Paul Kaye
Encyclopedia
Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964, Clapton, London) is an English comedian and actor. He achieved notoriety in 1995 portraying the character of Dennis Pennis, a shock interviewer on The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show is a British television entertainment programme that was broadcast live on Sunday lunchtimes on BBC Two between 1995 and 1997. Four series of the show were produced. Donna McPhail and Katie Puckrik hosted the first two series, with Puckrik was replaced by Paul Tonkinson for the...

. Recently he has been known as rude New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 lawyer Mike Strutter
Mike Strutter
Michael 'Mike' Strutter is a fictional character of an MTV show, Strutter. He was created and is played by Paul Kaye, the comedian and actor behind the character Dennis Pennis. The character debuted in segments on Pennis' show, and is even responsible for the death of Pennis...

 with his own show Strutter on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

Early life

Born in Clapton, east London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 parents. Paul was adopted with his twin sister Lisa and was brought up in Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...

 where their father and mother ran a nearby schoolwear shop called 'Jackie's', first in Kingsbury and then in Kenton. Kaye was a promising schoolboy athlete who achieved an impressive time in the 100 metres
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...

 and he became a fan of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, particularly Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...

.
At 16 he entered Harrow school of Art on a two year foundation course and achieved a distinction.
Paul got a First Class BA Hons degree in Theatre Design at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University is a public teaching and research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as a new university in 1992 from the existing Trent Polytechnic , however it can trace its roots back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design...

).

Pre-Pennis Career

Paul took a year out of college in 1984 and worked on a kibbutz in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. He met his future wife Orly whom he married in 1989.

Paul designed theatre posters for the Kings Head, the Bush Theatre
Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is based in Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 above The Bush public house by Brian McDermott, and has since become one of the most celebrated new writing theatres in the world. An intimate venue renowned for its close-up...

 and the Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...

, Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

. He was a scene painter at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo and illustrated regularly for the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, i-D
I-D
i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...

, Literary Review
Literary Review
Literary Review is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at Edinburgh University. Its offices are currently on Lexington Street in Soho, London, and it has a circulation of 44,750. Britain's principal literary monthly, the magazine was...

, Time Out and International Musician magazines between 1987-89. Kaye had two exhibitions of his illustration and poster work between 89-90, firstly at the Soho House Theatre, W1 and then at The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall is a theatrical venue in Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road. It contains rehearsal rooms and meeting rooms, and two small theatres - the 200-seat Drill Hall 1 and a 50-seat studio space, known as Drill Hall 2. Its name derives from...

, WC1.

He formed and sang in many bands - notably the dark psychadelic outfit We Are Pleb who played extensively on the Camden scene of 88/89 (which spawned Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...

 and Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...

) and had a penchant for setting the stage on fire.

Paul was signed to Go Discs in 1992 with a group called TV Eye (formed with ex-members of the band Eat
Eat (band)
Eat were a British alternative rock band who were active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released two albums on The Cure's label Fiction...

) and released two singles, Killer Fly and Eradicator.

In 1993, Kaye filmed a prototype Dennis Pennis, interviewing his own band on a late night indie music show on Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 called Transmission
Transmission (TV series)
Transmission is a British television programme broadcast on Channel 4, offering live performances and interviews of famous music artists that ran for three series between 2006 and 2007...

. After the interview, Kaye then went out with the crew, got very drunk and offended as many people as possible up and down Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

. This tape somehow arrived on the desk of producers at Planet 24
Planet 24
Planet 24 was a television production company. It produced The Big Breakfast and The Word had an animation division Impossible TV. Bob Geldof and Tony Boland founded Planet Pictures which merged with 24 Hour Productions headed by Charlie Parsons and Waheed, later Lord Alli...

 six months later and they offered Kaye the job of knocking on peoples doors at 6 am on The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...

. Kaye turned them down, preferring to stay on the dole and stick with We Are Pleb. Mark Lamarr
Mark Lamarr
Mark Lamarr is an English comedian, radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Lamarr was born in the Park South area of Swindon and has three elder sisters. His father is Irish...

 eventually took the job.

