Matthew Charles "Matt" Berry is a BAFTA award-winning English actor, writer,
comedian and musician. Berry is perhaps best known for his acting role as
Douglas Reynholm in The IT Crowd from 2007 until the final episode in 2013. He
is also well known for his appearances in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The
Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box and "The Wrong Door". He plays Beef in House of Fools
and the title character in Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London. He also starred
in and composed AD/BC: A Rock Opera. Berry is renowned for his voice; he has
voiced several advertisements, most notably for Volvic, The Natural
Confectionery Company, Absolute Radio and MoneySupermarket. He has regularly
worked closely with The Mighty Boosh and other associated actors such as Richard
Ayoade and is known for playing eccentric, flamboyant, woman-obsessed
characters. Early life and education
Berry was born in Bromham, Bedfordshire, to Pauline and Charles Berry. Matt has
one older sister, Johanna. He attended Nottingham Trent University, where he
received a BA in Contemporary Arts in 1997.
Career He began his career as a runner before
appearing in the video game magazine show Game Over on BSkyB's computer and
technology channel .tv, between 1998 and 1999. Though commissioned as an
editorial show on the subject matter, episodes contained a large number of
comedy sketches with Berry as the main performer. These showcased a wide range
of characters, one of which was a sketch about The Exorcist entitled "Fear Pushed
Through the Ring". It was this sketch and others like it that resulted in
Berry, and producers Rik Henderson and Richard Pitt, being fired from the show.
Berry's first prominent TV role was playing Todd Rivers/Dr Lucien Sanchez in
the cult 2004 comedy series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and the 2006
spin-off Man to Man with Dean Learner. He later appeared as the eccentric and
sinister tycoon/explorer Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh. Berry
first met The Mighty Boosh duo while performing at the Hen and Chickens
Theatre, where they were resident in 2000. He can be seen in a small cameo
performance in the The Mighty Boosh Live DVD.
Berry wrote and starred in the comedy show Snuff Box on BBC Three with Rich
Fulcher, whom he met during the filming of the first series of The Mighty Boosh.
Fulcher co-starred as Bainbridge's lackey, Bob Fossil. Berry has starred as
Douglas Reynholm since the second series of The IT Crowd. He was nominated as
Best Male Comedy Newcomer in the 2007 British Comedy Awards for this role, but
lost out to James Corden for Gavin and Stacey. In July 2012, he appeared as
vainglorious actor Stephen Toast in the pilot episode of a Channel 4 sitcom,
co-written with Arthur Matthews, called Toast of London; notwithstanding mixed
reviews, a series was subsequently commissioned, the first episode being
broadcast on 20 October 2013. In November 2007, Berry starred
alongside Simon Farnaby and Boosh regular Rich Fulcher in The Golf War on
E4. Film appearances include The Devil's Chair and Moon. In 2008 he became the
face of Adult Swim's spoof charity appeal "Save the Workers". Berry
featured in Season 3, episode 9 of The Sarah Silverman Program, filmed in Los
Angeles for Comedy Central. Berry stars in the video for the 2007 Super Furry
Animals song "Run-Away". He also appeared as an antiques expert in the
ITV sketch show Monkey Trousers with Vic and Bob and Steve Coogan.
Berry has provided many voiceovers for both radio and television advertising,
including Absolute Radio, Volvic mineral water, Müller Corner adverts and
characters on several adverts for The Natural Confectionery Company. He has
also been in the sketch show The Wrong Door as a recurring bit-part character
who runs into a snooker hall and shouts "Stop playing snooker!" before
whispering an implied impossible wager to one of the players and completing an
unfeasible trick shot. In 2012 he worked with Team17 on their video game title
Worms Revolution, providing voice over, as fictional wildlife documentary maker
Don Keystone, for both the game and the video advertisements produced for it.
In 2010, Berry played journalist Michael Duffy in the BBC production Five
Daughters, which portrayed events surrounding the Ipswich murders of 2006.
Berry starred in a short film called The Search—"a lonely man's search for the
existence of life outside our universe takes a remarkable turn when he connects
with a recently bereaved family". In 2011, he played the voice of Allen in
Aqua Unit Patrol Squad's "Allen Part 2". He appeared as a contestant in the
British comedy panel game Shooting Stars, acting the part of Vangelis.
