Marcel McCalla (born February 1981) is a British actor. He has appeared in several stage productions and television shows, including ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

'' for five series and ''

Footballers' Wives ''Footballers' Wives'' is a British television drama about fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players and their wives. It was broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2006. The show initially focuses on three very different coupl ...

'' for two series.

Theatre

McCalla's first role was aged 14 in 1995 in

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

. He has had roles in two plays by Roy Williams, Emile in 2003's

Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

and Kev in the 2005 production of Little Sweet Thing. Also in 2005 he played Casey Motsisi in Who Killed Mr Drum?. In 2006, he played Andre in

Tanika Gupta Tanika Gupta (born 1 December 1963) is a British playwright. Apart from her work for the theatre, she has also written scripts for television, film and radio plays. Early life Tanika Gupta was born in London to immigrant parents from Kolkata ...

's Sugar Mummies and a mentally-ill patient in

Joe Penhall Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play '' Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series ' ...

Blue/Orange ''Blue/Orange'' is a play written by English dramatist Joe Penhall. The play is a sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness and 21st-century British life. Productions The play premiered in the Cottesloe Theatre at the ...

, and he played Jimmy in

A Taste of Honey ''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was adapted into an award-winning film of the same title in 1961. Set in Salford in North West England, it tells the story of Jo, ...

at the

Royal Exchange, Manchester The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal Ex ...

in 2008. In 2010, he starred in

Mustapha Matura Mustapha Matura (17 December 1939 – 29 October 2019) was a Trinidadian playwright living in London. Characterised by critic Michael Billington as "a pioneering Black playwright who opened the doors for his successors", Matura was the first Br ...

Rum and Coca-Cola "Rum and Coca-Cola" is a popular calypso song composed by Lionel Belasco with lyrics by Lord Invader. The song was copyrighted in the United States by entertainer Morey Amsterdam and was a hit in 1945 for the Andrews Sisters. History The s ...

as Slim.

Television

McCalla's television roles include parts in

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

, and Trexx and Flipside, and he appeared in a BBC Film Network short film called ''Attack'' in 2005. He also voiced Freezbone in the children's animation show '' Freefonix'', and he voiced Gomez in '' Matt Hatter Chronicles''. McCalla's role in Footballers' Wives was in the third series as the gay black footballer Noah Alexander. He faced negative public reactions due to the role. He said of the role that "He's a character that's so different from myself: I don't earn loads of money. I'm not gay, so to play a character like that is a challenge.". In 2011, he voiced Dyzio the Polish Bug in

The Lingo Show ''The Lingo Show'' is a British animated children's television series created by Nicole Seymour, produced by the BBC and animated by Dinamo Productions for BBC's CBeebies channel and programming block, in association with BBC Studios. The char ...

in 2014, he was the uncredited voice of Ongo in '' Jelly Jamm''. In 2015, he was the voice of Roley the road roller in the UK dub of the ''Bob the Builder'' reboot. From 2015 to the present, Marcel was the voice of Asher in ''

Chuggington ''Chuggington'', also known as ''Chuggington: Tales from the Rails'' in series 6, is a British animated television series aimed at pre-school children, produced by Ludorum plc and Herschend Entertainment Studios. It is broadcast on the BBC's ...

''. From 2017 to onwards, Marcel voices Two, Four, Eight, Thirteen, Twenty, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Nine, Forty, Fifty-Five, Eighty and Two Hundred in '' Numberblocks''.

References

External links

*
Marcel McCalla
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Film & TV Database {{DEFAULTSORT:McCalla, Marcel 1981 births Living people Black British male actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors 21st-century British male actors