Matt Grindley
Encyclopedia
Matt Grindley 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...

 magician, comedian and actor. He was born in Worsley
Worsley
Worsley is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the course of Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. The M60 motorway bisects the area....

, Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...

, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

. He resides in Horwich
Horwich
Horwich is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest from the city of Manchester. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors with the M61 motorway close to the...

, near Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

.

Early life

He attended St. Georges R.C. High School in Walkden
Walkden
Walkden is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It is west-northwest of Salford, and west-northwest of Manchester....

. Matt had a serious accident when he was nine years old which left his right leg badly damaged.

Career

When he left school he had numerous jobs, including baker, office worker, and security guard. His last job before becoming a full-time entertainer was delivering produce.

Magic

Matt has been performing magic since he was 9 years old when his parents bought him a Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...

 Magic Set for Christmas. Matt has stated during his live stage performances that his main influence in magic was magician Wayne Dobson
Wayne Dobson
Wayne Dobson is an award-winning British magician who became well-known through various television appearances in the late 1980s and 1990s. At the height of his fame he had his own television series Wayne Dobson - A Kind of Magic...

. Like most magicians, Grindley began performing at children's parties and took any work that he could. He always wanted to appear in Summer Season shows as he felt his act was very end of the pier. But by this time it was 2002 and this kind of entertainment was losing its appeal. Matt then self-funded his Beach Magic Laughter Show which has received positive reviews. He has worked with acts such as Cannon and Ball, Keith Harris and Orville, and the cast of Hi-de-Hi. Matt has also appeared in the pantomime Aladdin during Winter 2006. He was nominated UK Entertainer of the Year 2009. He is known for his comedic vent mask routine.

Mass media projects and acting

In 2004 Grindley appeared in Street Magic TV
Street magic Tv
Streetmagic Tv Streetmagic Tv was first aired in Jan 2006 as the first Tv Project to feature new and up coming Magician Matt Grindley. Channel 4 had recently enjoyed success with Derren Brown/David Blaine specials and the show was aimed to capitalise on this in a more gritty down to earth way...

, performing streetmagic on the unsuspecting public around the streets of Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

.

Grindley began acting in Britain's Biggest Heists. He provided comedy narration on When Magic Tricks Go Wrong. He will be appearing in the TKMAXX TV campaign in aid of Cancer Research. Grindley has been cast in a Yellow Box
Yellow Box
Yellow Box may refer to:*Eucalyptus melliodora, the Yellow Box species of Eucalypt*Cocoa . Yellow Box was the OPENSTEP base of libraries and binary support which became Apple's Cocoa API.*A Box junction...

, a science fiction movie, as a Nazi secret service agent. He will be in the BBC drama The Accused
The Accused
The Accused is a 1988 Canadian drama film starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Tom Topor. Foster was awarded the 1988 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for her performance....

written by Jimmy McGovern
Jimmy McGovern
Jimmy McGovern is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.-Early career:McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.-Successes:...

 filming begins early May 2010. In June 2010 Matt will reunite with Title Role Productions to film Crimes That Shook Britain in which he will play Detective Pete Basnett, the lead detective in the London Nail Bomb Investigations. In June 2010 Matt began filming a small part in the ITV soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

. Another recent project is The Con-Man Kid, part of the Con-case files series by Turn on TV Productions; filming began in the summer of 2010.

Matt has also filmed a direct-to-DVD documentary, Music Hall Magic
Music Hall Magic
Music Hall Magic is a direct to DVD release from Dark Tower Films, presented by Magician Matt Grindley. Matt who is a huge fan of the Music Hall genre also directed the documentary and selected the artistes to be featured including Old Mother Riley George Formby Arthur Askey-Synopsis:The story...

, about his love of music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

s including George Formby
George Formby
George Formby, OBE , born George Hoy Booth, was a British comedy actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian. He sang light, comical songs, accompanying himself on the banjo ukulele or banjolele...

 and Old Mother Riley
Old Mother Riley
Old Mother Riley was a music hall act which originally ran from about 1934 to 1954 played by Arthur Lucan, then from 1954 to 1977 by Roy Rolland....

.

Filmography

Television and video
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Street Magic TV
Street magic Tv
Streetmagic Tv Streetmagic Tv was first aired in Jan 2006 as the first Tv Project to feature new and up coming Magician Matt Grindley. Channel 4 had recently enjoyed success with Derren Brown/David Blaine specials and the show was aimed to capitalise on this in a more gritty down to earth way...

2006 Street Magic TV>
2007 When Magic Tricks Go Wrong
2007 Music Hall Magic
Music Hall Magic
Music Hall Magic is a direct to DVD release from Dark Tower Films, presented by Magician Matt Grindley. Matt who is a huge fan of the Music Hall genre also directed the documentary and selected the artistes to be featured including Old Mother Riley George Formby Arthur Askey-Synopsis:The story...

2007 Scams Tricks and Cons Presenter straight-to-DVD
2009 Britain's Biggest Heists
TKMAXX Cancer Research Campaign  TV campaign 2010 Yellow Box
Yellow Box
Yellow Box may refer to:*Eucalyptus melliodora, the Yellow Box species of Eucalypt*Cocoa . Yellow Box was the OPENSTEP base of libraries and binary support which became Apple's Cocoa API.*A Box junction...

In production: Summer 2010
2010 The Accused
The Accused
The Accused is a 1988 Canadian drama film starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Tom Topor. Foster was awarded the 1988 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for her performance....

TBC
2010 Crimes That Shook Britain Pete Basnett 
2010 Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

TBC
2010 The Con Man Kid TBC
2011 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...

painter and decorator


Charity work

Grindley has supported a number of charities and is actively involved in:
  • The British Limbless Ex-servicemans association
  • Age Concern
  • Preston Neo natal baby care unit
  • Hope Hospital Neo Natal baby care unit
  • The Big One, a Blackpool based entertainment charity

Matt Grindley's Magic Camp

In 2007 Matt launched Matt Grindley's Magic Camp, aimed at children from reception school age up to 12 years old although primarily based in Bolton it will be touring the Northwest from 2010.

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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