Matt Berry

Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He has appeared in comedy series such as The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, The Wrong Door, and House of Fools. More recently he played the lead role of Steven Toast in the Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London, for which he won the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme. Starting in 2019, he has starred in the FX television series What We Do In the Shadows and the sitcom Year of the Rabbit.

Matthew Charles Berry was born on 2 May 1974 in Bromham, Bedfordshire, the son of Pauline (née Acreman) and Charles Berry. He has an older sister named Johanna. He attended Nottingham Trent University, graduating in 1997 with a BA in Contemporary Arts.

Film and television

Berry 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.

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 cameo performance in 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 joined The IT Crowd in the second series as Douglas Reynholm. 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 & Stacey.

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 (2006) and Moon (2009). In 2008 he became the face of Adult Swim's spoof charity appeal "Save the Workers". Berry featured in Season 2, episode 15 of The Sarah Silverman Program, filmed in Los Angeles for Comedy Central. Berry stars in the video (directed by Richard Ayoade) 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.

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 provided the voice of Allen in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Allen Part Two". 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.

In July 2012, he appeared as vainglorious actor Steven Toast in the pilot episode of Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London, co-written with Arthur Mathews. Notwithstanding mixed reviews, a series was commissioned. The first episode was broadcast on 20 October 2013. On 10 May 2015 Berry won a BAFTA award for Best Male Comedy Performance in the series Toast of London. In 2015, Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews published "Toast on Toast: Cautionary tales and candid advice", a spoof autobiography of Steven Toast. It was also released as an audiobook read by Matt Berry.

Berry played the title character in the 2013 Portlandia episode "Squiggleman."

In 2014, Berry appeared in the BBC 2 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. Berry appeared in the second SpongeBob SquarePants feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, where he voiced an inter-dimensional dolphin named Bubbles. On 18 May 2015 Berry appeared in "Twelve Forever", a series pilot created by Julia Vickerman for Cartoon Network that was released on their website on 18 May 2015, where he voiced the main villainess "The Butt Witch". The show was eventually moved over to Netflix in December, 2017. Berry made an appearance as Professor Teacher in two episodes of Major Lazer. Berry narrated the BBC series Matt Berry Does, which was broadcast from April 2015 to January 2016. In December 2015, he played Professor Awfulshirt in Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns on BBC One. In 2018, he provided the voice of Prince Merkimer in Matt Groening's animated series Disenchantment on Netflix.

In 2019, Berry appeared in the FX TV adaptation of the film What We Do in the Shadows, where he plays Laszlo, one of three vampires living in Staten Island. The series was renewed for a second season in May 2019.

Voiceovers

Berry has provided many voiceovers for both radio and television advertising, including Absolute Radio, Volvic, Müller Corner adverts and characters on several adverts for The Natural Confectionery Company and Tawny Owl iced tea (Ta Wit Ta Whoo Company plc] . 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 voiceover, as fictional wildlife documentary maker Don Keystone, for both the game and the video advertisements produced for it. In 2014, he read out the teamsheets at Luton Town before the game. In 2015, he provided the voice for an award-winning satirical anti-war film by the UK branch of Veterans for Peace called Action Man: Battlefield Casualties.

In 2019, Berry narrated an advert for Moneysupermarket.com.

Music

Berry composed all the music for Snuff Box and Toast of London, 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 1980s 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 recorded six studio albums: Jackpot (1995), Opium (self-released, 2008), the most recent four have been released on Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz Records: Witchazel (2011), Kill the Wolf (2013), Music for Insomniacs (2014) and The Small Hours (2016). In 2017, a "companion piece" to The Small Hours entitled Night Terrors was released, featuring remixes by artists such as Saint Etienne. 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!. In July 2018, it was announced that Berry would be releasing a new album entitled Television Themes on Acid Jazz Records, featuring a cover of Sorry! as well as other famous themes such as Doctor Who and Rainbow.

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 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 was the opening act for Steven Wilson's second Royal Albert Hall concert.

In 2017, he appeared in the Pugwash music video for "What Are You Like", though he does not perform on the recording.

In 2019, he was revealed as one of the contributing artists on the latest Desert Sessions album.