title: Babe Ruth

text: Also during the offseason, Ruppert had been sounding out the other clubs in hopes of finding one that would be willing to take Ruth as a manager and/or a player. However, the only serious offer came from Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack, who gave some thought to stepping down as manager in favor of Ruth. However, Mack later dropped the idea, saying that Ruth's wife would be running the team in a month if Ruth ever took over.


title: Babe Ruth

text: While the barnstorming tour was underway, Ruppert began negotiating with Boston Braves owner Judge Emil Fuchs, who wanted Ruth as a gate attraction. The Braves had enjoyed modest recent success, finishing fourth in the National League in both 1933 and 1934, but the team drew poorly at the box office. Unable to afford the rent at Braves Field, Fuchs had considered holding dog races there when the Braves were not at home, only to be turned down by Landis. After a series of phone calls, letters, and meetings, the Yankees traded Ruth to the Braves on February 26, 1935. Ruppert had stated that he would not release Ruth to go to another team as a full-time player. For this reason, it was announced that Ruth would become a team vice president and would be consulted on all club transactions, in addition to playing. He was also made assistant manager to Braves skipper Bill McKechnie. In a long letter to Ruth a few days before the press conference, Fuchs promised Ruth a share in the Braves' profits, with the possibility of becoming co-owner of the team. Fuchs also raised the possibility of Ruth succeeding McKechnie as manager, perhaps as early as 1936. Ruppert called the deal "the greatest opportunity Ruth ever had".


title: Babe Ruth

text: There was considerable attention as Ruth reported for spring training. He did not hit his first home run of the spring until after the team had left Florida, and was beginning the road north in Savannah. He hit two in an exhibition game against the Bears. Amid much press attention, Ruth played his first home game in Boston in over 16 years. Before an opening-day crowd of over 25,000, including five of New England's six state governors, Ruth accounted for all the Braves' runs in a 4–2 defeat of the New York Giants, hitting a two-run home run, singling to drive in a third run and later in the inning scoring the fourth. Although age and weight had slowed him, he made a running catch in left field that sportswriters deemed the defensive highlight of the game.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth had two hits in the second game of the season, but it quickly went downhill both for him and the Braves from there. The season soon settled down to a routine of Ruth performing poorly on the few occasions he even played at all. As April passed into May, Ruth's physical deterioration became even more pronounced. While he remained productive at the plate early on, he could do little else. His conditioning had become so poor that he could barely trot around the bases. He made so many errors that three Braves pitchers told McKechnie they would not take the mound if he was in the lineup. Before long, Ruth stopped hitting as well. He grew increasingly annoyed that McKechnie ignored most of his advice. McKechnie later said that Ruth's presence made enforcing discipline nearly impossible.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth soon realized that Fuchs had deceived him, and had no intention of making him manager or giving him any significant off-field duties. He later said his only duties as vice president consisted of making public appearances and autographing tickets. Ruth also found out that far from giving him a share of the profits, Fuchs wanted him to invest some of "his" money in the team in a last-ditch effort to improve its balance sheet. As it turned out, Fuchs and Ruppert had both known all along that Ruth's non-playing positions were meaningless.


title: Babe Ruth

text: By the end of the first month of the season, Ruth concluded he was finished even as a part-time player. As early as May 12, he asked Fuchs to let him retire. Ultimately, Fuchs persuaded Ruth to remain at least until after the Memorial Day doubleheader in Philadelphia. In the interim was a western road trip, at which the rival teams had scheduled days to honor him. In Chicago and St. Louis, Ruth performed poorly, and his batting average sank to .155, with only two additional home runs for a total of three on the season so far. In the first two games in Pittsburgh, Ruth had only one hit, though a long fly caught by Paul Waner probably would have been a home run in any other ballpark besides Forbes Field.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth played in the third game of the Pittsburgh series on May 25, 1935, and added one more tale to his playing legend. Ruth went 4-for-4, including three home runs, though the Braves lost the game 11–7. The last two were off Ruth's old Cubs nemesis, Guy Bush. The final home run, both of the game and of Ruth's career, sailed out of the park over the right field upper deck–the first time anyone had hit a fair ball completely out of Forbes Field. Ruth was urged to make this his last game, but he had given his word to Fuchs and played in Cincinnati and Philadelphia. The first game of the doubleheader in Philadelphia—the Braves lost both—was his final major league appearance. Ruth retired on June 2 after an argument with Fuchs. He finished 1935 with a .181 average—easily his worst as a full-time position player—and the final six of his 714 home runs. The Braves, 10–27 when Ruth left, finished 38–115, at .248 the worst winning percentage in modern National League history. Insolvent like his team, Fuchs gave up control of the Braves before the end of the season; the National League took over the franchise at the end of the year.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Of the 5 members in the inaugural class of Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 (Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and Ruth himself), only Ruth was not given an offer to manage a baseball team.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Although Fuchs had given Ruth his unconditional release, no major league team expressed an interest in hiring him in any capacity. Ruth still hoped to be hired as a manager if he could not play anymore, but only one managerial position, Cleveland, became available between Ruth's retirement and the end of the 1937 season. Asked if he had considered Ruth for the job, Indians owner Alva Bradley replied negatively. Team owners and general managers assessed Ruth's flamboyant personal habits as a reason to exclude him from a managerial job; Barrow said of him, "How can he manage other men when he can't even manage himself?" Creamer believed Ruth was unfairly treated in never being given an opportunity to manage a major league club. The author believed there was not necessarily a relationship between personal conduct and managerial success, noting that John McGraw, Billy Martin, and Bobby Valentine were winners despite character flaws.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth played much golf and in a few exhibition baseball games, where he demonstrated a continuing ability to draw large crowds. This appeal contributed to the Dodgers hiring him as first base coach in 1938. When Ruth was hired, Brooklyn general manager Larry MacPhail made it clear that Ruth would not be considered for the manager's job if, as expected, Burleigh Grimes retired at the end of the season. Although much was said about what Ruth could teach the younger players, in practice, his duties were to appear on the field in uniform and encourage base runners—he was not called upon to relay signs. In August, shortly before the baseball rosters expanded, Ruth sought an opportunity to return as an active player in a pinch hitting role. Ruth often took batting practice before games and felt that he could take on the limited role. Grimes denied his request, citing Ruth's poor vision in his right eye, his inability to run the bases, and the risk of an injury to Ruth.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth got along well with everyone except team captain Leo Durocher, who was hired as Grimes' replacement at season's end. Ruth then left his job as a first base coach and would never again work in any capacity in the game of baseball.


