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

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

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, performing improvised comedy. 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.

Television

In the 1980s Steen and Sweeney moved into television production, appearing together for the first time on TV in the ITV children's show '' CBTV'' in 1981, followed by one of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's first comedies, ''Little Armadillos''. In 1985 Steen appeared in the

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

comedy '' Happy Families''. Rory Bremner recruited them as resident support performers on his first

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

for 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 ...

. In 1987 they starred as the Romantic poets

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

and Coleridge (Steen playing Byron) in an episode, entitled " Ink and Incapability", of the comedy series '' Blackadder the Third''. Along with Sweeney, Steen appeared in the Channel 4 television improvisational show ''

Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. The three major versions of the show are the original 1988 British radio programme (from which all subsequent versions are ada ...

'' for six episodes. He was a guest on the BBC's comedy panel game '' Have I Got News for You'' in 1992. In 2000, Steen played the voice of cartoon gerbil '' El Nombre''.

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 Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an ...

in BBC Radio 4's adaptation of the Melly's memoir ''Owning Up''.

Theatre

Steen has performed in improvisation theatre tours, and solo theatre shows playing

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson ( ; born 8 December 1951) is an American-British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has be ...

in three adaptations of his work by the writer and director Paul Hodson. He also performed in a one-man show about the American comedian

John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...

written by Hodson. In 2005, Steen appeared at the National Theatre in London as

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

in ''Theatre of Blood'', based on the 1970 cinema film of the same name. Steen performs improvisation work with the Comedy Store Players, Paul Merton's ''Impro Chums'', and Stephen Frost's ''Impro All Stars''.

Personal life

Steen lives in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, he married in 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steen, Steve 1954 births Living people British male stage actors British male comedians British male television actors Place of birth missing (living people) Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Molesey Male actors from London Comedians from the London Borough of Lambeth Musicians from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Lambeth