Paul was the in-house graphic designer for Tottenham Hotspur, he had an office in White Hart Lane and designed merchandise for Spurs, Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

, Southampton FC and Aston Villa for the company Hmmel (doing caricatures of Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...

 for school lunchboxes etc.). Being a die hard Arsenal FC fan, Paul has claimed that there are subliminal cannons contained within his work for Spurs, most notably a pen and ink drawing of Tottenham's new stand on a catalogue cover which feature a minute cannon in the crowd. 70,000 were printed up.

Paul became the in-house theatre designer of the Bet Zvi Drama Academy in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 for 12 months in 1994, designing all the in house productions in their studio theatre.

His TV debut was on The Word
The Word (TV series)
The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom.-Format:Its presenters included Mancunian radio presenter Terry Christian, comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Jasmine Dotiwala, Alan Connor, Amanda de Cadenet and "Huffty"...

 being secretly filmed in Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...

s dressing room. Kaye recalls "Reid had drunk two bottles of vodka, taken all his clothes off and I honestly thought he was going to kill me on live television. I swore in bed that I'd never do a celebrity interview again. Typically, 6 months later I'd come up with Dennis Pennis."

In 1994, Kaye convinced an old friend Ant Hines (a car mechanic and some time roadie for TV Eye) to help him write Dennis Pennis when he was offered the job on The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show is a British television entertainment programme that was broadcast live on Sunday lunchtimes on BBC Two between 1995 and 1997. Four series of the show were produced. Donna McPhail and Katie Puckrik hosted the first two series, with Puckrik was replaced by Paul Tonkinson for the...

. (Hines was later poached by Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...

 to write for Ali G
Ali G
Ali G is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, Ali G is the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show, original episodes of which aired in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, and is the...

 on The Eleven O'Clock Show
The Eleven O'Clock Show
The 11 O'Clock Show was a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4, which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items.The series ran from 1998 to 2000, most notably while hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan...

 and went on to receive an Oscar nomination for co-writing Borat
Borat
Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...

 in 2006).

Dennis Pennis

Celebrity interviewer Dennis Pennis – created by Kaye and his friend Anthony Hines – was one of Kaye's best-known characters. A cross between Johnny Rotten and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

, with a shock of red hair, gaudy jackets adorned with punk-style badges, and thick glasses (worn, ostensibly, to reduce the likelihood of getting assaulted), Pennis stood out from the crowd and asked celebrities atypical questions, ranging from playful to cruel.

After brief stints presenting two episodes of Transmission (ITV's indie music magazine program circa 1990) as Pennis, the character next appeared in 1995 on BBC2's The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show
The Sunday Show is a British television entertainment programme that was broadcast live on Sunday lunchtimes on BBC Two between 1995 and 1997. Four series of the show were produced. Donna McPhail and Katie Puckrik hosted the first two series, with Puckrik was replaced by Paul Tonkinson for the...

. The basic premise was that Kaye and a camera crew would visit movie premieres, press functions and other assorted celebrity gatherings to attempt to get an "interview" with the stars, in between short skits and sketches featuring the character.

Originally, the celebrities would be mainly British stars harassed at assorted London-based events, such as actor Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...

, TV host Ulrika Jonsson
Ulrika Jonsson
Eva Ulrika Jonsson is a Swedish television presenter in the UK, who became famous as a TV-am weather presenter and moved on to present Gladiators and became a team captain of the show Shooting Stars.-Early life:...

 and sports pundit Des Lynam
Des Lynam
Desmond Michael "Des" Lynam, OBE is an Irish television and radio presenter based in the UK.He has hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years...

. A 1995 video release of these early clips, Anyone For Pennis, assured success for the controversial comedian, who sought to broaden Pennis's scope.

When the Pennis character took off, Kaye was afforded a budget large enough to travel to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

, Hollywood and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 to record footage for his video VIP – Very Important Pennis, released in 1996.

His victims from this point on were much more renowned, the most famous of whom were Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

, Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...

, Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...

, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

 and Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

, amidst a raft of other Hollywood A-list stars. It was apparent that these victims, in the absolute upper echelons of fame, were unsettled and unhappy with Pennis's unique line of questioning. Some stars, such as Costner, insulted him back, while others, such as Moore, simply declined to comment and left. Pennis was visibly amused at the look of disgust on some of the stars' faces. There was some controversy when Pennis asked of Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

: "How come you're not funny anymore?" Martin subsequently cancelled all scheduled press interviews. Kaye later said that he regretted this interview for a while, but that "anyone who thinks they can improve on Bilko and Inspector Clouseau needs a slap don’t they?".