title: Babe Ruth

text: On July 4, 1939, Ruth spoke on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium as members of the 1927 Yankees and a sellout crowd turned out to honor the first baseman, who was forced into premature retirement by ALS, which would kill him two years later. The next week, Ruth went to Cooperstown, New York, for the formal opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Three years earlier, he was one of the first five players elected to the hall. As radio broadcasts of baseball games became popular, Ruth sought a job in that field, arguing that his celebrity and knowledge of baseball would assure large audiences, but he received no offers. During World War II, he made many personal appearances to advance the war effort, including his last appearance as a player at Yankee Stadium, in a 1943 exhibition for the Army-Navy Relief Fund. He hit a long fly ball off Walter Johnson; the blast left the field, curving foul, but Ruth circled the bases anyway. In 1946, he made a final effort to gain a job in baseball when he contacted new Yankees boss MacPhail, but he was sent a rejection letter. In 1999, Ruth's granddaughter, Linda Tosetti, and his stepdaughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, said that Babe's inability to land a managerial role with the Yankees caused him to feel hurt and slump into a severe depression.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth started playing golf when he was 20 and continued playing the game throughout his life. His appearance at many New York courses drew spectators and headlines. Rye Golf Club was among the courses he played with teammate Lyn Lary in June 1933. With birdies on 3 holes, Ruth posted the best score. In retirement, he became one of the first celebrity golfers participating in charity tournaments, including one where he was pitted against Ty Cobb.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth met Helen Woodford (1897–1929), by some accounts, in a coffee shop in Boston, where she was a waitress. They married as teenagers on October 17, 1914. Although Ruth later claimed to have been married in Elkton, Maryland, records show that they were married at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City. They adopted a daughter, Dorothy (1921–1989), in 1921. Ruth and Helen separated around 1925 reportedly because of Ruth's repeated infidelities and neglect. They appeared in public as a couple for the last time during the 1926 World Series. Helen died in January 1929 at age 31 in a house fire in Watertown, Massachusetts in a house owned by Edward Kinder, a dentist with whom she had been living as "Mrs. Kinder". In her book, "My Dad, the Babe", Dorothy claimed that she was Ruth's biological child by a mistress named Juanita Jennings. Juanita admitted to this fact to Dorothy and Julia Ruth Stevens, Dorothy's stepsister, in 1980, who was at the time already very ill.


title: Babe Ruth

text: On April 17, 1929, three months after the death of his first wife, Ruth married actress and model Claire Merritt Hodgson (1897–1976) and adopted her daughter Julia (1916–2019). It was the second and final marriage for both parties. Claire, much unlike Helen, was well-travelled and educated, and went on to put structure into Ruth's life, like Miller Huggins did with him on the field.


title: Babe Ruth

text: By one account, Julia and Dorothy were, through no fault of their own, the reason for the seven-year rift in Ruth's relationship with teammate Lou Gehrig. Sometime in 1932, during a conversation that she assumed was private, Gehrig's mother remarked, "It's a shame [Claire] doesn't dress Dorothy as nicely as she dresses her own daughter." When the comment got back to Ruth, he angrily told Gehrig to tell his mother to mind her own business. Gehrig, in turn, took offense at what he perceived as Ruth's comment about his mother. The two men reportedly never spoke off the field until they reconciled at Yankee Stadium on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, July 4, 1939, shortly after Gehrig's retirement from baseball.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Although Ruth was married throughout most of his baseball career, when team co-owner Tillinghast 'Cap' Huston asked him to tone down his lifestyle, Ruth said, "I'll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much fun". A detective that the Yankees hired to follow him one night in Chicago reported that Ruth had been with six women. Ping Bodie said that he was not Ruth's roommate while traveling; "I room with his suitcase". Before the start of the 1922 season, Ruth had signed a three-year contract at $52,000 per year with an option to renew for two additional years. His performance during the 1922 season had been disappointing, attributed in part to his drinking and late-night hours. After the end of the 1922 season, he was asked to sign a contract addendum with a morals clause. Ruth and Ruppert signed it on November 11, 1922. It called for Ruth to abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors, and to not stay up later than 1:00 a.m. during the training and playing season without permission of the manager. Ruth was also enjoined from any action or misbehavior that would compromise his ability to play baseball.


title: Babe Ruth

text: As early as the war years, doctors had cautioned Ruth to take better care of his health, and he grudgingly followed their advice, limiting his drinking and not going on a proposed trip to support the troops in the South Pacific. In 1946, Ruth began experiencing severe pain over his left eye and had difficulty swallowing. In November 1946, Ruth entered French Hospital in New York for tests, which revealed that he had an inoperable malignant tumor at the base of his skull and in his neck. The malady was a lesion known as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or "lymphoepithelioma." His name and fame gave him access to experimental treatments, and he was one of the first cancer patients to receive both drugs and radiation treatment simultaneously. Having lost , he was discharged from the hospital in February and went to Florida to recuperate. He returned to New York and Yankee Stadium after the season started. The new commissioner, Happy Chandler (Judge Landis had died in 1944), proclaimed April 27, 1947, Babe Ruth Day around the major leagues, with the most significant observance to be at Yankee Stadium. A number of teammates and others spoke in honor of Ruth, who briefly addressed the crowd of almost 60,000. By then, his voice was a soft whisper with a very low, raspy tone.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Around this time, developments in chemotherapy offered some hope for Ruth. The doctors had not told Ruth he had cancer because of his family's fear that he might do himself harm. They treated him with pterolyl triglutamate (Teropterin), a folic acid derivative; he may have been the first human subject. Ruth showed dramatic improvement during the summer of 1947, so much so that his case was presented by his doctors at a scientific meeting, without using his name. He was able to travel around the country, doing promotional work for the Ford Motor Company on American Legion Baseball. He appeared again at another day in his honor at Yankee Stadium in September, but was not well enough to pitch in an old-timers game as he had hoped.


title: Babe Ruth

text: The improvement was only a temporary remission, and by late 1947, Ruth was unable to help with the writing of his autobiography, "The Babe Ruth Story", which was almost entirely ghostwritten. In and out of the hospital in Manhattan, he left for Florida in February 1948, doing what activities he could. After six weeks he returned to New York to appear at a book-signing party. He also traveled to California to witness the filming of the movie based on the book.


title: Babe Ruth

text: On June 5, 1948, a "gaunt and hollowed out" Ruth visited Yale University to donate a manuscript of "The Babe Ruth Story" to its library. At Yale, he met with future president George H. W. Bush, who was the captain of the Yale baseball team. On June 13, Ruth visited Yankee Stadium for the final time in his life, appearing at the 25th-anniversary celebrations of "The House that Ruth Built". By this time he had lost much weight and had difficulty walking. Introduced along with his surviving teammates from 1923, Ruth used a bat as a cane. Nat Fein's photo of Ruth taken from behind, standing near home plate and facing "Ruthville" (right field) became one of baseball's most famous and widely circulated photographs, and won the Pulitzer Prize.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth made one final trip on behalf of American Legion Baseball, then entered Memorial Hospital, where he would die. He was never told he had cancer. But before his death, he surmised it. He was able to leave the hospital for a few short trips, including a final visit to Baltimore. On July 26, 1948, Ruth left the hospital to attend the premiere of the film "The Babe Ruth Story". Shortly thereafter, he returned to the hospital for the final time. He was barely able to speak. Ruth's condition gradually grew worse, and only a few visitors were permitted to see him, one of whom was National League president and future Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick. "Ruth was so thin it was unbelievable. He had been such a big man and his arms were just skinny little bones, and his face was so haggard", Frick said years later.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Thousands of New Yorkers, including many children, stood vigil outside the hospital during Ruth's final days. On August 16, 1948, at 8:01 p.m., Ruth died in his sleep at the age of 53. His open casket was placed on display in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium, where it remained for two days; 77,000 people filed past to pay him tribute. His Requiem Mass was celebrated by Francis Cardinal Spellman at St. Patrick's Cathedral; a crowd estimated at 75,000 waited outside. Ruth rests with his second wife, Claire, on a hillside in Section 25 at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.


