Stephen Mangan

Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge, Seán Lincoln in Episodes, Bigwig in Watership Down, Postman Pat in Postman Pat: The Movie, Richard Pitt in Hang Ups, Adrian Mole in The Cappuccino Years, Andrew in Bliss (2018), and Nathan Stern in The Split (2018–2022). He has presented Artist of the Year since 2018 on Sky Arts.

As a stage actor, he was Tony-nominated for his portrayal of Norman in The Norman Conquests on Broadway. He starred as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End, which won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. He co-presented the 2020 edition of Children In Need for the BBC.

Mangan was born on 16 May 1968 in Ponders End, in Enfield, north London, to Irish parents. He has two younger sisters.

Mangan was educated at two private schools, Lochinver House School for boys in Potters Bar, and Haileybury and Imperial Service College (now co-educational), a boarding school in the village of Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. He was in a school prog rock band called Aragon, which recorded an album called The Wizard's Dream.

Mangan studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he appeared in 21 plays, although he did not join the Cambridge Footlights. Mangan took a year out to care for his mother, Mary, who died of colon cancer at age 45. Weeks after her death, he auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to study there for three years.

After graduating from RADA in 1994, Mangan did not pursue lead roles on screen, preferring to take what he saw as the less limited opportunities on the stage. Between 1994 and 2000, he performed in plays throughout the UK and the West End before joining the theatre company Cheek by Jowl for an international tour of Much Ado About Nothing, earning him a nomination for a National Theatre Ian Charleson Award. He worked again for director Declan Donnellan at the Royal Shakespeare Company in School for Scandal, and at the Savoy Theatre in Hay Fever.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 he played the title role in The Norman Conquests, directed by Matthew Warchus, at The Old Vic and then at the Circle in the Square on Broadway. The production was a huge critical success earning several Tony Award nominations, including one for Mangan himself and won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

In 2012 he appeared at the Royal Court in a Joe Penhall play, Birthday, directed by Roger Michell, playing a pregnant man.