| Brian Conley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brian Paul Conley 7 August 1961 (aged 48) Paddington, London |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Comedian, singer, actor |
Brian Conley (born 7 August 1961 in Paddington, London) is an English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor. He is currently playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Contents |
Brian Paul Conley was born and raised in West London and studied Performing Arts at The Barbara Speake Stage School. He started his career as a holiday camp entertainer, working as a Pontin's Bluecoat at the age of 16. After Pontin's, he joined successful comedy showband called Tomfoolery. In 1982, he appeared on the British version of the gameshow Make Me Laugh, presented by Bernie Winters.
After "Tomfoolery", Conley became a warm up man for the likes of Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett. Afterwards, he started appearing in front of the cameras with regular appearances in Five Alive and Live from the Palladium. He was soon snapped up by ITV and given his own starring vehicle to demonstrate his unique and versatile talents, this was Brian Conley: This Way Up which was followed by The Brian Conley Show, both very successful sketch shows. He was then offered the lead role in the sitcom Time after Time which was awarded The British Comedy Award for Best ITV Sitcom. He then went on to play the hugely popular Doug 'Dynamo' Digby, starring opposite Amanda Holden, Nigel Planer and Noddy Holder in The Grimleys. He was also given two "An Audience with..." shows.
Around 2000, Conley was given a new show for ITV consisting of chat and music called, once again, The Brian Conley Show. The show lasted for three series. The show's guests included some major Hollywood names, like Kathleen Turner, Leslie Nielsen and James Belushi.
He also worked at the BBC for a couple of shows. His first being "Got Your Number", a game show part of a long series of National Lottery game shows. Conley would later return to the BBC to present Let Me Entertain You in 2006.
He has done much stage work, including the parts Buttons in Cinderella and Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In 2006, Brian Conley returned to television, hosting a daytime variety show called Let Me Entertain You, a Lion TV production for BBC Two, where 13 year old Operatic Baritone, Matthew Crane, was the First Series Champion. On 1 December of the same year, he appeared as a guest presenter on The New Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4, where Larry The Loafer made an appearance in the beginning, and Brian referred himself to "Dangerous Brian" as he was about to enter the "Tank of Doom" as part of a Bushtucker trial.
Later in 2007, Conley presented a second series of Let Me Entertain You on BBC Two, and presented a gameshow, Dirty Rotten Cheater for the BBC. Twenty shows were recorded in May at the Maidstone Studios in Kent.
Conley presented the Midweek Lottery show on BBC 1 in 2008. On 24 April 2008 Brian took over from ill presenter Paul O'Grady on The Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4, where he starred once again as 'Dangerous Brian' and he contested against 'Nearly Dangerous Joyce'. Larry the loafer also made an appearance. On 22 June 2008, Brian starred as a cameo on Last of the Summer Wine as "Boothroyd", Barry's fitness mad neighbour.
Brian appeared as part of Team Ant on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, and took over from Michael Ball in the musical Hairspray playing the role of Edna Turnblad at London's Shaftesbury Theatre. He will then play the same role in the first UK Tour of Hairspray, sharing the role with Michael Ball and actor Michael Starke, at selected UK venues.
Conley is also known for his singing voice and has released multiple albums, including "Songs from the Shows", "Stage to Stage" and "Let the Good Times Roll". After he left television, he went on to stage work and appeared as Buttons in Cinderella. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance as Al Jolson in the musical Jolson (1995), and also appeared in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Caractacus Potts. He is currently playing the character "Edna Turnblad" in the musical "Hairspray" in the Shaftesbury Theatre In London's West End.
He has appeared on the silver screen in "Circus", with John Hannah and Eddie Izzard, and "Unconditional Love" with Kathy Bates. In 2002, Conley made a cameo in Kurt Wimmer's 2002 Science Fiction film Equilibrium.
| Preceded by Jason Donovan |
Actor to portray Caractacus Potts 2005 |
Succeeded by Jason Donovan |
| Preceded by Tim Flavin |
Actor to portray Caractacus Potts 2006 |
Succeeded by Gary Wilmot |
   | Brian Conley Official Site - Brian Conley The Official Website |
| | BBC Comedy Guide to Brian Conley: This Way Up - BBC - Comedy - Shows A-Z Index |
| | BBC Comedy Guide to The Brian Conley Show - BBC - Comedy - Shows A-Z Index |
| | Ace of Base performing on the original Brian Conley Show - YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
