 |
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| Matt Berry | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Born |
May 2, 1974 |
| Nationality |
English |
| Gender |
Male |
| Eye colour |
Brown |
| Hair colour |
Brown |
| Height |
5' 10" (1.78 m) |
| Career | |
| Years Active |
1998-present |
| In The IT Crowd | |
| Notable Roles |
|
Matthew Charles "Matt" Berry (born May 2, 1974) is an English actor, writer, and musician, most famous for his involvement in The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh and Gareth Marenghi's Darkplace, as well as his own series Toast of London.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Berry was born in Bromham, Bedfordshire, on May 2, 1974. He worked as a runner behind the scenes of various TV promgrammes before appearing as one of the presenters in videogame review show Game Over on BSkyB's computer & technology channel .tv between 1998 and 1999. Despite the show being mainly about videogames, Berry showed early comic talent appearing in several comedy sketches featured in the show. He also worked as an actor in 2000 in The London Dungeon.
Television career[]
Berry moved on to persue a career in acting, and landed the part of Todd Rivers, an actor who plays an actor in the 2004 comedy series, Gareth Marenghi's Darkplace, also featuring future The IT Crowd star, Richard Ayoade. In late 2006, Berry reunited with the stars of the Gareth Marenghi stage shows and TV series to feature in the Darkplace spin off, Man to Man with Dean Learner.
Berry moved on to portray Dixon Bainbridge in the first series of the surreal sitcom, The Mighty Boosh, also featuring The IT Crowd stars Ayoade and Noel Fielding. He met The Mighty Boosh team performing at the Hens and Chickens Theatre where the duo was performing. He also made a brief cameo in the The Mighty Boosh Live DVD. He has also appeared in the documentaries about the making of The Mighty Boosh such as The Mighty Boosh: Inside the Zooniverse. Berry went on to write, appear in and compose the music for AD/BC: A Rock Opera again alongside Fielding and Ayoade.
Berry's next prominent role was in his own series, Snuff Box, a sitcom interspersed with comedy sketches, in which Berry appeared alongside Rich Fulcher, whom he had met while filming the first series of The Mighty Boosh. The show ran for six episodes and DVD of the show was released on 16 June 2008.
Following the departure of Chris Morris from Graham Linehan's IT Department-based sitcom, The IT Crowd, in 2007, Berry landed the role of Morris' replacement, Douglas Reynholm, the sexually-frustrated son of Morris' character Denholm Reynholm and the new Head of Reynholm Industries. Berry appeared in nearly all episodes after the second episode of the second series, alongside Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Noel Fielding. Berry was nominated Best Male Comedy Newcomer at the 2007 British Comedy Awards for his role of Douglas.
Berry's other appearances include in The Golf War on E4 alongside Rich Fulcher and Simon Farnaby as well as in the sketch show The Wrong Door as a recurring character of a man running into a snooker hall and challenging a player to an impossible trick shot, only for him to pull off the shot and win the bet.
Berry has appeared in various films, including 2006 horror The Devil's Chair and as Overmeyers in the 2009 sci-fi thriller Moon. In 2010, Berry played The Mirror journalist Michael Duffy in 5 Daughters, a docu-drama based around the Ipswich prostitute murders.
Other work[]
Berry is also an accomplished composer and has composed the music for AD/BC: A Rock Opera, Saxondale (in which he appeared in the first and third episode of the second series), his own show Snuffbox and the theme for the Channel 4 sketch show Blunder. He has also released three albums: Jackpot (1995), Opium (2005) and Witchazel (2009). 60's soul singer Geno Washington aided Berry in the collaboration and production of his third album, Witchazel, which he released online for a free for a limited time free download on 11 March 2009, before being officially released in October 2009.
Berry's Brighton-based experimental rock band, Jonas 3, which are composed of George Baldwin (bass), his brother Charlie Baldwin (drums) and Andy Vickery (guitar). Rich Fulcher and Geno Washington have been known to join Berry on stage during several appearances.
Berry also has a radio career and presents a show on Absolute Radio where he also performs various voice-overs. The Matt Berry Podcast regularly features in the Top Ten of the iTunes podcast chart and Vince Lynch, the producer, has been nominated for Best Online Producer at the Radio Academy Production Awards.
Berry is also famous for his voice-over work and his voice-over credits include George the Volcano in Volvic Mineral Water's April/May 2007 UK adverts, Muller Corner adverts and several sweets in The Natural Confectionery Company adverts. He is also the voice of the instructions in the Driving Theory Test in the UK. He has also appeared as a music director in the advert for T4 on the Beach 2010.
Berry stars in the video (directed by Richard Ayoade) for the 2007 Super Furry Animals song "Runaway", from their album Hey Venus!
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Type | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Gareth Marenghi's Darkplace | Comedy |
|
| The Mighty Boosh | Comedy | Dixon Bainbridge | |
| AD/BC: A Rock Opera | Comedy film |
| |
| 2005 | The Mighty Boosh: Inside the Zooniverse | Documentary | Himself |
| 2006 | The Devil's Chair | Film | Brett Wilson |
| Snuff Box | Comedy |
| |
| Man to Man with Dean Larner | Comedy |
| |
| Is Benny Hill Still Funny | Documentary | Himself | |
| 2007 | Saxondale | Comedy | Geoff |
| The Golf War | Comedy | Tony 'T-Bone' Bone | |
| 2007-present | The IT Crowd | Comedy | Douglas Reynholm |
| 2008 | The Wrong Door | Comedy | Various roles |
| 2008-2010 | The Sarah Silverman Programme | Comedy | Various roles |
| 2009-present | Absolute Radio | ||
| 2009 | Moon | Film | Overmeyers |
| Svengali | Film | Jeremy Braines | |
| A Bit of Tom Jones | Film | Philip the Perve | |
| Into the Dark: Exploring the Horror Film | Documentary | Himself | |
| 2010 | Braincell | Horror film | Neil Balsam |
| Five Daughter | Drama | Mirror journalist | |
| The Pizza Miracle | Short film | Daniel | |
| Huge | Drama | Head Creative | |
| 2011 | Angry White Man | Comedy | Bulldog Hayes |
Awards and nominations[]
- 2007: Nominated for Best Male Comedy Newcomer for his portrayal of Douglas Reynholm in The IT Crowd at the British Comedy Awards.