title: Babe Ruth

text: On April 19, 1949, the Yankees unveiled a granite monument in Ruth's honor in center field of Yankee Stadium. The monument was located in the field of play next to a flagpole and similar tributes to Huggins and Gehrig until the stadium was remodeled from 1974 to 1975, which resulted in the outfield fences moving inward and enclosing the monuments from the playing field. This area was known thereafter as Monument Park. Yankee Stadium, "the House that Ruth Built", was replaced after the 2008 season with a new Yankee Stadium across the street from the old one; Monument Park was subsequently moved to the new venue behind the center field fence. Ruth's uniform number 3 has been retired by the Yankees, and he is one of five Yankees players or managers to have a granite monument within the stadium.


title: Babe Ruth

text: The Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum is located at 216 Emory Street, a Baltimore row house where Ruth was born, and three blocks west of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where the AL's Baltimore Orioles play. The property was restored and opened to the public in 1973 by the non-profit Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc. Ruth's widow, Claire, his two daughters, Dorothy and Julia, and his sister, Mamie, helped select and install exhibits for the museum.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Ruth was the first baseball star to be the subject of overwhelming public adulation. Baseball had been known for star players such as Ty Cobb and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, but both men had uneasy relations with fans. In Cobb's case, the incidents were sometimes marked by violence. Ruth's biographers agreed that he benefited from the timing of his ascension to "Home Run King". The country had been hit hard by both the war and the 1918 flu pandemic and longed for something to help put these traumas behind it. Ruth also resonated in a country which felt, in the aftermath of the war, that it took second place to no one. Montville argued that Ruth was a larger-than-life figure who was capable of unprecedented athletic feats in the nation's largest city. Ruth became an icon of the social changes that marked the early 1920s. In his history of the Yankees, Glenn Stout writes that "Ruth was New York incarnate—uncouth and raw, flamboyant and flashy, oversized, out of scale, and absolutely unstoppable".


title: Babe Ruth

text: During his lifetime, Ruth became a symbol of the United States. During World War II Japanese soldiers yelled in English, "To hell with Babe Ruth", to anger American soldiers. Ruth replied that he hoped "every Jap that mention[ed] my name gets shot". Creamer recorded that "Babe Ruth transcended sport and moved far beyond the artificial limits of baselines and outfield fences and sports pages". Wagenheim stated, "He appealed to a deeply rooted American yearning for the definitive climax: clean, quick, unarguable." According to Glenn Stout, "Ruth's home runs were exalted, uplifting experience that meant more to fans than any runs they were responsible for. A Babe Ruth home run was an event unto itself, one that meant anything was possible."


title: Babe Ruth

text: Although Ruth was not just a power hitter—he was the Yankees' best bunter, and an excellent outfielder—Ruth's penchant for hitting home runs altered how baseball is played. Prior to 1920, home runs were unusual, and managers tried to win games by getting a runner on base and bringing him around to score through such means as the stolen base, the bunt, and the hit and run. Advocates of what was dubbed "inside baseball", such as Giants manager McGraw, disliked the home run, considering it a blot on the purity of the game. According to sportswriter W. A. Phelon, after the 1920 season, Ruth's breakout performance that season and the response in excitement and attendance, "settled, for all time to come, that the American public is nuttier over the Home Run than the Clever Fielding or the Hitless Pitching. Viva el Home Run and two times viva Babe Ruth, exponent of the home run, and overshadowing star." Bill James states, "When the owners discovered that the fans "liked" to see home runs, and when the foundations of the games were simultaneously imperiled by disgrace [in the Black Sox Scandal], then there was no turning back." While a few, such as McGraw and Cobb, decried the passing of the old-style play, teams quickly began to seek and develop sluggers.


title: Babe Ruth

text: According to contemporary sportswriter Grantland Rice, only two sports figures of the 1920s approached Ruth in popularity—boxer Jack Dempsey and racehorse Man o' War. One of the factors that contributed to Ruth's broad appeal was the uncertainty about his family and early life. Ruth appeared to exemplify the American success story, that even an uneducated, unsophisticated youth, without any family wealth or connections, can do something better than anyone else in the world. Montville writes that "the fog [surrounding his childhood] will make him forever accessible, universal. He will be the patron saint of American possibility." Similarly, the fact that Ruth played in the pre-television era, when a relatively small portion of his fans had the opportunity to see him play allowed his legend to grow through word of mouth and the hyperbole of sports reporters. Reisler states that recent sluggers who surpassed Ruth's 60-home run mark, such as Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, generated much less excitement than when Ruth repeatedly broke the single-season home run record in the 1920s. Ruth dominated a relatively small sports world, while Americans of the present era have many sports available to watch.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Creamer describes Ruth as "a unique figure in the social history of the United States". Thomas Barthel describes him as one of the first celebrity athletes; numerous biographies have portrayed him as "larger than life". He entered the language: a dominant figure in a field, whether within or outside sports, is often referred to as "the Babe Ruth" of that field. Similarly, "Ruthian" has come to mean in sports, "colossal, dramatic, prodigious, magnificent; with great power". He was the first athlete to make more money from endorsements and other off-the-field activities than from his sport.


title: Babe Ruth

text: In 2006, Montville stated that more books have been written about Ruth than any other member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. At least five of these books (including Creamer's and Wagenheim's) were written in 1973 and 1974. The books were timed to capitalize on the increase in public interest in Ruth as Hank Aaron approached his career home run mark, which he broke on April 8, 1974. As he approached Ruth's record, Aaron stated, "I can't remember a day this year or last when I did not hear the name of Babe Ruth."


title: Babe Ruth

text: Montville suggested that Ruth is probably even more popular today than he was when his career home run record was broken by Aaron. The long ball era that Ruth started continues in baseball, to the delight of the fans. Owners build ballparks to encourage home runs, which are featured on "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight" each evening during the season. The questions of performance-enhancing drug use, which dogged later home run hitters such as McGwire and Bonds, do nothing to diminish Ruth's reputation; his overindulgences with beer and hot dogs seem part of a simpler time.


title: Babe Ruth

text: In various surveys and rankings, Ruth has been named the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1998, "The Sporting News" ranked him number one on the list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players". In 1999, baseball fans named Ruth to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He was named baseball's Greatest Player Ever in a ballot commemorating the 100th anniversary of professional baseball in 1969. The Associated Press reported in 1993 that Muhammad Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete in America. In a 1999 ESPN poll, he was ranked as the second-greatest U.S. athlete of the century, behind Michael Jordan. In 1983, the United States Postal Service honored Ruth with the issuance of a twenty-cent stamp.


