# Steve Steen > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Steve_Steen > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Steve_Steen.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Steen > Source revision: 1219770627 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British actor, comedian and musician (born 1954) Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This biography of a living person relies largely or entirely on a single source. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. Find sources: "Steve Steen" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Steve Steen Born (1954-12-26) 26 December 1954 (age 71) Lambeth, London, England Occupations 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](/source/Improvisational_comedy) works. ## Early career Whilst a pupil at [Clapham College](/source/Clapham_College) in London, Steen became friends with [Jim Sweeney](/source/Jim_Sweeney_(comedian)), and they joined Oval House theatre club in 1972, performing [improvised comedy](/source/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](/source/ITV_Network) children's show *[CBTV](/source/CBTV_(Thames))* in 1981, followed by one of [Channel 4](/source/Channel_4)'s first comedies, *Little Armadillos*. In 1985 Steen appeared in the [Ben Elton](/source/Ben_Elton) comedy *[Happy Families](/source/Happy_Families_(1985_TV_series))*.[1] [Rory Bremner](/source/Rory_Bremner) recruited them[*[when?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items)*] as resident support performers on his first [sketch show](/source/Sketch_show) for the [BBC](/source/BBC). In 1987 they starred as the Romantic poets [Byron](/source/George_Gordon_Byron%2C_6th_Baron_Byron) and [Coleridge](/source/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge) (Steen playing Byron) in an episode, entitled "[Ink and Incapability](/source/Ink_and_Incapability)", of the comedy series *[Blackadder the Third](/source/Blackadder_the_Third)*.[1] Along with Sweeney, Steen appeared in the Channel 4 television improvisational show *[Whose Line Is It Anyway?](/source/Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F_(UK_TV_series))* for six episodes. He was a guest on the BBC's comedy panel game *[Have I Got News for You](/source/Have_I_Got_News_for_You)* in 1992. In 2000, Steen played the voice of cartoon gerbil *[El Nombre](/source/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](/source/Any_Bloke)*. He also starred as [George Melly](/source/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](/source/Bill_Bryson) in three adaptations of his work by the writer and director [Paul Hodson](/source/Paul_Hodson). He also performed in a one-man show about the American comedian [John Belushi](/source/John_Belushi) written by Hodson. In 2005, Steen appeared at the [National Theatre](/source/Royal_National_Theatre) in London as [Charles Dickens](/source/Charles_Dickens) in *Theatre of Blood*, based on the 1970 cinema [film of the same name](/source/Theatre_of_Blood). Steen performs improvisation work with the [Comedy Store Players](/source/Comedy_Store_Players), [Paul Merton](/source/Paul_Merton)'s *Impro Chums*, and [Stephen Frost](/source/Stephen_Frost)'s *Impro All Stars*. ## Personal life Steen lives in [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire),[2] he married in 2016.[3] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-IMDb_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-IMDb_1-1) [Steve Steen](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824797/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Entry for Steen in LinkedIn"](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/steve-steen-6286582b). *[LinkedIn](/source/LinkedIn)*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Chin, Andrew (20 May 2016). ["Steven Steen on Improv, Theater and Donald Trump's Hair"](https://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/post/13476/interview-steve-steen). *[that's Shanghai](/source/That's_Shanghai)*. Retrieved 22 May 2023. ## External links - [Steve Steen](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824797/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Steve Steen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Steen) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Steen?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.