The final video release, Dennis Pennis RIP: Too Rude to Live, released in 1997, saw the character killed off. In the video's plotline, certain members of the public take such offence at Pennis that they form a protest group against him, and the leader of the group deliberately provokes lawyer Mike Strutter (another Kaye character, see below) into strangling and finally bludgeoning Pennis to death. Kaye gave his reasons for axing Pennis as expense, the effort required to get a single usable interview, the notoriety of the character, and Kaye's own boredom and unhappiness with Pennis. Although the video consists partially of more celebrity interviews in the familiar format, Kaye also used this release to portray several new characters he had created. One example was Labian Quest, an eccentric upper-class composer who turns out to have written many of the best-known English football chant
Football chant
A football chant or terrace chant, is a song or chant sung at association football matches. They can be historic, dating back to the formation of the club, adaptations of popular songs, or spontaneous reactions to events on the pitch. They are one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song...

s, such as "In your Everton slums" and "Who the fucking hell are you?" (in Quest's words, "a generic piece concerning identity and belonging").

The reasoning for killing off the character was stated as such by Kaye, "Dennis Pennis had become too expensive. Taking a film crew out every night with no guarantee of getting even a minute's worth of footage of me harassing celebs was just stupid. And then the programme would take months to compile, and it was just boring, man..... hanging out in the rain, twiddling your thumbs, playing with your hip flask...... he had to go......"

Pennis remains unrevived, although Kaye in 2002 stated his intentions to bring him back in some form or other .http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2158448.stm

Post Pennis career

Kaye also appeared as the singer of a fictional punk band called Spunk in a 1999 mock-documentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...

 of the same name, which appeared as the 'wrath' part of a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 series on the seven deadly sins.

In 2000 Kaye starred in the comedy series Perfect World
Perfect World (sitcom)
Perfect World is a television show that was first shown on BBC television in the UK from February 25, 2000 to June 25, 2001. It is set around the life of Bob Slay, an obnoxious, lazy and amoral phony marketing executive for a leading toiletries company...

, a sitcom about a down-on-his-luck marketing manager. Although somewhat coolly received, the show did manage two series, although a third has not been commissioned by 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...

. He also briefly presented a BBC2 quiz show, Liar , in which six contestants would all have a supposed claim to fame and the studio audience voted on which one they believed was telling the truth. In the same year Kaye took a dramatic role alongside Michelle Collins
Michelle Collins
Michelle Danielle Collins is a British actress best known for her roles on television in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as Cindy Beale, Coronation Street as Stella Price, and BBC dramas Sunburn and Two Thousand Acres of Sky...

 in Two Thousand Acres of Sky
Two Thousand Acres of Sky
Two Thousand Acres of Sky was a TV drama which aired on BBC Television from 2001 to 2003. It is also syndicated in the United States on PBS. It was created and written by Timothy Prager. The Executive Producer was Adrian Bate....

.

In 2004, he played the leading role in the film Blackball
Blackball (film)
Blackball is a 2003 British comedy sports film, borrowed from the Australian film, Crackerjack about Cliff Starkey , a fictional rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club...

, which was well received, though by a discerning minority. His role as deaf DJ Frankie Wilde in the 2005 mockumentary It's All Gone Pete Tong
It's All Gone Pete Tong
-CD 1:#"Pacific State" - 808 State #"Cloud Watch" - Lol Hammond#"Dry Pool Suicide" - Graham Massey#"Moonlight Sonata" - Graham Massey#"Baby Piano" - Lol Hammond#"Ku Da Ta" - Pete Tong...

 won him the Film Discovery Jury Award at the 2005 US Comedy Arts Festival. Television appearances in 2006 and 2007 include episodes of Hustle
Hustle (TV series)
Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...

, 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...

 and Kingdom
Kingdom (TV series)
Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, and the strange locals who come to him for legal...

. Kaye is now the chief interviewer on rockworld.tv, in which he interviews up and coming punk/indie bands.

Kaye appeared in Hotel Babylon
Hotel Babylon
Hotel Babylon was a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, that aired from 19 January 2006 to 14 August 2009, produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One...