title: Babe Ruth

text: Several of the most expensive items of sports memorabilia and baseball memorabilia ever sold at auction are associated with Ruth. , Ruth's 1920 Yankees jersey, which sold for $4,415,658 in 2012 (equivalent to $ million in ), is the third most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold, after Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup jersey and Pierre de Coubertin's original 1892 Olympic Manifesto. The bat with which he hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium is in "The Guinness Book of World Records" as the most expensive baseball bat sold at auction, having fetched $1.265 million on December 2, 2004 (equivalent to $ million in ). A hat of Ruth's from the 1934 season set a record for a baseball cap when David Wells sold it at auction for $537,278 in 2012. In 2017, Charlie Sheen sold Ruth's 1927 World Series ring for $2,093,927 at auction. It easily broke the record for a championship ring previously set when Julius Erving's 1974 ABA championship ring sold for $460,741 in 2011.


title: Babe Ruth

text: One long-term survivor of the craze over Ruth may be the Baby Ruth candy bar. The original company to market the confectionery, the Curtis Candy Company, maintained that the bar was named after Ruth Cleveland, daughter of former president Grover Cleveland. She died in 1904 and the bar was first marketed in 1921, at the height of the craze over Ruth. He later sought to market candy bearing his name; he was refused a trademark because of the Baby Ruth bar. Corporate files from 1921 are no longer extant; the brand has changed hands several times and is now owned by Ferrara Candy Company. The Ruth estate licensed his likeness for use in an advertising campaign for Baby Ruth in 1995. In 2005, the Baby Ruth bar became the official candy bar of Major League Baseball in a marketing arrangement.


title: Babe Ruth

text: In 2018, President Donald Trump announced that Ruth, along with Elvis Presley and Antonin Scalia, would posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Montville describes the continuing relevance of Babe Ruth in American culture, more than three-quarters of a century after he last swung a bat in a major league game:


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Katherine Marie Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and former fashion model. She played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC television medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" from 2005 to 2010, a role that brought her recognition and accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl started her career as a child model with Wilhelmina Models before turning her attention to acting, making her film debut in "That Night" (1992) and later appearing in "My Father the Hero" (1994) as well as "" (1995). She then landed the role of Isabel Evans on The WB television series "Roswell" (1999–2002), for which she received nominations for Saturn and Teen Choice Awards.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: She then starred in commercially successful romantic comedy films such as "Knocked Up" (2007), "27 Dresses" (2008), "The Ugly Truth" (2009), "Killers" (2010), "Life As We Know It" (2010) and "New Year's Eve" (2011). She also appeared in "Zyzzyx Road" (2006), "One for the Money" (2012), "The Big Wedding" (2013), and "Unforgettable" (2017). Heigl has also starred in several films that have seen limited releases, including "Jackie & Ryan" (2014), "Home Sweet Hell" (2015), and "Jenny's Wedding" (2015).


title: Katherine Heigl

text: She is also executive producer on her leading television roles, which include the short-lived NBC television series "State of Affairs" from 2014 to 2015, the Netflix series "Firefly Lane" (2021–present) and the upcoming limited series "Woodhull". She has also lent her voice to the animated film "The Nut Job" (2014) and its . Heigl also had a main role in the final two seasons of the USA Network series "Suits" (2018–2019).


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Additionally, Heigl has established herself as a cover model, appearing in numerous publications including "Maxim", "Vanity Fair", and "Cosmopolitan".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl was born in Washington, D.C., in Columbia Hospital for Women. She is the youngest of four children of Nancy (née Engelhardt), a personal manager, and Paul Heigl, a financial executive and accountant. Her father is of Irish and German ancestry (including Swiss-German), and her mother is of German descent. Heigl lived in Northern Virginia and then Denver, before her family moved to the town of New Canaan, Connecticut, when Katherine was five, and where she lived the rest of her childhood.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 1986, her older brother Jason died of injuries suffered in a car accident, after being thrown from the back of a pickup truck while out for lunch with some of his high school classmates. Her brother's death led Heigl's Lutheran mother and Catholic father to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Heigl, then eight, was reared in that faith.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: When Heigl was nine, her aunt, along with her parents, sent photos of her to a modeling agency. Within a few weeks, she was signed with Wilhelmina Models as a child model. Soon after she was signed with the agency, a client picked her for use in a magazine ad, where she made her modeling debut. At the time, Heigl was earning $75 an hour posing for Sears and Lord & Taylor catalogs. The first time Heigl appeared in a national television ad was for Cheerios cereal.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl began studying acting and made her film debut in "That Night" (1992). She played Christina Sebastian in Steven Soderbergh's Depression-era drama "King of the Hill" before being cast in her first leading role in the 1994 comedy "My Father the Hero". During this time, Heigl continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her film and modeling work with her academic studies. Heigl dropped out of New Canaan High School after her sophomore year to pursue her career in Hollywood.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 1995, she starred in the Steven Seagal action thriller "". Heigl portrayed a 16-year-old traveling by train through the mountains with her uncle Casey Ryback (Seagal), an ex-SEAL counter-terrorist expert, in order to visit the grave of her deceased father. The train is hijacked by mercenaries in Colorado, who keep Heigl's character as a hostage. Much of her work in the film was opposite Morris Chestnut, Sandra Taylor and Everett McGill. Despite an increased focus on acting, Heigl still modeled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as "Seventeen".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: She landed the lead role in Disney's made-for-television film "Wish Upon a Star" in 1996, portraying two body-swapping characters along with Danielle Harris. That year Heigl's parents divorced, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer. After her high school graduation in 1997, Heigl moved into a four-bedroom house in Malibu Canyon, California with her mother, who also became her manager. In 1998, she co-starred with Peter Fonda in the television movie "The Tempest", an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The setting of the film was changed to Civil War Mississippi. She also starred in the horror film "Bride of Chucky".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 1999, Heigl turned her attention to television when she accepted the role of Isabel Evans on the science fiction TV drama "Roswell", a role that was expanded in the show's second and third seasons. Heigl had auditioned for all three of the show's female leads (the other two roles eventually went to Shiri Appleby and Majandra Delfino) before she was finally cast as Isabel, an alien-human hybrid. Heigl was frequently featured in photo essays in magazines such as "Life", "TV Guide", and "Teen" as well as "FHM". She appeared in the "FHM" and "Maxim" calendars, "FHM"'s annual "100 Sexiest Women in the World", and was featured in the Girls of Maxim Gallery. In May 2006, "Maxim" awarded her #12 on their annual Hot 100 List as well as voted the 19th "Sexiest Woman in the World" by readers of "FHM" magazine. While "Roswell" was in production, Heigl worked on several films, including "100 Girls", an independent 2001 film, and "Valentine", a horror film starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl accepted a role in "Ground Zero", a television thriller scheduled to be telecast that fall which was based on the bestselling James Mills novel "The Seventh Power", in the spring of 2001. She co-starred as a brilliant and politically-concerned college student who helps to build a nuclear device to illustrate the need for a change in national priorities. The device ends up in the hands of a terrorist following betrayal by a fellow student. However, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the film was shelved as its plot was considered inappropriate. It was released in 2003 under the title "Critical Assembly". After the 9/11 attacks, Heigl recorded a public service announcement for the American Red Cross to help raise money for victims.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2003, Heigl appeared in three television movies, including the horror genre "", a modern-day variation on the "Frankenstein" story co-starring Thomas Gibson; and "Love Comes Softly" for Hallmark Entertainment as Marty Claridge, a young, newlywed traveling west, and reprised her role in the sequel "Love's Enduring Promise" the next year. Heigl played Isabella Linton in MTV's modern revamp of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights". In October 2003, Heigl was cast opposite Johnny Knoxville in "The Ringer", a Farrelly brothers comedy that was released in December 2005. Heigl starred as Romy in the 2005 television film "", a prequel to the 1997 film "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2005, Heigl was cast in what would become her highest-profile role to date, as medical intern Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens on the ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy". The show, initially a mid-season replacement, became a huge ratings success and one of the highest-rated series on broadcast TV. The same year, Heigl landed the starring role in the independent film "Side Effects" (2005), a romantic comedy about marketing and the pharmaceutical industry, for which she was also executive producer. A year later, Heigl was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for her work on "Grey's Anatomy".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl also starred in "Zyzzyx Road"; filmed in 2004 and not released until 2006; it has been cited as the lowest-grossing feature film of all time.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2007, Heigl had her high-profile film breakthrough with "Knocked Up" (2007), a comedy from writer/director Judd Apatow, opposite Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Apatow's real-life wife, Leslie Mann. Upon its June 2007 theatrical release, the film received generally positive reviews from critics and proved to be a box office success and a summer romcom hit. The fees Heigl commanded increased after the film's success. The movie grossed $148,761,765 in the U.S., for which she earned a salary of US$300,000. Heigl's role in the film transformed her into Hollywood's new “It girl” according to "Vanity Fair".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: On September 16, 2007, Heigl won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzie Stevens on "Grey's Anatomy". In her acceptance speech, she said that even her mother didn't think she would win. When her name was called for the award, her exclamation of "Shit!" was censored.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl starred with James Marsden in the film "27 Dresses", for which she received US$6 million. The "New York Post" expressed some disappointment with the mismatch of Heigl's talent and the film's "chick-flick" triviality, suggesting Heigl might be more compatible "with female directors such as Kimberly Peirce ("Boys Don't Cry") or Tamara Jenkins ("The Savages")...". Heigl was announced the Most Desirable Woman of 2008, according to AskMen.com.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Anne Fletcher, the director of "27 Dresses" described her as having the “‘It’ factor”. She explained further, “You can't buy it; you can't learn it; you can't create it; it just is. We haven't had one of her in many years. Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan— those have been our go-to girls for romantic comedy for a very long time, but we haven't had a new one. Katie has beauty, vulnerability, identifiability. She's funny, charming, lovely to watch. Her slightest eye movement is captivating; you know instantly what's going on.”


