86 Facts About Michael Sheen

Michael Christopher Sheen was born on 5 February 1969 and is a Welsh actor.

Michael Sheen starred as the controversial football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United.

Since 2009, Michael Sheen has had a wider variety of roles.

Michael Sheen appeared in the science-fiction film Tron: Legacy and Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris.

Michael Sheen directed and starred in National Theatre Wales's The Passion.

Michael Sheen played a lead role in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 in 2012.

Michael Sheen played himself in the quarantine comedy show Staged with friend and Good Omens co-star David Tennant throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.

Michael Sheen is politically engaged, and in 2017 he returned his OBE after conducting research on Wales's relationship with England.

Michael Sheen was born on 5 February 1969 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of Irene, a secretary, and Meyrick, a British Steel Corporation personnel manager.

Michael Sheen later said he was "grateful" for his parents' decision, as the chances of forging a professional football career were "so slim".

Michael Sheen was raised in a theatrical family, his parents both being involved in local amateur operatics and musicals and, later in life, his father worked as a part-time professional Jack Nicholson lookalike.

Michael Sheen considered studying English at university but instead decided to attend drama school.

Michael Sheen moved to London in 1988 to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, having spent the previous year working in a Welsh fast-food restaurant called Burger Master to earn money.

Michael Sheen was granted the Laurence Olivier Bursary by the Society of London Theatre in his second year at RADA.

Michael Sheen graduated in 1991 with a BA in Acting.

Michael Sheen worked predominantly in theatre in the 1990s and has since remarked that he will always feel "slightly more at home" on stage.

Michael Sheen's 1993 turn as Perdican in Alfred de Musset's Don't Fool With Love at the Donmar Warehouse was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award.

Also in 1993, Michael Sheen appeared in the world premiere of Harold Pinter's Moonlight at the Almeida Theatre and made his television debut in the 1993 BBC mini-series Gallowglass.

In other 1994 work, Michael Sheen appeared in Le Livre de Spencer at the Odeon-Theatre de l'Europe, Paris and starred in the cross-dressing farce Charley's Aunt at the Royal Exchange.

The latter was staged by the Thin Language Theatre Company, which Michael Sheen had co-founded in 1991, aiming to further Welsh theatre.

Michael Sheen then appeared in the biographical film Wilde, playing Robbie Ross to Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde.

In early 1998 Michael Sheen formed a production company, The Foundry, with Helen McCrory and Robert Delamere to promote the work of emerging playwrights, and produced A Little World of Our Own at the Donmar Warehouse, which gave Colin Farrell his West End debut.

From 1998 to 1999, Michael Sheen starred as Mozart in a successful revival of Amadeus.

In 1999, Michael Sheen explored the role of Jimmy Porter in the National Theatre's production of Look Back in Anger.

At this point in his career, Michael Sheen began to devote more time to film work.

In 2003, Michael Sheen appeared in Bright Young Things, the directorial debut of his Wilde co-star, Stephen Fry.

Michael Sheen played a gay aristocrat in an ensemble cast which included James McAvoy, Emily Mortimer, David Tennant, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent and Peter O'Toole.

Michael Sheen won an Evening Standard Award for Best Actor and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor, and was again nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

Michael Sheen spoke of "treading a fine line" because "a lot of the symptoms are intrinsically comical".

Michael Sheen was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Television Actor and a RTS Best Actor Award.

Also in 2004, Michael Sheen played a pompous rock star in the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction and produced and starred in The Banker, which won a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.

In 2005, Michael Sheen starred in the National Theatre's production of The UN Inspector, a David Farr adaptation of The Government Inspector.

Michael Sheen came to international attention in 2006 for his portrayal of Tony Blair in The Queen.

Michael Sheen enjoyed reprising his role because Blair, at this point in his career, had "a weight to him that he didn't have before".

Michael Sheen was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Michael Sheen's second film appearance of 2006 was a supporting role in Blood Diamond as an unscrupulous diamond dealer.

Michael Sheen has said he is "fascinated by finding the private side of the public face".

Michael Sheen won a RTS Award for Best Actor, and received his second BAFTA nomination of 2006, for Best Television Actor.

The play, written by Peter Morgan, directed by Michael Grandage and co-starring Frank Langella, was a critical and commercial success but Sheen initially accepted the role as a favour to his friends and "never thought it was going anywhere".

Michael Sheen next appeared in the 2007 film Music Within as a political activist with cerebral palsy.

Michael Sheen spoke of having a "responsibility" to accurately portray the condition.

However, The New York Times felt "the likable, watchable Mr Michael Sheen has been pitted against a scene-stealer" in Frank Langella's Nixon.

Michael Sheen was the recipient of the Variety Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2008.

Michael Sheen said Clough is the real-life character he enjoyed playing most.

Also in 2009, Michael Sheen reprised his role as a werewolf in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, a prequel to the original film.

Michael Sheen had a supporting role in 2009's The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second film in the highly popular vampire series.

