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Mark Umbers

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Mark Umbers
Born (1973-06-17) 17 June 1973 (age 51)
Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
NationalityEnglish
EducationMalsis School
Sedbergh School
Alma materOxford University
OccupationActor
Years active1995–present

Mark Umbers (born 17 June 1973) is an English theatre, film and television actor.

Early life and education

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Born in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, Umbers was brought up in Wetherby and was educated at Malsis School before attending Sedbergh School. In 1995 he graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Latin and Greek literature and philosophy.

Career

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Umbers' first professional engagements were in 1997 in the BBC dramas The Student Prince and Berkeley Square.[1] His theatre debut was the lead role in a production of The Pirates of Penzance which transferred to Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London.[2][3]

Trevor Nunn and John Caird cast Umbers in their multi-award-winning 1999 season at the Royal National Theatre, where he appeared in productions including The Merchant of Venice, which was later filmed for broadcast by the BBC.[4] After playing Lord Sidney opposite Richard E. Grant in the BBC series The Scarlet Pimpernel,[5] Umbers returned to the National to play Freddy in the acclaimed 2001 revival of My Fair Lady, later transferring to Theatre Royal Drury Lane.[6] In her Evening Standard review, Zoe Williams suggested that Umbers was ‘known throughout the western world as the most beautiful man ever seen’.[7]

In 2002 Umbers appeared alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Vortex, Michael Grandage's inaugural production at the Donmar Warehouse.[8]

In 2004, he was cast opposite Scarlett Johansson in A Good Woman.[9]

In 2005, he played the lead role of Perkin Warbeck in Channel 4's historical drama Princes in the Tower.[10] After playing opposite Anjelica Huston and Lauren Bacall in These Foolish Things,[11][12] his third role that year was alongside John Malkovich in Colour Me Kubrick.[13][14] He then played Lt. Robert Maynard in the mini-series Blackbeard (2006) opposite Jessica Chastain.[15]

In 2007, Umbers played the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie alongside Jessica Lange in the West End to critical acclaim.[16][17][18][19] Later that year Steven Soderbergh cast Umbers as Roth in Che: Part Two.[20] The following year, he starred in the second series of the BBC drama Mistresses[21] and the BBC film of The Turn of the Screw, playing the Master opposite Michelle Dockery.[22]

The Menier Chocolate Factory cast Umbers in their revival of Sweet Charity, the first production of the show to have only one leading man,[23] with Umbers playing all the love-interest roles. The production transferred to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2010.[24][25] Of Umbers' performance, Michael Coveney wrote in The Independent that "it's unusual to have such a level of performance in a musical...and it raises everyone else's game."[26]

After appearing in the ITV drama Eternal Law, in 2011 Umbers played Frank Hunter in The Browning Version opposite Anna Chancellor at Chichester Festival Theatre. The play was performed in a double bill with David Hare's new play South Downs and transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in April 2012.[27][28]

Umbers returned to the Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2012, to play the central role of Franklin Shepard in Maria Friedman's multi-award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.[29][30][31] The production transferred with its original cast to the Harold Pinter Theatre on 1 May 2013,[32][33][34] receiving (at that time) more 5 star reviews than any other production in West End history,[35] along with the Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best Musical revival. The production was filmed and subsequently screened in cinemas worldwide.[36]

Between 2014 and 2016, Umbers played Wing Commander Nick Lucas in the ITV and PBS World War Two drama Home Fires. After playing the lead role of Georg in She Loves Me at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2016,[37] he played Robert Walsh in David Hare's Netflix series Collateral alongside Carey Mulligan.[38]

In August 2017, he reprised his role as Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along for Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, again directed by Friedman. The Boston Globe described his performance as "simply extraordinary".[39] HuffPost cited Stephen Sondheim as having said that Umbers was the best in the role that he had ever seen.[40] Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times: "For the first time in my experience, Frank is the beating, shattered heart of the show...a consequence Mr. Umbers’s startlingly sympathetic performance of a (usually unsympathetic) man to whom fame happens."[41]

Umbers played Roger Moore in the HBO Hervé Villechaize biopic My Dinner with Hervé. Umbers and Peter Dinklage recreated the fight scene between James Bond and villain Nick Nack from The Man with the Golden Gun for the film.[42][43]

As of 2023, Umbers is currently playing Cecil Ainsworth in the ITV drama Hotel Portofino.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1998 Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon PC Denham
2004 A Good Woman Robert Windemere
2005 Colour Me Kubrick Piers
2005 These Foolish Things Douglas Middleton
2013 Merrily We Roll Along Franklin Shepard Film recording of the musical[44]
2017 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Baron #2
2020 Dolittle Lieutenant

