Steve Pemberton
Encyclopedia
Steve James Pemberton is an English
actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen
along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith
, Mark Gatiss
and co-writer Jeremy Dyson
.
in Chorley
, Lancashire
where his acting skills were first realised. Pemberton graduated from Bretton Hall College with a BA (hons) in Theatre Arts.
and was the assistant editor of the International Film Guide from 1991 to 1998.
He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen, along with fellow performers Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, and co-writer Jeremy Dyson, all of whom he met at Bretton Hall drama school in his late teens. The League of Gentlemen initially began as a stage act in 1995, transferred to BBC Radio 4 as On the Town with the League of Gentlemen in 1997 and then arrived on television on BBC Two in 1999. The latter has seen Pemberton and his colleagues awarded a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux.
Pemberton's other TV credits include: Whitechapel
(2009); Doctor Who
(2008); Benidorm
(2007–present); Under the Greenwood Tree
(2005); Hotel Babylon
(2005); The Last Detective
(2005); Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
; and Blackpool. He also appeared in Shameless as the husband of Sheila, Frank's Girlfriend. In 2004 he played Dr. Bessner in Agatha Christie's Poirot
– Death on the Nile. Pemberton also starred in the film Lassie
(2005) as Hymes.
2007 saw him make an appearance in the official Comic Relief
film Mr Bean's Holiday as the vicar in the first scene.
In July 2007, Pemberton took over from Bob Martin as "Man in Chair" in the West End production of the musical The Drowsy Chaperone
, playing the role until the production closed on August 4, 2007.
In the 2008 English language
DVD re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy
, Pemberton voiced the character of "Mattis", a heavy-set, bizarrely dressed biker member of the "Lappish Mafia". In this his voice is used along with the other actors of League of Gentlemen such as Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss. The dialogue was written by Simon Pegg
and other actors, with performances by Pegg himself, Woody Harrelson
, and others.
Psychoville
aired June 2009 and marked his return to BBC2. It was co-written by Pemberton and his League of Gentlemen cohort Reece Shearsmith. Both Shearsmith and Pemberton star in the series and play numerous characters, similar to the format of The League of Gentlemen.
Pemberton portrayed Rufus Drumknott, personal aid to Lord Havelock Vetinari
, (the Patrician
of Ankh-Morpork
,) to a gleeful degree in the cast of 2010's Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
.
In 2011 Steve will be appearing in the Donmar's production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as Vice Principal Douglas Panch.
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...
actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen
The League of Gentlemen (comedy)
The League of Gentlemen are a quartet of British dark comedy writers/performers, formed in 1995 by Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith...
along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith
Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
, Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
and co-writer Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson is an English screenwriter and, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, a participant in The League of Gentlemen.-Early life:...
.
Early life
Pemberton attended St. Michael's CE High SchoolSt. Michael's CE High School
St. Michael's is an Anglican high school located in the town of Chorley, Lancashire, England. The school is home to 1,200 pupils and is a performing Arts College.The Headteacher is Chris Bagguley and the Deputy Headteacher is Julie Heaton....
in Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
where his acting skills were first realised. Pemberton graduated from Bretton Hall College with a BA (hons) in Theatre Arts.
Career
His previous work has centred mainly around fringe theatre, being a founder member of 606 Theatre with Gordon Anderson, Tom Hadley and producer Shane Walter, and he has produced, performed in and directed stage productions. Pemberton has written for VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
and was the assistant editor of the International Film Guide from 1991 to 1998.
He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen, along with fellow performers Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, and co-writer Jeremy Dyson, all of whom he met at Bretton Hall drama school in his late teens. The League of Gentlemen initially began as a stage act in 1995, transferred to BBC Radio 4 as On the Town with the League of Gentlemen in 1997 and then arrived on television on BBC Two in 1999. The latter has seen Pemberton and his colleagues awarded a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux.
Pemberton's other TV credits include: Whitechapel
Whitechapel (TV series)
Whitechapel is a three-part British television drama series produced by Carnival Films, which first broadcast in the UK on 2 February 2009 and which dealt with the murders of Jack the Ripper....
(2009); Doctor Who
Silence in the Library
"Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by "Forest of the Dead", and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to...
(2008); Benidorm
Benidorm (TV series)
Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
(2007–present); Under the Greenwood Tree
Under the Greenwood Tree
Under the Greenwood Tree or The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, the last to be printed without his name, and the first of his great series of Wessex novels...
(2005); 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...
(2005); The Last Detective
The Last Detective
The Last Detective is an ITV drama starring Peter Davison as Dangerous Davies. The first series aired in 2003 with three more seasons succeeding this...
(2005); Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall & Hopkirk is a British television series, produced by Working Title Films for BBC One. It is a remake of the 1960s television series Randall and Hopkirk and stars Vic Reeves as Hopkirk and Bob Mortimer as Randall, Emilia Fox as Jeannie, and Tom Baker as Wyvern.- Background :Two series...
; and Blackpool. He also appeared in Shameless as the husband of Sheila, Frank's Girlfriend. In 2004 he played Dr. Bessner in Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
– Death on the Nile. Pemberton also starred in the film Lassie
Lassie (2005 film)
Lassie is a 2005 family-based film directed by Charles Sturridge. When a family hits financial crisis, they have no choice but to sell Lassie...
(2005) as Hymes.
2007 saw him make an appearance in the official Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
film Mr Bean's Holiday as the vicar in the first scene.
In July 2007, Pemberton took over from Bob Martin as "Man in Chair" in the West End production of the musical 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...
, playing the role until the production closed on August 4, 2007.
In the 2008 English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
DVD re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy
Free Jimmy
Free Jimmy is a Norwegian/British computer animated feature film first released in Norwegian language in 2006, and later in English language in 2008. The film was written and directed by acclaimed Norwegian subculture comic book artist Christopher Nielsen...
, Pemberton voiced the character of "Mattis", a heavy-set, bizarrely dressed biker member of the "Lappish Mafia". In this his voice is used along with the other actors of League of Gentlemen such as Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss. The dialogue was written by Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
and other actors, with performances by Pegg himself, Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
, and others.
Psychoville
Psychoville
Psychoville is an award-winning British dark comedy television serial written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It debuted on BBC Two on 18 June 2009. Pemberton and Shearsmith each play numerous characters, with Dawn French and Jason Tompkins in...
aired June 2009 and marked his return to BBC2. It was co-written by Pemberton and his League of Gentlemen cohort Reece Shearsmith. Both Shearsmith and Pemberton star in the series and play numerous characters, similar to the format of The League of Gentlemen.
Pemberton portrayed Rufus Drumknott, personal aid to Lord Havelock Vetinari
Havelock Vetinari
Havelock Vetinari, Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, is the fictional ruler of the city state of Ankh-Morpork in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, a series of over thirty books describing a parallel universe whose main world has reflections of - even more or less subtle jokes about - our...
, (the Patrician
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
of Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis...
,) to a gleeful degree in the cast of 2010's Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
Terry Pratchett's Going Postal is a two-part television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, adapted by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle and produced by The Mob, which was first broadcast on Sky1, and in high definition on Sky1 HD, at the end of May 2010.It is the third in a...
.
In 2011 Steve will be appearing in the Donmar's production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as Vice Principal Douglas Panch.