Matt Lacey (born 1987) is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for his recurring role as Ben in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series ''

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

'' and as Orlando in the Gap Yah viral comedy sketch.

Life and career

Lacey was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1987 to Irish immigrant parents and studied at the

Whitgift School Whitgift School is an independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was prev ...

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the E ...

, as a child. He went on to study modern history at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. At Oxford he was a founder member of the Unexpected Items, a comedy group who would perform in pubs and later at festivals and comedy nights. He was working in his family's construction business as recently as 2010 to support his comedy and acting work. His break-through was in the role of Orlando in the comedy sketch Gap Yah, produced and directed by Lacey's Unexpected Items team and VM Productions. The video became a viral hit on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, with 660,000 views in its first month and around 50,000 "fresh hits a day" in late March 2010. As of early 2017 the video had over 6 million views, while follow-ups part 2 and 3 have over 1.5 million views combined. Lacey joined the cast of ''

'' on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

in 2014 and was a recurring character in seasons 2 and 3 alongside

Greg Davies Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Mr Gilbert in ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), Ken Thompson in ''Cuckoo'' (2012–2019), Dan Davies in '' Man ...

, Helen Baxendale and ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' star

Taylor Lautner Taylor Daniel Lautner ( ; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing werewolf Jacob Black in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' film series (2008–2012). His accolades include a Scream Awar ...

. In 2018 Lacey was touring on stage in a

Bill Kenwright William Kenwright (4 September 1945 – 23 October 2023) was an English theatre and film producer. He was also the chairman of Everton Football Club for nearly two decades, from 2004 until his death in 2023. Early life Kenwright was born in ...

production of the

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...

play '' The Case of the Frightened Lady'', he joined the cast as Detective Sergeant Totty in September 2018.

Filmography

Film

* '' Life Goes On'' as Burgundy

Television

*'' EastEnders E20'' as Party Guy 3 *''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' as Dr. Bruce Field *''

'' as Ben

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacey, Matt Living people English male stage actors English male television actors 21st-century English male actors 1987 births English male comedians English people of Irish descent