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In a highly publicized "Vanity Fair" interview, Heigl admitted that though she enjoyed working with Apatow and Rogen when she starred in "Knocked Up", she had a hard time enjoying the film itself. She called the movie "a little sexist", claiming that the film "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys." Apatow and Rogen were reportedly not pleased with Heigl's interview, as Rogen said that he enjoyed working with Heigl and was stung by her comments.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl's comments generated a widespread reaction in the media. In an interview with "People" magazine, Heigl said:


title: Katherine Heigl

text: My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously, and to remember that it's a broad comedy"; and added, "Although I stand behind my opinion, I'm disheartened that it has become the focus of my experience with the movie."


title: Katherine Heigl

text: There was some speculation that Heigl might be leaving "Grey's Anatomy" after the end of the 2008–2009 season. This speculation revolved around her refusal to submit her name for Emmy consideration for the previous season. Heigl had disagreements with the character's direction in the fourth season, deeming the storyline involving Izzie's affair with George a "ratings ploy" that served to be "shocking" and others speculated she would leave due to the time devotion in producing a film version of Carolyn Jessop's book "Escape".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl said publicly that she'd opted out of the Emmy race that year because she felt the material she'd received didn't warrant Emmy consideration. The comment reportedly angered the show's producers and writers, who interpreted it as a slight on their work. "Grey's" showrunner Shonda Rhimes said she was not insulted by Heigl's Emmy withdrawal, and noted that Heigl's character was downplayed during the season because Heigl had asked for a lighter work schedule. Despite Heigl's reported displeasure with the previous season, and persistent rumors that her character had died, ABC confirmed that Heigl would return for the sixth season of "Grey's".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl starred with Gerard Butler in "The Ugly Truth" (2009). The film was made on a budget of $38 million and earned $205 million at the worldwide box office.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Speculation as to whether Heigl would leave "Grey's Anatomy" persisted through most of season six. On March 11, 2010, Heigl reportedly did not show up for work on the show, and Heigl and series creator Shonda Rhimes subsequently reached an agreement to immediately release Heigl from her contract. As a result, Heigl's appearance on the January 21 episode of "Grey's Anatomy" was her final appearance of that season and, thus far, in the series. Heigl said that she left the show to focus not on her film career, but on her family. The backlash over Heigl's comments on "Knocked Up" and "Grey's Anatomy" has given Heigl a reputation of being difficult to work with which was seen to have damaged her career.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In June 2010, Heigl starred in the Lionsgate comedy-thriller "Killers", with Ashton Kutcher. She next starred in and produced the big-screen drama "Life As We Know It", directed by Greg Berlanti, which revolved around a woman and a man whose respective best friends die in a car accident. Following the deaths, they begin to share in caring for their late friends' orphaned daughter. Heigl received $12 million for both films.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2011, Heigl appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy "New Year's Eve", directed by Garry Marshall. Despite being a commercial success, grossing over $142 million worldwide, the film received generally negative reviews. Heigl next had the lead role in "One for the Money" (2012). Based on a series of novels by Janet Evanovich, the film's lead character is Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter working for a bonding company. The film was a financial failure, grossing just over $36 million worldwide against its production budget of $40 million. For her performance, Heigl received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In January 2012, Heigl disclosed her enthusiastic desires to reprise her role on "Grey's Anatomy" and wrap up Izzie's storyline, conceiving an idea of her success in another hospital after floundering in the fictional Seattle Grace hospital where she was 'one step behind the eight ball'. She admitted to regretting leaving the show. She complimented the great work environment and family dynamic of the cast but also stated, "I completely understand if it doesn't necessarily work ... They've got a lot of storylines going on there."


