{{Short description|British actor, comedian and musician (born 1954)}} {{Unreliable sources|date=January 2024}} {{BLP one source|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Steve Steen | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|12|26|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Lambeth]], [[London]], [[England]] | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Actor, voice actor, comedian, musician }}
'''Steve Steen''' (born 26 December 1954) is a British television, radio and theatre actor and comedian, known for [[improvisational comedy]] works.
==Early career== Whilst a pupil at [[Clapham College]] in London, Steen became friends with [[Jim Sweeney (comedian)|Jim Sweeney]], and they joined Oval House theatre club in 1972, performing [[improvised comedy]]. They wrote and performed in a show that parodied much of the other shows being held in London that year. Then they formed their own theatre company and wrote and toured its productions around the United Kingdom through the 1970s.
==Television== In the 1980s Steen and Sweeney moved into television production, appearing together for the first time on TV in the [[ITV Network|ITV]] children's show ''[[CBTV (Thames)|CBTV]]'' in 1981, followed by one of [[Channel 4]]'s first comedies, ''Little Armadillos''. In 1985 Steen appeared in the [[Ben Elton]] comedy ''[[Happy Families (1985 TV series)|Happy Families]]''.<ref name = IMDb>{{IMDb name|0824797}}</ref>
[[Rory Bremner]] recruited them{{When|date=July 2015}} as resident support performers on his first [[sketch show]] for the [[BBC]]. In 1987 they starred as the Romantic poets [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]] and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]] (Steen playing Byron) in an episode, entitled "[[Ink and Incapability]]", of the comedy series ''[[Blackadder the Third]]''.<ref name = IMDb/>
Along with Sweeney, Steen appeared in the Channel 4 television improvisational show ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK TV series)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' for six episodes. He was a guest on the BBC's comedy panel game ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'' in 1992.
In 2000, Steen played the voice of cartoon gerbil ''[[El Nombre]]''.
==Radio== Steen had a major roles in Sweeney's award-winning play ''Danny's Wake'', which was subsequently adapted into a sitcom for BBC Radio 4. Steen continued to play the character of Billy throughout the two series. He played the character of Liam in the radio of ''[[Any Bloke]]''. He also starred as [[George Melly]] in BBC Radio 4's adaptation of the Melly's memoir ''Owning Up''.
==Theatre== Steen has performed in improvisation theatre tours, and solo theatre shows playing [[Bill Bryson]] in three adaptations of his work by the writer and director [[Paul Hodson]]. He also performed in a one-man show about the American comedian [[John Belushi]] written by Hodson.
In 2005, Steen appeared at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in London as [[Charles Dickens]] in ''Theatre of Blood'', based on the 1970 cinema [[Theatre of Blood|film of the same name]].
Steen performs improvisation work with the [[Comedy Store Players]], [[Paul Merton]]'s ''Impro Chums'', and [[Stephen Frost]]'s ''Impro All Stars''.
==Personal life== Steen lives in [[Hampshire]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Entry for Steen in LinkedIn |url=https://uk.linkedin.com/in/steve-steen-6286582b |website=[[LinkedIn]]}}</ref> he married in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chin |first1=Andrew |title=Steven Steen on Improv, Theater and Donald Trump's Hair |url=https://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/post/13476/interview-steve-steen |access-date=22 May 2023 |date=20 May 2016 |work=[[that's Shanghai]]}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0824797}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steen, Steve}} [[Category:1954 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British male stage actors]] [[Category:British male comedians]] [[Category:British male television actors]] [[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth]] [[Category:People from Molesey]] [[Category:Male actors from London]] [[Category:Comedians from the London Borough of Lambeth]] [[Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Lambeth]] [[Category:People from Lambeth]]