Tamsin Greig
Greig in 2010
Born	Tamsin Margaret M. Greig (1966-07-12) 12 July 1966 (age 45) Kent, England[1]
Nationality	British
Other names	Tamsin Leaf
Education	Bachelor of Arts
Alma mater	University of Birmingham
Occupation	Actress
Television	Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books Alice Chenery in Love Soup Debbie Aldridge in The Archers Beverly Lincoln in Episodes Mum (Jackie) in Friday Night Dinner
Religion	Christianity
Spouse	Richard Leaf (1997-present)
Awards	Royal Television Society Programme Awards: Comedy Performance 2004 Green Wing Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress 2007 Much Ado About Nothing Whatsonstage.com Best Supporting Actress in a Play 2011 The Little Dog Laughed

Tamsin Margaret M. Greig ( /ˈtæmzɪn ˈɡrɛɡ/; born 12 July 1966)^[2] is an English actress principally known for her roles in two Channel 4 television comedies: Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing. She currently stars in two sitcoms: as Beverly Lincoln in transatlantic sitcom Episodes, and as Jackie in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner. Other notable roles include Alice Chenery in BBC One's comedy drama Love Soup, Debbie Aldridge in BBC Radio 4's soap opera The Archers, and Miss Bates in the 2009 BBC version of Jane Austen's Emma. Greig is also an acclaimed stage actress; she won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2007 for Much Ado About Nothing, and was nominated again in 2011 for her role in The Little Dog Laughed.

Early life[link]

Greig was born in Kent in 1966, the second of three sisters. The family moved to Kilburn when she was three. She went to Malorees Junior School, followed by Camden School for Girls where she passed A-Levels in English, French and Mathematics, and graduated with a first in Drama and Theatre Arts from the University of Birmingham.^[3][4] After graduating, she worked as a temp at the Family Planning Association until 1996;^[3] she also spent some time at a secretarial college.^[5]

Career[link]

Greig is known for both dramatic and comedic roles. Comedy roles do pose problems for Greig, who has admitted that she has problems with corpsing.^[6]

Radio[link]

Greig has had a long-running part as Debbie Aldridge in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers since 1991. Due to her other work, she is not in the show all the time and her character Debbie spends most of her time living in Hungary.^[7]

Her other radio work includes guest-starring in five episodes of the second series of the radio version of Absolute Power, playing Gayle Shand, a rival to Prentiss McCabe and Charles Prentiss's former lover.

Television[link]

Greig appeared in a number of supporting parts, notably as Lamia in Neverwhere (1996) and The Mother in an episode of People Like Us (2000).^[8] Her first major role was Fran Katzenjammer in the sitcom Black Books, which ran for three series from 2000. Fran was a friend of the main character, Bernard, and owned a gift shop called "Nifty Gifty" next door to his bookshop.^[9]

In 2004, she played constantly embarrassed surgical registrar Dr. Caroline Todd, the lead character in the Channel 4 comedy drama series Green Wing. Her performance won her "Best Comedy Performance" in the 2005 Royal Television Society Awards.^[10] She also appeared as Caroline in an appearance at The Secret Policeman's Ball.

She starred in the BBC comedy drama series Love Soup (2005), as Alice Chenery, a lovelorn woman working on a department store perfume counter, in a role specifically written for her by David Renwick, whom she met in 2003 when she appeared in an episode of Jonathan Creek.^[11] In 2005 she also appeared as a nurse in an episode of the BBC series Doctor Who, entitled "The Long Game".

Greig appeared in the role of Edith Frank in the BBC's January 2009 production of The Diary of Anne Frank.^[12] Also in 2009, she appeared as Miss Bates in the BBC serial Jane Austen's Emma. In 2010, she played Sacharissa Cripslock in the two part mini-series Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.

In 2011, she starred in the BBC/Showtime sitcom Episodes, alongside Matt LeBlanc and Green Wing co-star Stephen Mangan.^[13] Greig and Mangan play a husband-and-wife writing duo who travel to America to work on an adaptation of their successful series. Greig also stars in the Channel 4 sitcom, Friday Night Dinner, as the mother of a North London Jewish family.

She is currently playing Beth in the 2012 BBC series White Heat.

Theatre[link]

During 2006 and early 2007, Greig played Beatrice in a much acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award,^[14] and Constance in King John, as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works season. Whilst the win itself was a surprise,^[15] her acceptance speech was received very well as being highly entertaining,^[16] claiming that she was so excited that she had wet her dress. To make it worse, the dress was hired. The speech was apparently completely improvised. Backstage, when told not to tell her mother about her wetting her dress, she told the host that her mum was dead before dedicating her award to her 'dead mum'.^[17] She also won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for "Best Shakespearean Performance" in Much Ado About Nothing, becoming the first woman to win the award,^[18] and was nominated for "The FRANCO'S Best Actress in a Play" in the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Awards.^[19][20]

At the Gielgud Theatre in March 2008, she co-starred with Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott in the UK premiere of Yasmina Reza's The God of Carnage (Le Dieu du carnage) translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Matthew Warchus.^[21][22] The play won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2009.^[23] In 2008, she co-starred in the surreal sci-fi film Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth.

