Martin Clunes

Born: November 28 1961
Where: Wimbledon, South London

Son of the British actor Alec Clunes, Martin started his career in television appearing in such UK classics as Doctor Who, Boon, Lovejoy and Harry Enfield & Chums.

Always a sucker for comedy, he also had a recurring role on the popular series Jeeves & Wooster opposite Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie, before getting his big break in 1992 as Gary Strang, one of two Men Behaving Badly.

The verve he displayed in the hit series won him an award for best comedy performance from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

His film break came just before this success but he didn't receive any notoriety for a small role opposite Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Russia House.

Martin then got involved in the Great British Institution that is Carry On with a part in Carry On Columbus in 1992 before appearing opposite Christian Bale in Swing Kids a year later.

His first starring role coincided with his directorial debut as he took on the comedy Staggered, about a man whose wedding plans are sabotaged when he is abandoned, naked, on a Scottish island.

A handful of film parts followed but nothing more notable than his 1998 role in the Oscar winning Shakespeare In Love. His efforts earned him the Screen Actors Guild Award for an outstanding performance by a cast, an honour shared by the likes of Ben Affleck and Dame Judi Dench.

He went on to direct and star in Hunting Venus a film made for British TV in 1999 before starring as Dr. Bamford in Saving Grace.