Matthew Kelly

For the musician associated with Ratdog, Kingfish, and T-Bone Walker, see Matthew Kelly (musician).

Matthew Kelly (born, 9 May 1950, Urmston, Lancashire, England) is an English actor from Urmston, who made his name as a television presenter.

As a child he lived on Primrose Avenue in the town and became interested in acting at the Urmston Musical Theatre, most notably playing the role of Louis in a production of The King and I in 1963. He retains links with the theatre as their President.

- He studied drama at Manchester Polytechnic and whilst there joined in a theatre group which included Julie Walters, who was training to be a nurse, and Pete Postlethwaite. On graduating he made his professional debut at the Pavilion Theatre in Rhyl. After this debut he appeared regularly at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre in the early 1970s.

However he made his name as a television presenter, first becoming famous as part of the original team on Game for a Laugh. For the next fourteen years his work centred on light entertainment shows such as You Bet! and, most notably, Stars in Their Eyes which he took over from Leslie Crowther, initially on a part time basis until Crowther could not return due to ill health, and went on to host for 11 years until March, 2004. He was also the first CITV presenter and continued to act occasionally, notably in the Channel 4 comedy, Relative Strangers.

In January 2003 he was arrested after an allegation that he had sexually abused a boy under 16. All charges were subsequently dropped. In October 2003 while being interviewed on Frank Skinner's talk show, Kelly confronted the host about his "horrible" jokes about his sex abuse case, leaving Skinner very red faced. It became a key moment in the on-going battle over trial by media.

After leaving Stars in their Eyes, Kelly declared that he would be returning to acting full time and would leave light entertainment behind. To this end he has appeared in a number of television and theatre productions. In 2005 he was a member of the cast in BBC One's Bleak House as Mr. Turveydrop. He also played a serial killer in 2005's Cold Blood as well as the explorer Giovanni Belzoni in BBC One's Egypt.

On the stage he won an Olivier Award in 2003 for his portrayal of Lenny in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre. Other work includes Ripafratta in Mirandolina at the Royal Exchange Theatre in August 2006 which he swiftly followed by appearing as a well received Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus.

Most recently he has portrayed serial killer Brian Wicklow in ITV1 dramas Cold Blood (2005) and Cold Blood II (2007).

He is married to Sarah who lives with their two children in Cheshire whilst he divides his time between there and a house in Chiswick. He is a big fan of the Citroën 2CV car, and owns several models.

External links

• Matthew Kelly at IMDB
• Manchester Evening News article.
• Receiving an Olivier Award in February 2004 for playing Lenny in John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men.
• Biography.