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2013, she appeared alongside Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton in "The Big Wedding", a comedy about an estranged family reuniting for a ceremony. A very poor critical and commercial reception greeted the film upon its release—it holds a 7% rating on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and only made US$7.5 million in its opening weekend—and for her role, Heigl was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards. In June 2013, she began appearing in a television commercial for Vicks' ZzzQuil.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2014, Heigl admitted to "Marie Claire" magazine that while she loves romantic comedies and was “so stoked to be doing them”, she “hit it a little too hard,” professing “I couldn't say no. There's nothing wrong with them, but maybe I overloaded my audience. I should have done a superhero movie or a psychological thriller.” During this period of time, Heigl broke away from her conventional romcom roles, pursuing romantic dramas, doing voiceover work, dark comedies and returning to dramatic television.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl starred in the romantic drama "Jackie & Ryan" (2014), opposite Ben Barnes, portraying a recent single mom battling to hold onto her daughter and the love interest of a modern-day train hopper. The film was released in a limited release and through video on demand by Entertainment One in the United States. She also voice-acted the squirrel Andie in the animated film "The Nut Job" which was released on January 17, 2014. She reprised her role in its 2017 sequel, "" which was released theatrically on August 11, 2017.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: She next starred as a rejected and jealous housewife in the dark comedy "Home Sweet Hell" (2015), alongside Patrick Wilson and Jordana Brewster. Released for VOD and a limited theatrical run in North America, the film received largely negative reviews. "Variety" wrote in its verdict: "Considering how often [Heigl] has been slammed for not being just another docile, eager-to-please female celebrity, it's hard not to suspect that she might have relished the chance to play an unapologetically ball-busting shrew—a grotesquely exaggerated version of a stereotype she's been assigned many times over. Indeed, Heigl's performance as a coolly murderous model housewife is the only real reason to even consider watching "Home Sweet Hell," an otherwise flailing and risible tale of adultery, extortion and suburban malaise that suggests a poor woman's "Gone Girl"". She received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2015, Heigl starred as the titular role in the independent film "Jenny's Wedding", about a woman who finally decides to get married, but her choice of partner tears her conventional family apart. An Indiegogo campaign was later launched to help raise money for post-production costs, and like Heigl's previous few projects, the film was distributed for a VOD and limited release in certain parts of the United States only.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: She starred opposite Rosario Dawson and Geoff Stults in the erotic thriller "Unforgettable" (2017), portraying a divorcée who torments the new fiancée of her ex-husband. The film was her first wide release in three years; it garnered mediocre reviews and grossed a paltry US$4.7 million in its opening weekend. Nevertheless, "The Globe and Mail" remarked that "Heigl works overtime to humanize the resentful mom—her face is like an old-fashioned cash register with the prices popping up—but she's more fun to watch as the story grows ugly and violent, and she unleashes the demon within".


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl's lead roles in the 2014–15 NBC political drama series "State of Affairs" and CBS 2017 legal drama "Doubt" were both cancelled after one season. However, unlike "State of Affairs", "Doubt" premiered to what was described as "tepid" ratings by "The Hollywood Reporter", and CBS announced its cancellation after just two episodes, later burning out its episodes.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl returned to form when she was cast in the USA Network legal drama series "Suits", playing the role of Samantha Wheeler, a new partner at the fictional law firm of Zane Specter Litt. Heigl remained on the show for its final two seasons.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl was later cast in the leading role opposite Sarah Chalke and Ben Lawson for the Netflix show "Firefly Lane", released in 2021. Heigl is also executive producer. The series was a success and renewed for a second season. Also that year, Heigl co-starred in "Fear of Rain", a psychological thriller written and directed by Castille Landon. Harry Connick Jr., Madison Iseman and Israel Broussard completed the cast. In December 2020, it was announced that Heigl will star and executive produce again with the limited series "Woodhull". She is set to portray the first female candidate for the presidency of the United States, Victoria Woodhull.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In January 2021, Heigl declared in an interview with "The Washington Post" promoting "Firefly Lane" that she was "done apologizing" for her past reputation and criticized being labelled as "difficult" in the late 2000s and early 2010s. She also acknowledged how it may have impacted her career. Her "27 Dresses" co-star James Marsden defended the actress' "courage" and "strong convictions" and remarked unsurprise at her career expanding role in executive production. In September 2021, she endorsed the IATSE strike and remarked heavy criticism for speaking up about the harsh working conditions on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" that the crew endured, while also commenting on health and safety failures in long-hour productions. In 2022, her former co-star Ellen Pompeo stated in a podcast that Heigl would have been branded a "hero" today for her 2009 remarks about their 17-hour workday. She further stated, "But she’s ahead of her time, made a statement about our crazy hours and of course, [it was like] ‘Let’s slam a woman and call her ungrateful.'"


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In June 2006, Heigl became engaged to singer Josh Kelley, whom she had met a year earlier on the set of his music video for "Only You". They chose not to live together before they were married, with Heigl later explaining, "I think I just wanted to save something for the actual marriage... I wanted there to be something to make the actual marriage different than the dating or the courtship." They were married on December 23, 2007, in Park City, Utah. They live with their children in Oakley, Utah.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In September 2009, the couple adopted a daughter from South Korea, the birthplace of Heigl's sister Meg. She was born with a heart defect and underwent open-heart surgery before leaving Korea. In April 2012, Kelley and Heigl adopted a second daughter from the U.S. In June 2016, the couple announced that they were expecting their third child. Heigl gave birth to a son on December 20, 2016.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl has worked with Best Friends Animal Society on several projects, including their Pup My Ride program. The program transports small dogs from high-kill animal shelters to other parts of the US where there is a higher demand for such dogs. She gave a grant to Best Friends to fund a year of the program. Heigl and her mother, Nancy, started Heigl's Hounds of Hope, which operates as part of the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: The Foundation was created in honor of Heigl's brother, who was killed in a car accident in 1986 at the age of fifteen. Heigl's Hounds of Hope rescues larger dogs with behavior problems from shelters with a high kill rate. It rehabilitates them through training and other adjustments to make them suitable for re-homing. As of 2014, Heigl has eight dogs of her own.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In 2010, Heigl was honored with the "Presidential Service Award" by ASPCA for her work and dedication to animal welfare. In 2011, Heigl launched the "I Hate Balls" Campaign, focused on promoting spay/neuter of pets, to help save the lives of millions of companion animals. The initiative features a Public Service Announcement starring Heigl and produced by Funny or Die. In 2012, on behalf of PETA, she signed a letter to members of the Utah legislature, urging them to reject a law that would make undercover filming in factory farms a criminal offense.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: In the same year, Heigl was honored by "Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI)" for her dedication and commitment to adoption, and by the American Cancer Society for her work in helping to amplify the awareness of cancer-related issues through her public support of her mother's journey with the disease.


title: Katherine Heigl

text: Heigl is a strong proponent of organ donation, working as a spokesperson for Donate Life America. After the death of her brother Jason, Heigl's family chose to donate Jason's organs to people needing organ transplants. Heigl was inspired by these events to later work as an activist for organ donation.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in "Romeo and Juliet" (1992), "Don't Fool with Love" (1993), "Peer Gynt" (1994), "The Seagull" (1995), "The Homecoming" (1997), and "Henry V" (1997). His performances in "Amadeus" at the Old Vic and "Look Back in Anger" at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in "Caligula" at the Donmar Warehouse.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen has become better known as a screen actor since the 2000s, in particular through his roles in various biographical films. For writer Peter Morgan, he starred in a trilogy of films as UK prime minister Tony Blairthe television film "The Deal" in 2003, "The Queen" (2006), and "The Special Relationship" (2010)earning him nominations for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy. He was also nominated for a BAFTA as the troubled comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's 2006 "", and was nominated for a fourth Olivier Award in 2006 for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in "Frost/Nixon", a role he revisited in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. He starred as the controversial football manager Brian Clough in "The Damned United" (2009).


