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, who made his name as a television presenter.

Biography

As a child Kelly 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. During the late 70s, Kelly was very prominent on the UK Punk Rock scene, playing bass with Rip Rag And Panic until 1982.

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.

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 and its 2007 sequel, 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.

In 2007 Kelly starred in the play Forgotten Voices at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, appearing at the Assembly Rooms.