Mark Umbers is an English actor known for his work in theatre, films, and television.

Born in Harrogate

Harrogate

Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...

, Yorkshire, Umbers was brought up in Wetherby

Wetherby

Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...

. In 1991 he enrolled at Oxford University to study Latin and Greek Literature and Philosophy. He appeared in many student Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 productions, as well as in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion

Pygmalion (play)

Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...

, in which he played Freddy, a role he would reprise a decade later in My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

at the Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 in London.

Umbers' first professional theatre engagement was in Joseph Papp

Joseph Papp

Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...

's adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...

at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Director Trevor Nunn

Trevor Nunn

Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...

 included him in the ensemble of the 1999 season at the Royal National Theatre, where he appeared in Candide

Candide

Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...

, Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...

, and The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...

, which was filmed for broadcast by the BBC. Various television roles followed, including a lead in the BBC period drama The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....

opposite Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...

.

Following My Fair Lady, Umbers appeared in Noel Coward's The Vortex, directed by Michael Grandage

Michael Grandage

Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer, and current Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse, London. Grandage won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Red.-Early years:...

 at the Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

. The high-profile production led him to be cast in his first leading film role by Mike Barker

Mike Barker

Mike Barker co-created the television show American Dad! along with Seth MacFarlane and Matt Weitzman...

, opposite Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt

Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...

, Tom Wilkinson

Tom Wilkinson

Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...

, and Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...

 in A Good Woman

A Good Woman (film)

A Good Woman is a 2004 drama film directed by Mike Barker. The screenplay by Howard Himelstein is based on the 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde...

, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan

Lady Windermere's Fan

Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...

. After playing opposite Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...

, Terence Stamp

Terence Stamp

Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...

 and Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...

 in the British independent film These Foolish Things

These Foolish Things

These Foolish Things is a 1973 album by Bryan Ferry, containing cover versions of standard songs. It was his first solo effort, still being Roxy Music's lead singer...

and with John Malkovich

John Malkovich

John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...

 in Colour Me Kubrick

Colour Me Kubrick

Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story is a French/British Dramedy film directed by Brian W. Cook, released in 2006 . The film stars John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s...

, he played the lead role of Perkin Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. By claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV, one of the Princes in the Tower, Warbeck was a significant threat to the newly established Tudor Dynasty,...

 in Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's historical drama Princes in the Tower.

A brief cameo in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream followed, after which director Rupert Goold

Rupert Goold

Rupert Goold is an English theatre director. He is the artistic director of Headlong Theatre and from 2010 he will be an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company.- Early years :...

 cast Umbers as Jim O' Connor in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...

in the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 opposite Jessica Lange

Jessica Lange

Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...

. He was longlisted for the Evening Standard Award

Evening Standard Awards

The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...

 Best Actor Award for his performance. Later that year Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...

 cast Umbers as British journalist George Roth in Che: Part Two.

The following year Umbers starred in Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....

's 2008 revival of Funny Girl, playing Nick Arnstein opposite Samantha Spiro

Samantha Spiro

Samantha Spiro is an Olivier Award-winning English actress. She is known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and the television film Cor, Blimey!, and DI Vivien Friend in M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team.-Background:Born in Mill Hill, Spiro grew up...

 as Fanny Brice

Fanny Brice

Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...

. Soon afterwards he played heart surgeon Dan Tate opposite Sarah Parish

Sarah Parish

Sarah Parish is an English actress.Parish is known for her work on such TV series as: Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin and the new ITV medical drama Monroe....

 in the second series of the BBC1 drama Mistresses

Mistresses (TV series)

Mistresses is a British serial drama television programme that follows the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships...

and The Master in the BBC1 2009 reworking of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...

.

Umbers starred opposite Tamzin Outhwaite

Tamzin Outhwaite

Tamzin Maria Outhwaite is an award-winning English actress. She became known for her role as Melanie Owen in the British soap opera EastEnders, whom she portrayed from 1998 until 2002.-Early career:...

 in the Menier Chocolate Factory

Menier Chocolate Factory

The Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 180 seat fringe studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England. The theatre stages plays...

's revival of Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...

, playing Charlie, Vittorio Vidal and Oscar Lindquist: the first production to have cast the same actor in all the love-interest roles. The production opened on 2 December 2009 and transferred to the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 3 May 2010 where it ran for six months, closing on 6 November 2010.

External links

• The Independent review of Sweet Charity 2010
• Orlando Sentinel review of Sweet Charity 2010
• The Times review of Sweet Charity 2010
• Broadway World review of Sweet Charity 2010
• Theater News Online review of Sweet Charity 2010
• Official London Theatre Guide interview 2010
• The Times review of Sweet Charity 2009
• The Spectator review of Sweet Charity 2009
• New York Times review of Sweet Charity 2009
• The Financial Times review of Sweet Charity 2009
• The Independent on Sunday review of Sweet Charity 2009
• The Arts Desk Matt Wolf review of Sweet Charity 2009
• Variety review of Sweet Charity 2009
• The Independent review of Sweet Charity 2009
• TNT Magazine review of Sweet Charity 2009
• London Magazine review of Sweet Charity 2009
• Sydney Morning Herald article on Princes in the Tower 2008
• review of Funny Girl 2008
• Evening Standard review of Funny Girl 2008
• The Sunday Times review of Funny Girl 2008
• The Daily Telegraph review of Funny Girl 2008
• Evening Standard Awards 2007 long list
• 2007 review West End theatre
• The New York Times review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• The Sunday Times review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Broadway.com review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Variety review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• The Observer review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Financial Times review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Evening Standard review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• The Independent review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Michael Coveney review of The Glass Menagerie 2007
• Broadway.com interview 2007
• Washington Post review of A Good Woman 2006
• Evening Standard review of The Vortex 2003
• The Independent on Sunday review of The Vortex 2003
• Daily Express review of The Vortex 2003
• Variety review of My Fair Lady 2001
• Evening Standard article about My Fair Lady 2001
• The Independent review of The Pirates of Penzance 2000