title: Michael Sheen

text: Since 2009, Sheen had a wider variety of roles. In 2009, he appeared in two fantasy films, "" and "", and in 2010, he made a four-episode guest appearance in the NBC comedy "30 Rock". He appeared in the science-fiction film "" (2010) and Woody Allen's romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" (2011). He directed and starred in National Theatre Wales's "The Passion". From late 2011 until early 2012, he played the title role in "Hamlet" at the Young Vic. He played a lead role in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" in 2012. In 2013, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Showtime's television drama "Masters of Sex".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen played an incarcerated serial killer surgeon in Fox's 2019 drama "Prodigal Son" (2019), Aziraphale in the 2019 BBC/Amazon Studios miniseries "Good Omens", and appeared as Chris Tarrant in "Quiz". He played himself in the quarantine comedy show "Staged" with "Good Omens" co-star David Tennant throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen is politically engaged, and in 2017 he returned his OBE after conducting research on Wales's relationship with England.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen was born on 5 February 1969 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of Irene, a secretary, and Meyrick, a British Steel Corporation personnel manager. He has one younger sister, Joanne. The family lived in Llanmartin, near Newport, for 12 years. When he was five, the family moved to Wallasey for work, but settled in his parents' home town of Port Talbot, Glamorgan, three years later.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Director Sam Mendes has described Sheen as "a stage creature" and attributed that to the actor's Welsh roots: "I'm serious. He's Welsh in the tradition of Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton: fiery, mercurial, unpredictable." A keen footballer, Sheen was scouted and offered a place on Arsenal's youth team at the age of 12, but his family was unwilling to relocate to London. He later said he was "grateful" for his parents' decision, as the chances of forging a professional football career were "so slim".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen was raised in a theatrical family, his parents both being involved in local amateur operatics and musicals and, later in life, his father worked as a part-time professional Jack Nicholson lookalike. In his teenage years, Sheen was involved with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre and, later, the National Youth Theatre of Wales. "It was a brilliant youth theatre", Sheen has said, "and it taught me not only a lot about acting, but also about work ethic; it was very disciplined." He was influenced by the performances of Laurence Olivier and the writings of theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, saying "the combination of those two things kind of blew my head off." Sheen was educated at Blaenbaglan Primary School, Glan Afan Comprehensive School and, finally, Neath Port Talbot College where he sat A-levels in English, Drama and Sociology. He considered studying English at university but instead decided to attend drama school. He moved to London in 1988 to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), having spent the previous year working in a Welsh fast-food restaurant called Burger Master to earn money. Sheen was granted the Laurence Olivier Bursary by the Society of London Theatre in his second year at RADA. He graduated in 1991 with a BA in Acting.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen worked predominantly in theatre in the 1990s and has since remarked that he will always feel "slightly more at home" on stage. "It's more of an actor's medium. You are your own editor, nobody else is choosing what is being seen of you." His first professional role, while still in his third and final year at RADA, was in "When She Danced" at the Globe Theatre in 1991. He later described the role as "a big break. One day, I was at RADA doing a movement class, the next I was at a read-through with Vanessa Redgrave and Frances de la Tour." Milton Shulman of the "Evening Standard" praised an "excellent" performance while "The Observer" wrote of "a notable West End debut". In 1992, Sheen's performance in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Royal Exchange received a MEN Theatre Award nomination and led theatre critic Michael Coveney to declare him "the most exciting young actor of his generation ... a volatile, electrifying and technically fearless performer". His 1993 turn as Perdican in Alfred de Musset's "Don't Fool With Love" at the Donmar Warehouse was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. and was described by "The Independent" as "quite thrilling". Also in 1993, Sheen appeared in the world premiere of Harold Pinter's "Moonlight" at the Almeida Theatre and made his television debut in the 1993 BBC mini-series "Gallowglass".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen played the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1994. The Yukio Ninagawa production was staged in Oslo, Tokyo and at the Barbican Centre, London. "The Times" praised Sheen's "astonishing vitality" while "The Independent" found him "sensationally good" and noted that "the Norwegian press were grudgingly captivated by the mercurial Welsh boyo". In other 1994 work, Sheen appeared in "Le Livre de Spencer" at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Paris and starred in the cross-dressing farce "Charley's Aunt" at the Royal Exchange. In 1995, he appeared opposite Kate Beckinsale in a production of "The Seagull" at the Theatre Royal, Bath and, with the encouragement of Thelma Holt, directed and starred in "The Dresser" at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. In addition, Sheen made his film debut that year, appearing opposite Kenneth Branagh in "Othello". 1996 saw Sheen at the National Theatre for "The Ends of the Earth", an original play by David Lan. A minor role in "Mary Reilly" marked the first of three film collaborations with director Stephen Frears. Sheen's most significant appearance of 1997 was the title role in "Henry V", staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at their Stratford-upon-Avon theatre, which earned him a second Ian Charleson Award nomination. "The Times" praised "a blisteringly intelligent performance". Also in 1997, he appeared in a revival of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming" at the National Theatre, directed by Roger Michell, and directed "Badfinger", starring Rhys Ifans, at the Donmar Warehouse. The latter was staged by the Thin Language Theatre Company, which Sheen had co-founded in 1991, aiming to further Welsh theatre. He then appeared in the biographical film "Wilde", playing Robbie Ross to Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde. In early 1998 Sheen formed a production company, The Foundry, with Helen McCrory and Robert Delamere to promote the work of emerging playwrights, and produced "A Little World of Our Own" at the Donmar Warehouse, which gave Colin Farrell his West End debut.


title: Michael Sheen

text: From 1998 to 1999, Sheen starred as Mozart in a successful revival of "Amadeus". The Peter Hall-directed production was staged at the Old Vic, London, and later transferred to the Music Box on Broadway. Ben Brantley, chief theatre critic for "The New York Times", was particularly vocal in his praise. He noted that "Mr. Sheen elicits a real poetry from the role" and felt that, while watching him, "you start to appreciate the derivation of the term star. This actor is so luminous it's scary!" "The Independent" found him "quite stunning as Mozart. His fantastically physical performance convinces you of his character's genius and the play catches fire whenever he's on stage." Sheen was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor. In 1999, Sheen explored the role of Jimmy Porter in the National Theatre's production of "Look Back in Anger". In 2003, Sheen described the production as "the most enjoyable thing I've ever done ... everything came together". "Sheen has cornered the market in explosive energy", said "The Independent", "but this thrilling performance is his finest yet." The "Financial Times" noted: "As Jimmy Porter, a role of staggering difficulty in every way, Michael Sheen gives surely the best performance London has yet seen from him ... You hang on every word he utters ... This is a dazzlingly through-the-body performance." He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and an Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.