Michael Sheen was named Actor of the Year at GQ magazine's annual Men of the Year ceremony.

Michael Sheen made two one-off stage appearances in 2009; he performed a scene from Betrayal as part of a Harold Pinter tribute evening at the National Theatre and performed improvisational comedy as part of The Groundlings' Crazy Joe Show in Los Angeles.

In 2010, Michael Sheen had a supporting role in the science fiction sequel Tron: Legacy.

In other 2010 film work, Michael Sheen voiced Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit, in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Dr Griffiths in Disney's Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue and appeared as a terrorist in Unthinkable.

Michael Sheen made a guest appearance in four episodes of NBC's 30 Rock as Wesley Snipes, a love interest for Tina Fey's Liz Lemon.

In November 2010, Michael Sheen received the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.

In 2011, Michael Sheen starred in and was creative director of National Theatre Wales's The Passion, a 72-hour secular passion play staged in his hometown of Port Talbot, Wales.

Michael Sheen has described it as "the most meaningful experience" of his career.

In 2013, Michael Sheen was nominated for a Best Actor Welsh BAFTA for The Gospel of Us.

Michael Sheen's most notable film appearance of 2011 was a supporting role in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.

Allen noted that "Michael Sheen had to do the pseudo-intellectual, the genuine intellectual, the pedant, and he came in and nailed it from the start".

In 2012 film work, Michael Sheen starred opposite Toni Collette in the independent comedy Jesus Henry Christ and reprised his role as the vampire Aro in the final instalment of The Twilight Saga.

Michael Sheen played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic in late 2011 and early 2012, a role he first explored in a 1999 BBC Radio 3 production.

In 2015, Michael Sheen starred opposite Carey Mulligan in the romantic drama Far from the Madding Crowd as prosperous bachelor William Boldwood.

In 2016, Michael Sheen had supporting roles in the dramas Nocturnal Animals and Norman, and the science fiction romance Passengers.

Michael Sheen reprised his role as the White Rabbit in the fantasy adventure Alice Through the Looking Glass.

In 2018, Michael Sheen was cast as unconventional lawyer Roland Blum in season 3 of television series The Good Fight.

In May 2019 Michael Sheen starred alongside David Tennant in Good Omens, based on the novel of the same name written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and was cast as Chris Tarrant in the TV adaptation of James Graham's stage play Quiz.

In September 2019, Michael Sheen began playing the role of Martin Whitly in the American television series Prodigal Son on Fox.

Michael Sheen reacted to this by changing his Twitter handle to "Martin Michael Sheen".

In June 2020, Michael Sheen starred alongside David Tennant again in a six-part television lockdown comedy entitled Staged, which was made using video-conferencing software.

In June 2021, Michael Sheen returned to the London stage, after its protracted period of Covid-19 shutdown, in Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre.

Michael Sheen is the honorary President of Wales Council for Voluntary Action, the lead national body for the voluntary sector in Wales.

Michael Sheen is an ambassador for TREAT Trust Wales, and is the Welsh ambassador of Into Film, a charity which offers after-school film clubs to state primary and secondary schools in an effort to improve literacy levels.

Michael Sheen is an ambassador of the environmental charity Keep Wales Tidy.

Michael Sheen has taken part in a number of charity football matches, including captaining the winning Soccer Aid 2010 team at Wembley Stadium, as well as appearing in the 2012 and 2014 matches.

Michael Sheen is a patron of the British Independent Film Awards, an ambassador for the Dylan Thomas Prize and vice-president of Port Talbot Town FC In October 2018, Sheen sponsored a women's football team in Wales.

In 2017 Michael Sheen founded the End High Cost Credit Alliance working to promote more affordable ways to borrow money.

That same year Michael Sheen became a Patron of Social Enterprise UK, a charity which supports social projects which benefit local, environmental and co-operative causes.

Michael Sheen is a fundraising partner with the non-profit organization, The White Curl, which supports Welsh charities.

In December 2021, Michael Sheen announced that he would be giving all of his future earnings to charities, declaring himself a "not-for-profit actor".

Michael Sheen has done much political work, from campaigning to end high-cost credit agreements to trying to help find a solution to the crisis in local journalism.

Michael Sheen has highlighted the importance of having a "healthy discussion" about Welsh independence.

Michael Sheen was in a relationship with English actress Kate Beckinsale from 1995 until 2003.

Michael Sheen had a long-distance relationship with English ballet dancer Lorraine Stewart from late 2004 until mid-2010.

Michael Sheen dated Canadian actress Rachel McAdams from autumn 2010 to early 2013.

Michael Sheen dated American comedian Sarah Silverman from early 2014 to early 2018.

Michael Sheen was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 New Year Honours for his services to drama.

Michael Sheen was awarded the freedom of the borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales in 2008 for his services in the field of the dramatic arts.

Michael Sheen has narrated five novels for BBC Radio 4 and Naxos AudioBooks: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A White Merc With Fins, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.