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1997 The Prince of Hearts Elliot Television movie
1998 Silent Witness Male Student Episodes: "An Academic Exercise: Parts 1 & 2"
1998 Berkeley Square Sidney Chambers Episode: "Gone a'Hunting"
1998 Casualty Nick Worthington Episodes: "Internal Inferno: Parts 1 & 2"
1999 The Bill David Webster Episode: "Long Term Investment"
2000 Trust Simon Television movie
2000 The Scarlet Pimpernel Lord Sidney Episode: "A Good Name"
2001 Masterpiece Theatre Solanio Episode: "The Merchant of Venice"
2003 Foyle's War Rex Talbot Episode: "Among the Few"
2004 Midsomer Murders Neville Williams Episode: "Sins of Commission"
2005 Princes in the Tower Perkin Warbeck Television movie
2006 Pirates:The True Story of Blackbeard Lt. Robert Maynard 3 episodes
Television miniseries
2007 Heartbeat Jimbo Brady Episode: "Out of Africa"
2008 Midsomer Murders Harry Fitzroy Episode: "Blood Wedding"
2008 Harley Street James Davison Episode: #1.4
2009 Mistresses Dan Tate 6 episodes
2009 The Turn of the Screw Master Television movie
2012 Eternal Law Major John Parker 2 episodes
2014 Agatha Christie: Ordeal by Innocence Calgary 3 episodes
Television miniseries
2015–2016 Home Fires Nick Lucas 11 episodes
2018 Collateral Robert Walsh 2 episodes
Television miniseries
2018 My Dinner with Hervé Roger Moore Television movie
2019 Father Brown Nicholai Solovey Episode: "The Honourable Thief"
2020 Grantchester Wyatt Rogers Episode: #5.3
2020 Brave New World Warden Cortez Episode: "Want & Consequence"
2022 Hotel Portofino Cecil Ainsworth Main role

References

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  1. ^ IMDb, Mark Umbers
  2. ^ Miles Kington article in The Independent 1998
  3. ^ Michael Billington's Guardian review of The Pirates of Penzance, 2000
  4. ^ Masterpiece Theater, The Merchant of Venice
  5. ^ IMDb The Scarlet Pimpernel: A Good Name
  6. ^ Variety review "My Fair Lady" 20 March 2001
  7. ^ "Fair Lady fails to impress all". 10 April 2012.
  8. ^ Shenton, Mark (11 December 2002). "In the grip of the Vortex". BBC. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  9. ^ Washington Post review of A Good Woman 2006
  10. ^ Sydney Morning Herald interview with Mark Umbers, 2008
  11. ^ IMDb credits, These Foolish Things
  12. ^ "These foolish things".
  13. ^ IMDb credits, Color Me Kubrick
  14. ^ Austin Chronicle review, Color Me Kubrick
  15. ^ Laura Fries review of Blackbeard, Variety 2006
  16. ^ Financial Times review The Glass Menagerie 2007
  17. ^ Review round-up The Glass Menagerie 2007
  18. ^ Evening Standard review The Glass Menagerie 2007
  19. ^ "'The Entertainer' outshines 2 other revivals on London stage (Published 2007)". The New York Times.
  20. ^ IMDb credits, Che: Part Two
  21. ^ BBC press release: Mistresses
  22. ^ BBC press release: The Turn of the Screw, 2009
  23. ^ Official London Theatre interview, 2010
  24. ^ The Spectator review Sweet Charity 2009
  25. ^ The Independent review Sweet Charity 2009
  26. ^ The Independent review Sweet Charity 2010
  27. ^ "South Downs/The Browning Version, Harold Pinter Theatre, review". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021.
  28. ^ The Arts Desk review The Browning Version 2012
  29. ^ "Merrily We Roll Along – review". The Guardian. 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022.
  30. ^ The Arts Desk review Merrily We Roll Along 2012
  31. ^ "London Theater Journal: Memory Plays". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022.
  32. ^ "Merrily We Roll Along, The Harold Pinter Theatre, review". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023.
  33. ^ The Independent review Merrily We Roll Along 2013
  34. ^ Daily Express review Merrily We Roll Along 2013
  35. ^ Official London Theatre, 2013
  36. ^ New York Times article by Ben Brantley, October 2013
  37. ^ The Observer review of She Loves Me, 2016
  38. ^ Digital Spy, 2018
  39. ^ Boston Globe review of Merrily We Roll Along, September 2017
  40. ^ HuffPost interview with Mark Umbers, August 2017
  41. ^ Ben Brantley's New York Times review of Merrily We Roll Along, October 2017
  42. ^ Sir Roger Moore on Twitter, 2017
  43. ^ Mark Umbers interview, October 2018
  44. ^ "Sondheim Guide / Merrily We Roll Along". Retrieved 19 June 2024.
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