Mark Williams (actor)

Early life

Williams was educated at North Bromsgrove High School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He performed with Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). Having made a career as a theatre actor and working for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre along the way, he came to wider public attention through his appearances on the BBC television sketch programmes Alexei Sayle's Stuff and The Fast Show. Williams has described the huge popularity of the latter show as a "double-edged sword" as it has led to his being seen by the public as a comedian rather than as an actor.

Career

Williams made his film début alongside fellow débutants Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs in the Oxford University Film Foundation production Privileged in 1982.

His most famous cinema role is as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, which began in 2002. Other high-profile appearances include the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Claire Danes in 2007 and a 2012 role in Doctor Who as Brian Williams, father of the Doctor's companion, Rory.

Since 2013, he has appeared as the lead role in the BBC costume drama Father Brown. Williams also featured in the first series of Blandings, the BBC TV adaptation of the P. G. Wodehouse Blandings Castle stories, broadcast in 2013, in which he played Beach, the Emsworth's tipsy butler; his performance was described as "a delight" by Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail but he did not return for the show's second season, for which he was replaced by Tim Vine.

In 2014 and 2015, he presented the BBC daytime game show The Link. The show ran for two series.

Aside from his acting work, Williams has also presented several documentary programmes: Mark Williams' Big Bangs on the history of explosives, a follow-up to previous series Mark Williams on the Rails, Industrial Revelations and More Industrial Revelations.

He is a supporter of Aston Villa F.C. although, living in Lewes, he also supports Brighton & Hove Albion.

Interviewed in 2014 by the Lancashire Evening Post, when asked if some people still saw him as a comedy actor, Williams replied, "Well, it’s only a few people in the BBC. In America, they see me as a major British character actor, but unfortunately, the BBC is pretty parochial and people are institutionalised here."