In 2012 BBC Radio 4 aired his comedy series I, Regress. In it he takes on the
role of Dr Berry, a brilliant but unorthodox regressive therapist. During
each 15-minute episode, Berry explores the psyche of a guest patient,
attempting to treat his or her problems in surreal dreamlike sequences.
Berry appeared in the film adaptation of the David Nicholls novel One Day,
playing the role of Aaron, Dexter's agent. He briefly featured in the
closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, introducing ELO's "Mr. Blue
Sky" by way of a mock weather forecast. Berry played the title character in the
2013 Portlandia episode "Squiggleman." In October 2013, Berry starred in
Channel 4 comedy series Toast of London and appeared in the BBC 2 2014 series
House of Fools, written by and starring Reeves and Mortimer.
Matt Berry appears in episode nine of the sixth season of Dan Harmon's
television series Community, released on Yahoo Screen on 5 May 2015.
On 10 May 2015 Berry won a BAFTA award for Best Male Comedy Performance in the
series Toast of London. Berry appeared in the second SpongeBob
SquarePants feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, where he
voiced a dolphin, Bubbles. He also voiced the character in the film's video
game; SpongeBob HeroPants. On 18 May 2015 Berry appeared in "Twelve
Forever", a pilot created by Julia Vickerman and released on Cartoon
Network's website, where he voiced the main villainess "The Butt Witch".
Berry made an appearance as Professor Teacher in two episodes of Major Lazer.
Music Berry composed all the music for Snuff
Box, as well as the music for AD/BC: A Rock Opera, which he co-wrote with
Richard Ayoade. AD/BC was a half-hour parody of overblown musicals in general
and Jesus Christ Superstar in particular, telling the story of the
innkeeper who allowed Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus to sleep in his manger.
AD/BC was broadcast in December 2004 and featured Fulcher and Mighty Boosh stars
Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. He also performed a song for an episode of
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace entitled "One Track Lover", a spoof of cheesy romantic
80s songs. Berry also wrote music for the BBC 2
Steve Coogan comedy Saxondale and appeared in the first and third episodes
of the second series of the show. He composed the theme song for the Channel
4 sketch show Blunder. He is also credited on The Peter Serafinowicz Show.
Berry has released five studio albums: Jackpot, Opium, Witchazel and Kill the
Wolf and "Music for Insomniacs". He stated in the first issue of Bearded
Magazine in 2007 that he was producing and collaborating on new material with
1960s soul singer Geno Washington and was to record a new album. This would
become 'Witchazel', which Berry originally released as a one day only
free download in March 2009. The album was later officially released as a CD
and paid-for digital download. Berry has toured with a number of bands
including Jonas 3 and The Maypoles. The latter comprises former Bluetones singer
Mark Morriss and Singer/Clarinet player Cecilia Fage. Rich Fulcher has joined
Berry on stage for several appearances. Geno Washington has also joined Berry
onstage at London gigs for encores of the Snuff Box theme.
In October 2007, Berry provided a brand new track "Cream Pie" to Bearded
Magazine for readers to download for free, followed by a cover of the Blur
song "Sing" in November 2007. 'Cream Pie' is still available to supporters of
Beardaid. Berry voiced his appreciation of the
television themes of Ronnie Hazlehurst in an episode of Charlie Brooker's
Screenwipe, and his band played out the Screenwipe Christmas special with a
rendition of Hazlehurst's theme tune for 1980s British sitcom Sorry!.
Until 2010, Berry presented a show on Absolute Radio, where he still performs
various voiceovers and is described as "the voice of Absolute Radio". The
now-defunct Matt Berry Podcast regularly featured in the Top Ten of the iTunes
podcast chart and its producer Vince Lynch was nominated for Best Online
Producer at the Radio Academy Production Awards.
In 2011 he appeared in the music video for "Reset", a song from Route One or
Die, the debut album from London-based experimental band Three Trapped Tigers
In 2012 part of the Snuff Box theme appeared briefly in the film Dredd, the
line "but it was bronze" playing from a computer terminal in the Grand Hall of
Justice in the latter half of the film. In 2015 he is the opening act for Steven
Wilson's second Royal Albert Hall concert
References External links
Official website Matt Berry at the Internet Movie
Database BBC biography
Interview on Liberation Frequency