 (11 March 2008, BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

), Pulling (Series 2, March 2008, BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

) and as Uncle Gorwel in A Child's Christmases in Wales
A Child's Christmases in Wales
A Child's Christmases in Wales was a 2009 one off period comedy written by comedian Mark Watson, starring Ruth Jones, Paul Kaye, and Steve Speirs...

 by Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...

 (17 December 2009, BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 and 24 December 2009, BBC One Wales).

Paul appeared in an episode of Channel 4's Skins drama as Cook's lawyer, Duncan.

In 2010, Paul provided the voice of Vince the fox in the BBC3 comedy Mongrels
Mongrels (TV series)
Mongrels, formerly known under the working titles of We Are Mongrels and The Un-Natural World, is a British puppet-based situation comedy series first broadcast on BBC Three between 22 June and 10 August 2010, with a making-of documentary entitled "Mongrels Uncovered" broadcast on 11 August 2010...

.

2010 saw him also play a supporting actor role as the caterpillar in the film Malice in Wonderland
Malice in Wonderland (2009 film)
Malice In Wonderland is a 2009 British fantasy adventure film directed by Simon Fellows and written by Jayson Rothwell. It is roughly based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 8, 2010....

, which saw him as a dope smoking yardie gangster type who only speaks in rhymes.

He appeared in an episode of BBC's Inspector George Gently in September 2010 as a character called Max Osgood.

As well as portraying Mike Strutter in the MTV show Strutter, Kaye plays occasional live covers gigs in the guise of his character, where he fronts a live backing band. Kaye's other musical projects have included a duet with London-based singer Kiria
Kiria (musician)
Kiria is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist, born and currently based in LondonHer debut album Radio was released in October 2010, by independent record label Koochie Coo Records.-Musical style:...

, who also appears on occasion as a member of the Mike Strutter Group.

From November 2010 to January 2011, Kaye played Matilda’s father, Mr Wormwood, in the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

's musical Matilda
Matilda (musical)
Matilda is a musical written by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. It is based on the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The musical was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company starting in December 2010 and running through January 2011...

, based on the classic Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...

 novel Matilda
Matilda (novel)
Matilda is a children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London, with illustrations by Quentin Blake. The story is about Matilda Wormwood, an extraordinary child with ordinary and rather unpleasant parents, who are contemptuous of their daughter's...

.
He will reprise the role when the musical transfers to London's West End in October 2011.

In 2011 Kaye appeared in "Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...

" as seedy night club owner Kermit.

Personal life

Kaye married Orly, a kindergarten teacher in 1989.

Kaye is an Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 fan, and writes a regular column for their official magazine. He is fond of punk music, particularly The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

, and The Sex Pistols. He has two sons, the younger of which bears the middle name of Strummer, as in The Clash's Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...

.

Kaye was angered watching an interview on BBC News 24
BBC News 24
BBC News is the BBC's 24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989...

 in which comedian Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...

 referred to Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 only firing 'toy rockets' at Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Kaye rang the BBC to complain and was invited to come on the show half an hour later with Peter Sissons
Peter Sissons
Peter George Sissons is a broadcast journalist in the United Kingdom. He was the presenter of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and the BBC News at Ten between 1993 and 2003, as earlier a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4. He is also a former presenter of the BBC's Question Time...

 to talk about his experiences. Two weeks prior to the interview, Kaye's wife had been in a supermarket in Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

 which had also been hit by a rocket but was unhurt.. Kaye later wrote an article for the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 calling for peace.

Filmography

  • Candy Cabs (TV series), 2011
  • Short Order
    Short Order
    Short Order is a 2005 Irish drama film written and directed by Anthony Byrne. It was released in Ireland on 1 March, 2005. It was later released as Life Is a Buffet in the United States on 16 May, 2008.-Plot:...

    , 2005
  • Malice in Wonderland
    Malice in Wonderland (2009 film)
    Malice In Wonderland is a 2009 British fantasy adventure film directed by Simon Fellows and written by Jayson Rothwell. It is roughly based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 8, 2010....

     2009
  • Pulling Hour Long Special, May 2009
  • Massive
    Massive (TV series)
    Massive is a sitcom broadcast on digital channel BBC Three. It is set in Manchester and stars Ralf Little and Carl Rice as Danny and Shay, who leave their office jobs to set up a record label when Danny inherits £10,000 following the death of his grandmother.The series began airing on BBC Three on...

