Mel Smith

Born: 3rd December 1952
Where: Chiswick, London

The comedy star of TV's Not The Nine O'Clock News is now firmly settled into his first choice career as a film director.

Highlights of his work behind the camera include the big screen version of Bean with Rowan Atkinson and The Tall Guy with Emma Thompson.

Smith began performing while at Oxford University, where he studied psychology, but was a keen member of the dramatic society.

He toured the US with the Oxford/Cambridge Shakespeare Company, and got his first professional job as assistant director at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

He was awarded an Arts Council grant to direct plays at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield before he gained notoriety on the comedy Not the Nine O'Clock News with Griff Rhys-Jones and Rowan Atkinson.

His feature acting debut, came with Babylon, a British drama about black working-class life, but his first substantial film role was playing a reformed crook in the British thriller, Slayground.

Smith played character parts in films before making the transition to feature directing with The Tall Guy, a comedy starring Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson.

He also distinguished himself as a comic advertising director, with his spots for Carling Black Label receiving a Silver Lion award at Cannes.

Smith co-starred with Rhys-Jones in Morons From Outer Space, but received wider exposure to US audiences in particular, in a small role in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.

He remained behind the camera as the helmer of Radioland Murders, a period comedy produced by George Lucas that made barely a peep at the box office.

In 1996, he returned to the big screen as Sir Toby Belch in Trevor Nunn's filming of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Following this he concentrated on directing, recording his biggest success with the big screen version of Mr Bean.

The movie, starring Rowan Atkinson as the buffoonish nerd, was a massive box office success.

Smith was on less sure ground with his female crime caper High Heels and Low Lifes, starring Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack.

Recent work includes the comedy Blackball, a story about a rebellious young bowls player, featuring Peter Kaye.

, after which he directed two films, Bean, and High Heels and Low Lifes.