In November 2008, she made her National Theatre debut in Gethsemane, a new play by David Hare which toured the UK.^[24] Greig was starring in The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane at the Garrick Theatre in London, which did run a limited season until 10 April 2010. She starred alongside Rupert Friend, Gemma Arterton and Harry Lloyd, and the play was directed by Jamie Lloyd. She won the 2011 WhatsOnStage Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a play for her portrayal.^[25] Her performance as Diane in The Little Dog Laughed garnered her a second Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress.^[26] In October 2011 she was Hilary, the central character, in Jumpy at the Royal Court, London.^[27]

Cinema[link]

Greig starred with Richard E. Grant in the film Cuckoo,^[28] and with Roger Allam and Gemma Arterton in Tamara Drewe.^[29] She also made a short cameo appearance in the 2004 comedy Shaun of the Dead.

Personal life[link]

Greig now lives in a flat in Kensal Green having moved back in 1996 to be with her dying father.^[4] She converted to Christianity at this time, having been raised as an atheist.^[30]

She is married to actor Richard Leaf, whom she met on the set of Neil Gaiman's 1996 miniseries Neverwhere, and has three children.

She is a supporter of the National Health Service, giving her backing to a rally organised by pro-NHS protest group NHS Together.^[31] She also supports more practical teaching of Shakespeare in British schools, supporting the RSC's "Stand Up For Shakespeare" manifesto.^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tamsin Greig

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tamsin Greig

• Tamsin Greig at the Internet Movie Database
• Tamsin Greig biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• tv.com Tamsin Greig biography.
• Tamsin Greig – Drama Faces Biography of Tamsin Greig on the BBC Drama Faces website.
• Ms Tamsin Greig at Debrett's People of Today

Matt LeBlanc
LeBlanc in 2010
Born	Matthew Steven LeBlanc (1967-07-25) July 25, 1967 (age 44) Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Melissa McKnight (2003-2006; divorced; 1 child)

Matthew Steven "Matt" LeBlanc (born July 25, 1967) is an American actor, best known for his role as Joey Tribbiani on the NBC sitcoms Friends and its spin-off Joey.

In 2011, LeBlanc began starring as a fictional version of himself in Episodes, a BBC Two/Showtime television series created by Friends co-creator David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik. LeBlanc won a Golden Globe award for his work on Episodes, after being nominated three times for his work as Joey Tribbiani on Friends.

Early life[link]

LeBlanc was born in Newton, Massachusetts. His mother, Patricia (née Grossman), was an office manager, and his father, Paul LeBlanc, was a mechanic.^[1] His mother was of Italian descent and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry.^[2][3]

Career[link]

In 1988, he landed his first regular TV role on the drama TV 101 which ran for one season. In 1990 he starred in Jon Bon Jovi's music video "Miracle," from Young Guns II sound track. In 1991 he starred in the music video for the Alanis Morissette single "Walk Away". He also appeared in the last seconds of the music video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Into the Great Wide Open." In 1991, he went on to star in a spin-off of Married... with Children titled Top of the Heap. The Fox series lasted seven episodes airing in April and May 1991. In 1994, he starred in Bob Seger's "Night Moves" music video.^[4]

LeBlanc found success in the role of Joey Tribbiani on Friends, and went on to play this character for twelve years — ten seasons of Friends and two seasons of Joey. Friends was successful and LeBlanc, along with his co-stars, gained wide recognition among viewers.

LeBlanc has appeared in the films Ed (1996), Lost in Space (1998), Charlie's Angels (2000), and All the Queen's Men (2001).

In 2000, LeBlanc starred in Bon Jovi's music video "Say It Isn't So".^[5]

Matt LeBlanc's production company, Fort Hill Productions, co-produced the made-for-TV movie, The Prince in 2006.

In 2011, LeBlanc began appearing as a fictional version of himself in Episodes, a BBC/Showtime television series about a British television series that is remade for an American audience.^[6][7] The series is written by Friends co-creator David Crane and his partner Jeffrey Klarik.^[8]. LeBlanc won the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy for his performance.^[9] The second season of Episodes began airing on BBC Two on 11 May 2012.^[10]

LeBlanc appeared in the second episode of the eighteenth series of Top Gear, where he set the fastest time of 1:42.1 in the Kia Cee'd, narrowly beating previous holder Rowan Atkinson by 0.1 seconds.^[11]

Personal life[link]

In May 2003, LeBlanc married Melissa McKnight, an ex-model.^[12] McKnight and LeBlanc had been introduced in 1997 by her friend Kelly Phillips, wife of actor Lou Diamond Phillips, and LeBlanc proposed to her a year later.^[12] Their daughter Marina, born in 2004, began suffering seizures at age eight months, which affected her motor skills. By the time she was two years old, however, the condition, thought to be a form of dysplasia, had largely receded.^[12]

In June 2005, LeBlanc admitted to "careless and irresponsible" behavior with a stripper during a motorcycle trip to Canada.^[12] LeBlanc and McKnight separated on January 1, 2006.^[12][13] By that time, LeBlanc was involved in a relationship with actress Andrea Anders, who played his neighbor on Joey.^[13] In March of that year, LeBlanc filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final on October 6, 2006.^[13]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matt LeBlanc

External links[link]

• Matt LeBlanc at the Internet Movie Database
• Matt LeBlanc at Emmys.com