Michael Sheen

Michael Christopher Sheen was born on 5 February 1969 in Newport, Wales, to Irene, a secretary, and Meyrick, a personnel manager at the British Steel Corporation. The family settled in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, after an earlier period in Wallasey. Sheen has one younger sister, Joanne. His surname derives from his great-great-great grandfather Edward Sheehan, who relocated from Waterford, Ireland, to Wales in 1850 with his wife, Catherine Hickey. Both of his parents participated in local amateur operatics and musicals, and his father later worked part-time as a Jack Nicholson lookalike and after-dinner speaker. As a teenager, Sheen was involved with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre and the National Youth Theatre of Wales, and was influenced by the performances of Laurence Olivier and the critical writings of Kenneth Tynan. At age 12, he was scouted and offered a place on Arsenal's youth team, but his family declined to relocate to London. He was educated at Blaenbaglan Primary School, Glan Afan Comprehensive School, and Neath Port Talbot College, where he studied English, drama, and sociology.

Sheen moved to London in 1988 to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, having spent the preceding year working at a Welsh fast-food restaurant called Burger Master to fund his studies. During his second year at RADA, he was granted the Laurence Olivier Bursary by the Society of London Theatre. He graduated in 1991 with a BA in Acting. His first professional role came while still in his final year at RADA, when he appeared in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991, sharing the stage with Vanessa Redgrave and Frances de la Tour.

Throughout the 1990s, Sheen worked predominantly in theatre. His 1992 performance in Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Exchange earned a MEN Theatre Award nomination. In 1993, he played Perdican in Alfred de Musset's Don't Fool with Love at the Donmar Warehouse, a performance nominated for the Ian Charleson Award, and also appeared in the world premiere of Harold Pinter's Moonlight at the Almeida Theatre. He took the title role in a 1994 Yukio Ninagawa production of Peer Gynt, staged in Oslo, Tokyo, and at the Barbican Centre in London. In 1995, he appeared opposite Kate Beckinsale in The Seagull at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and made his film debut alongside Kenneth Branagh in Othello. His 1997 stage work included the title role in Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, which earned him a second Ian Charleson Award nomination, and a revival of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the National Theatre, directed by Roger Michell. That same year, Sheen co-directed Badfinger at the Donmar Warehouse through the Thin Language Theatre Company, which he had co-founded in 1991 to further Welsh theatre.

Sheen's Broadway career spanned 1999 to 2007. His stage work during this period included Amadeus and Frost/Nixon. His portrayal of Mozart's rival Salieri in Amadeus at the Old Vic in 1998 earned him an Olivier Award nomination, and he received a further Olivier nomination for Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre in 1999. A third Olivier nomination followed for Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse in 2003. He received a fourth Olivier nomination in 2006 for his portrayal of broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon, a role he later reprised in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. From late 2011 into early 2012, he played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic.

In the 2000s, Sheen expanded into screen work, with a particular focus on biographical roles. For writer Peter Morgan, he portrayed British Prime Minister Tony Blair across three productions: the television film The Deal in 2003, The Queen in 2006, and The Special Relationship in 2010, earning nominations for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy. He also received a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of comedian Kenneth Williams in the BBC Four film Fantabulosa! in 2006, and starred as football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United in 2009.

From 2009 onward, Sheen took on a broader range of roles. He appeared in the fantasy films Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009, and in Tron: Legacy and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris in 2010 and 2011 respectively. He made a four-episode guest appearance in the NBC comedy 30 Rock in 2010 and returned to The Twilight Saga in Breaking Dawn – Part 2 in 2012. He directed and starred in National Theatre Wales' The Passion, and received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 for his role in the Showtime drama Masters of Sex. He played an incarcerated serial killer surgeon in the Fox drama series Prodigal Son from 2019 to 2021, and has portrayed Aziraphale in the BBC and Amazon Studios fantasy comedy series Good Omens from 2019 onward. He appeared as Chris Tarrant in the 2020 drama Quiz, and starred alongside David Tennant in the quarantine comedy Staged from 2020 to 2022. Sheen is also known for his political and social activism and renounced his OBE in 2017.