Michael Sheen

After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sheen made his professional debut in 1991, starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in "When She Danced" at the Globe Theatre.

He worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s and made notable stage appearances in "Romeo and Juliet" (1992), "Don’t Fool With Love" (1993), "Peer Gynt" (1994), "The Seagull" (1995), "The Homecoming" (1997) and "Henry V" (1997). His performances in "Amadeus" at the Old Vic and "Look Back in Anger" at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in "Caligula" at the Donmar Warehouse.

Sheen has become better known as a screen actor since the 2000s, in particular through his roles in various biopics. With writer Peter Morgan he has starred in a trilogy of films as British politician Tony Blair: the first was the television film "The Deal" in 2003, followed by "The Queen" (2006) and "The Special Relationship" (2010). For playing Blair he was nominated for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy.

Sheen was also nominated for a BAFTA as the troubled comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's 2006 "Fantabulosa!, and nominated for a fourth Olivier Award in 2006, which he won, for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in "Frost/Nixon," a role he revisited in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. He also starred as the outspoken football manager Brian Clough in "The Damned United."

From Feb. 19 to March 4, 2024, Sheen directed and starred in a three-part television series called "The Way" on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. From February to June 2024, Sheen performed on stage as Aneurin Bevan in "Nye," a play written by Tim Price and directed by Rufus Norris. The play ran at the Royal National Theatre from Feb. 24 until May 11, and at the Wales Millennium Centre from May 18 to June 1. Sheen was nominated for Best Performer in a Play at the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards for this role. Following a sell-out run in 2024, Sheen will reprise his role as Aneurin Bevan in "Nye" in 2025. The second run will be at the Royal National Theatre from July 3 to Aug. 16, and at the Wales Millennium Centre from Aug. 22 to 30.

In April 2024, Sheen guested on BBC's "The Assembly" for Autism Acceptance Week and was praised for his "heartwarming" interaction with neurodivergent journalists. Sheen answering a question from journalist Leo was nominated for TV Moment of the Year at the Edinburgh TV Festival Awards. "The Assembly" half-hour special with Sheen won Media Moment at the 2025 Scope Awards.

In June 2024, Sheen joined BBC Radio 4's environmental documentary podcast "Buried Series 2: The Last Witness" as the hearsay witness who recorded dead witness Douglas Gowan's final testimony. Along with husband-and-wife journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, Sheen investigated the potential harm caused by chemical waste dumped in South Wales, following reports from researcher Douglas Gowan, whom Sheen interviewed in 2017 and mentioned in his 2017 Annual Raymond Williams Memorial Lecture. "Buried Series 2: The Last Witness" was named the third best podcast of 2024 by The Guardian. The podcast was shortlisted in the 2025 Amnesty International UK Media Awards for Radio & Podcasts, but did not make the list of finalists. "Buried: The Last Witness" won the Grand Award at the 2025 New York Festivals Radio Awards in the Documentary: Environment & Ecology category and is shortlisted in the 2025 True Crime Awards for Podcast: Impact for Change.

"A Very Royal Scandal" was released on Sept. 19, 2024, on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video.

On March 10, 2025, the documentary "Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway" aired on Channel 4. The program explains why people are vulnerable to debt spirals, how debt-buying practices work, and how Sheen wrote off £1 million of debt for 900 people in South Wales using £100,000 of his own money by secretly spending two years setting up a debt acquisition company. The program was well-received, and Sheen’s heist was hailed as inspiring and "Robin Hood-like," although questions remain as to whether it will prompt the U.K. government to pass the Fair Banking Act.