     September 2008
  • Pulling Series 2, (March 2008)
  • Hotel Babylon
    Hotel Babylon
    Hotel Babylon was a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, that aired from 19 January 2006 to 14 August 2009, produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One...

     Series 3, Episode 4 (March 2008)
  • Fight the English way (Mobile and internet video)
  • Hustle
    Hustle (TV series)
    Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...

     - Series 3, Episode 5 - as Tim Millen
  • Waking the Dead
    Waking the Dead (TV series)
    Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...

     - Series 4, Episode 6 "Shadowplay"
  • Match Point
    Match Point
    Match Point is a 2005 dramatic thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton....

  • Blackball
    Blackball (film)
    Blackball is a 2003 British comedy sports film, borrowed from the Australian film, Crackerjack about Cliff Starkey , a fictional rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club...

  • Spaced
    Spaced
    Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...

     Series 1, Episode 3 - as "Hoover"
  • Perfect World
    Perfect World (Sitcom)
    Perfect World is a television show that was first shown on BBC television in the UK from February 25, 2000 to June 25, 2001. It is set around the life of Bob Slay, an obnoxious, lazy and amoral phony marketing executive for a leading toiletries company...

  • Two Thousand Acres of Sky
    Two Thousand Acres of Sky
    Two Thousand Acres of Sky was a TV drama which aired on BBC Television from 2001 to 2003. It is also syndicated in the United States on PBS. It was created and written by Timothy Prager. The Executive Producer was Adrian Bate....

  • 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...

     9 April 2007
  • It's All Gone Pete Tong
    It's All Gone Pete Tong
    -CD 1:#"Pacific State" - 808 State #"Cloud Watch" - Lol Hammond#"Dry Pool Suicide" - Graham Massey#"Moonlight Sonata" - Graham Massey#"Baby Piano" - Lol Hammond#"Ku Da Ta" - Pete Tong...

     28 September 2004
  • WΔZ
  • Cass
    Cass (film)
    Cass is a 2008 British crime drama film. It stars Nonso Anozie as Cass Pennant and is directed by Jon S. Baird-Plot:Cass is based on the true story of the life of Cass Pennant, adapted from his book. The film tells of how he was adopted by an elderly white couple in 1958 and brought up in Slade...

  • Kingdom
    Kingdom (TV series)
    Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, and the strange locals who come to him for legal...

     Season 1 Episode 3 as Alan the Artist, (May 2007)
  • The Big I Am
    The Big I Am
    The Big I Am is a British gangster film starring Michael Madsen and Leo Gregory which was released straight to DVD on 8 April 2010. - Plot :...

     (2010) - as "Keys"
  • Skins
    Skins (TV series)
    Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

     series 4 episode 3 "cook" playing Duncan Cook's lawyer February 2010
  • Mongrels
    Mongrels (TV series)
    Mongrels, formerly known under the working titles of We Are Mongrels and The Un-Natural World, is a British puppet-based situation comedy series first broadcast on BBC Three between 22 June and 10 August 2010, with a making-of documentary entitled "Mongrels Uncovered" broadcast on 11 August 2010...

     - as Vince
  • Shameless
    Shameless
    Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...

  • Being Human
    Being Human (TV series)
    Being Human is a British supernatural drama television series. It was created and written by Toby Whithouse and is currently broadcast on BBC Three. The show blends elements of flatshare comedy and horror drama...

  • Midsomer Murders
    Midsomer Murders
    Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...

     - The Great and the Good - as Lawrence Mann

Awards

Kaye has been nominated for, and won , a number of film awards:
  • Best Actor – US Comedy Arts Festival (It's All Gone Pete Tong
    It's All Gone Pete Tong
    -CD 1:#"Pacific State" - 808 State #"Cloud Watch" - Lol Hammond#"Dry Pool Suicide" - Graham Massey#"Moonlight Sonata" - Graham Massey#"Baby Piano" - Lol Hammond#"Ku Da Ta" - Pete Tong...

    )
  • Best Actor – Method Fest (Nominated) (It's All Gone Pete Tong)
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Genie Awards (Nominated) (It's All Gone Pete Tong)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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