Mark Williams (born 17 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, scriptwriter and presenter. He is known as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show as well as for the role of Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

Biography

Personal life

Williams was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, attending North Bromsgrove High School. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford where he studied English. Williams was a member of the Mikron Theatre, a canal boat based touring group in the 1980s.

He is a fan of Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Career

Williams has appeared in numerous British television series, most notably The Fast Show. He also starred as Olaf Petersen in Red Dwarf and Kirk in Carrie and Barry.

In the Academy Award-winning film Shakespeare in Love, Williams portrayed Wabash, the stuttering actor who recited the Prologue and Epilogue in the production of Romeo and Juliet. More recently he has begun to receive notice for appearing in the second, third, fourth, and fifth Harry Potter films.

On 3 July 2006 he appeared as an old roadie friend of Tommy Saxondale in the third episode of the BBC comedy series Saxondale. He presented a documentary series titled 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 starred in the 1997 film The Borrowers with actors Tom Felton and Jim Broadbent. Later, the three would all be cast to star in the Harry Potter films, with Tom portraying Draco Malfoy and Jim portraying Horace Slughorn. Coincidentally, the main character of The Borrowers is named Ocious P. Potter.

Filmography

• Privileged (1982)
• Out of Order (1987)
• High Season (1987)
• The Storyteller in the episode "Fearnot" (1988)
• Red Dwarf in episodes "The End", "Balance of Power" and "Stasis Leak" (all 1988)
• Alexei Sayle's Stuff 1988
• Tumbledown 1989
• Making Out (1990) in Episode #1.2
• Kinsey 1990
• KYTV in episode "Launch" (1990)
• Bottom in the episode "Accident" (1991)
• Merlin of the Crystal Cave (1991)
• The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer (1993)
• Health and Efficiency in the episode "Cinderella Rockafeller" (1994)
• Prince of Jutland (1994)
• The Fast Show
• Chef! in the episode "Masterchef" (1994)
• Peak Practice in the episode "Life and Soul" (1995)
• The Big Game (1995)
• Searching (1995)
• 101 Dalmatians (1996)
• The Borrowers (1997)
• The Fast Show Live (1998)
• Shakespeare in Love (1998)
• The Canterbury Tales in the episode "Leaving London" (1998)
• Ted & Ralph (1998)
• Hunting Venus (1998)
• The Strangerers (2000)
• High Heels and Low Lifes (2001)
• Industrial Revelations (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Industrial Revelations (2002)
• Anita and Me (film) (2002)
• Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Mark Williams on the Rails (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• Mark Williams' Big Bangs (2006)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• Stardust (2007)
• A Room with a View for ITV1 (2007)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Sense and Sensibility (2008)

External links

• Mark Williams at the Internet Movie Database