Steve Steen

Steve Steen (born 26 December 1954) is a British television, radio and theatre actor and comedian, known for improvisational comedy works.

Early career

Whilst a pupil at Clapham College in London, Steen became friends with Jim Sweeney, and they joined Oval House theatre club in 1972.Together they developed the format of improvised comedy that has since become the mainstream in programmes such as 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'. They wrote and performed in a show that parodied much of the other shows being held in London that year. Then they formed their own theatre company and wrote and toured its productions around the United Kingdom through the 1970s.

1980s

In the 1980s Steen and Sweeney moved into television production, appearing together for the first time in 1981 on the ITV children's show CBTV, followed by one of Channel 4's first comedies, Little Armadillos. Around this period Steen appeared in the Ben Elton comedy Happy Families.^[1]

Rory Bremner recruited them as resident support performers on his first sketch show for the BBC. In 1987 they starred as the Romantic poets Byron and Coleridge (Steen playing Byron) in an episode entitled "Ink and Incapability" of the comedy series Blackadder the Third.^[2]

Radio

Steen had a major roles in Sweeney's award-winning play Danny's Wake, which was subsequently adapted into a sitcom for BBC Radio 4. Steen continued to play the character of Billy throughout the two series. He played the character of Liam in the radio of Any Bloke. He also starred as George Melly in BBC Radio 4's adaptation of the Melly's memoir Owning Up.

1990s

Along with Sweeney, Steen appeared in the Channel 4 television improvisational show Whose Line Is It Anyway? for six episodes. He also was a guest on the BBC's comedy panel-game Have I Got News for You in 1992.

2000s

Steen worked in one-off acting roles on television and with improvisation theatre tours, and solo theatre shows playing Bill Bryson in three adaptations of his work by the writer/director Paul Hodson, and also performed in a one-man show about the American comedian John Belushi written by Hodson.

In 2000, Steen played the voice of El Nombre in the TV show after the Mexican's gerbil name.

In 2005, Steen appeared at the National Theatre in London as Charles Dickens in Theatre of Blood, based on the 1970 cinema film of the same name.

Steen continues improvisation work with the Comedy Store Players, Paul Merton's Impro Chums, and Stephen Frost's Impro All Stars.

Personal life

Steen lives in East Molesey, a small town on the South-West edge of London, in the County of Surrey.^[3]

References

External links

• Steve Steen on IMDb