from your life. He said "In the words of yogi beara it's like deja vu all over again". And I didn't know who yogi beara was. Apparently he's a base ball player, i thought he meant yogi bear. which made it evidenly a much better story.
"Well, I think your successes depend on your failures. In a way, whether something succeeds or fails doesn't matter at all--the point is that you strive, that you take risks, and that you challenge yourself. By doing so, inevitably some of those risks are going to pay off, and some of them are going to turn into what would be considered failures. But when you look back it's very hard to disentangle the successes from the failures. It's all a process."
Category:Actors|Sheen, Michael