 Michael Sheen is a chameleon actor, famed for being able to get under the
skin of a widely disparate range of real-life people. Without resorting to
caricature or layers of latex, he's portrayed Tony Blair, Kenneth Williams,
David Frost, H.G. Wells and football manager Brian Clough. He's known as a subtle
and highly responsive actor; writer Peter Morgan, who scripted Sheen's roles as
Blair, Frost and Clough, has praised his command of vocal nuance, and actor Matt
Smith pays tribute to his ability "to capture the essence of someone without
impersonating them". His gift for impersonation has equipped him perfectly for
British film and TV's current preoccupation with recreating the recent past.
He was born in Newport, South Wales, to middle-class parents involved in
local amateur dramatics. Turning down a potential football career and
university, Sheen opted for drama school. He was early marked for success,
landing parts on the West End stage before graduating from RADA, and soon
established himself with lead roles in Shakespeare, Ibsen and Look Back in
Anger. He made his TV debut in the three-part mystery thriller Gallowglass (BBC,
1993), and his film debut in the Jekyll-and-Hyde drama Mary Reilly (US/UK, d.
Stephen Frears, 1996). In Wilde (UK/US, d. Brian Gilbert, 1997, with Stephen Fry
in the title role) Sheen played Wilde's lover Robbie Ross.
Films roles followed in The Four Feathers (US, 2002), Heartlands (US/UK, d.
Damien O'Donnell, 2003) and Stephen Fry's Evelyn Waugh adaptation Bright Young
Things (2003). But it was the role of Tony Blair in The Deal (Channel 4, tx.
28/9/2003), Morgan's account of Blair's rise to power, that brought Sheen to
fame. He was Blair again in the cinema film The Queen (d. Stephen Frears, 2006),
opposite Helen Mirren as HM, and again in The Special Relationship (US/UK, d.
Peter Morgan, 2010), about Blair's relationship with Bill Clinton. He was no
less convincing as Kenneth Williams (Fantabulosa!, BBC, tx. 13/3/2006), H.G. Wells
(War with the World, BBC, tx. 30/9/2006) and Brian Clough (The Damned United,
UK/US, d. Tom Hooper, 2009). Frost/Nixon (US/UK, d. Ron Howard, 2008), in which
Sheen played David Frost to Frank Langella's Nixon, was a filmed version of
Morgan's stage play, with both actors reprising their stage roles.
He has taken on purely fictional roles, too, notably a compelling portrait of
an obsessive-compulsive in Dirty Filthy Love (ITV, tx 26/9/2004). Underlining
his versatility, Sheen voiced the White Rabbit in Tim Burton's Alice in
Wonderland (US, 2010), and played Tina Fey's love-interest Wesley in the cult US
TV show 30 Rock (2010).
Philip Kemp
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FILM & TV CREDITS