title: Michael Sheen

text: At this point in his career, Sheen began to devote more time to film work. "Heartlands", a little-seen 2002 film about a naive man's road trip in the Midlands, was his first leading film role. While "The Guardian" dismissed the "cloying bittersweet-regional-lottery-Britfilm", it noted that "Sheen himself has a childlike, Frank Spencer-ish charm". "It was great to do something that was so different", Sheen has said of the role. "I usually play very extreme characters." Also in 2002, he had a minor role in the action-adventure film "The Four Feathers". In 2003, Sheen appeared in "Bright Young Things", the directorial debut of his "Wilde" co-star, Stephen Fry. An adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Vile Bodies", the film followed high society partygoers in decadent, pre-war London. Sheen played a gay aristocrat in an ensemble cast which included James McAvoy, Emily Mortimer, David Tennant, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent and Peter O'Toole. While the "Los Angeles Times" said he "shone", "The Guardian" felt the role "drastically under-uses his talents". Sheen described his character as "possibly the campest man in cinema history" and relished a scene "where I do drugs with [a then 95-year-old] Sir John Mills." In other 2003 film work, Sheen portrayed the werewolf leader Lucian in "Underworld" and made a brief appearance in the sci-fi film "Timeline".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen returned to the stage in 2003 to play the title role in "Caligula" at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Michael Grandage. It was the first of just three stage appearances during the 2000s; his young daughter was now based in Los Angeles which made more frequent stage runs in Britain impractical. "The Independent"s critic declared it "one of the most thrilling and searching performances I have ever witnessed" and "The Daily Telegraph" described him as an "outrageously charismatic actor" with "an astonishing physical presence". "The Times" praised a "riveting performance" and "The Guardian" found him "highly impressive ... at one point he attacks his court poet with a single hair-raising leap across a chair and table". Sheen won an Evening Standard Award for Best Actor and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor, and was again nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen's breakthrough role was as British politician Tony Blair in 2003's "The Deal". The Channel 4 film explored the so-called Granita pact made by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown prior to the 1994 Labour Party leadership election, and was the actor's first collaboration with screenwriter Peter Morgan. Director Stephen Frears cast him because "he was in "Mary Reilly" and I knew he was brilliant." Filmed while he was playing "Caligula" nightly on stage, Sheen has remarked, "It's interesting that in searching for monsters to play, you often end up playing leaders." "The Daily Telegraph" praised his "earnest, yet steely, portrayal" while "The Guardian" found him "excellent. This is intelligent and honest casting." In 2004, Sheen starred in ITV's "Dirty Filthy Love", a comic film about a man dealing with OCD and Tourette's after a marital separation. Sheen spoke of "treading a fine line" because "a lot of the symptoms are intrinsically comical". He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Television Actor and a RTS Best Actor Award. Also in 2004, Sheen played a pompous rock star in the romantic comedy "Laws of Attraction" and produced and starred in "The Banker", which won a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2005, Sheen starred in the National Theatre's production of "The UN Inspector", a David Farr adaptation of "The Government Inspector". "The Times" wrote of "a scathingly brilliant and inventive performance" while "Variety" noted that the actor "adds comic finesse to his apparently ceaseless repertoire". "The Evening Standard", while conceding that the performance was "technically brilliant", expressed bemusement as to why "one of the most mercurial and inspiring actors we have seems set on impersonating Rik Mayall throughout". Also that year, he took part in the Old Vic's "24 Hour Play", in which "The Daily Telegraph" felt he "dazzled". In 2005 film work, Sheen starred in "Dead Long Enough", a small-budget Welsh/Irish film, with his longtime friend, Jason Hughes. In addition, he had a supporting role in Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven", made a cameo appearance in "The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse" and starred in the short film "The Open Doors".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen came to international attention in 2006 for his portrayal of Tony Blair in "The Queen". The film focused on the differing reactions of the British Royal Family and the newly appointed Prime Minister following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997; it was Sheen's third collaboration with director Stephen Frears and his second with screenwriter Peter Morgan. He enjoyed reprising his role because Blair, at this point in his career, had "a weight to him that he didn't have before". When asked to discuss his personal opinion of Blair, Sheen admitted that the more time he spent working on the character, the "less opinion" he has of the politician: "Now when I watch him on TV or hear his voice, it's sort of like a cross between a family member, a friend and seeing a really old embarrassing video of yourself." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" praised "a sensational performance, alert and nuanced" while "Empire" spoke of an "uncanny, insightful performance". Sheen was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. His second film appearance of 2006 was a supporting role in "Blood Diamond" as an unscrupulous diamond dealer. Also in 2006, Sheen starred as the troubled English comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's "" In preparation for the role, he lost two and a half stone (approx. 35 lbs), studied archival footage and read Williams' published diaries. Sheen has said he is "fascinated by finding the private side of the public face". "The Times" found his performance "mesmerising" while "The Observer" described it as "a characterisation for which the description tour-de-force is, frankly, pretty faint praise". He won a RTS Award for Best Actor, and received his second BAFTA nomination of 2006, for Best Television Actor. Sheen starred in two other BBC television productions in 2006, playing H. G. Wells in "" and Nero in "".


title: Michael Sheen

text: From 2006 to 2007, Sheen starred as the television broadcaster David Frost in "Frost/Nixon" at both the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London and at the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. The play, written by Peter Morgan, directed by Michael Grandage and co-starring Frank Langella, was a critical and commercial success but Sheen initially accepted the role as a favour to his friends and "never thought it was going anywhere". "The Guardian" said the actor "exactly captures Frost's verbal tics and mannerisms while suggesting a nervousness behind the self-assurance". "He's got the voice, the mannerisms, the blaze," said the "Financial Times", "but, more than that, Sheen – as viscerally exciting an actor as any in Britain today – shows us the hunger of Frost's ambition .. and fox-like instinct for the hunt and the kill." Sheen was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. Sheen next appeared in the 2007 film "Music Within" as a political activist with cerebral palsy. He spoke of having a "responsibility" to accurately portray the condition. "Variety" said his performance was "remarkable.. utterly convincing", "USA Today" found him "outstanding" while the "Los Angeles Times" felt he was "reminiscent of Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot", bringing a vibrancy and wit to the role". Also that year, Sheen starred in the short film "Airlock, or How To Say Goodbye in Space" with Derek Jacobi and was invited to join the actors' branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen reprised the role of David Frost in 2008's "Frost/Nixon", a film dramatisation of The Nixon Interviews of 1977. Despite appearing in the original stage production in a part written for him by Peter Morgan, Sheen was surprised to have been cast in the film: "Peter said he'd only be prepared to give the rights to someone who would cast me as Frost, which was very nice, but when the studios get their hands on something... Right up until we started filming I was prepared to be disappointed". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" asserted that Sheen embodied his character in a "compelling, intense" performance while "The Wall Street Journal" felt he was "a brilliant actor" who "grows his character from a bright-eyed social butterfly to a gimlet-eyed interrogator". However, "The New York Times" felt "the likable, watchable Mr. Sheen has been pitted against a scene-stealer" in Frank Langella's Nixon. Frost himself later said it was "a wonderful performance". Sheen was the recipient of the Variety Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2008., while Langella was nominated for an Academy Award.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2009, portrayed another public figure; he starred in "The Damned United" as the outspoken football manager Brian Clough. The Tom Hooper-directed film focused on Clough's disastrous 44-day tenure as manager of Leeds United and marked Sheen's fifth collaboration with writer Peter Morgan. He said Clough is the real-life character he enjoyed playing most. "The Guardian", writing in 2009, declared it the "best performance of his big-screen career" while "The Times" found him "magnificent". "Entertainment Weekly" asserted that, despite American audiences' unfamiliarity with Clough, "what's lost in translation is recovered easily enough in Michael Sheen's astonishing performance". "Variety" noted that his "typically scrupulous channelling of Clough gets the tics and mannerisms right, but also carves a moving portrait of a braggart suddenly out of his depth". Also in 2009, Sheen reprised his role as a werewolf in "", a prequel to the original film. Of his decision to take part, Sheen has said: "My rule of thumb is that I want to do things I'd like to go and see myself." "The New York Times" felt he was "the movie's greatest asset ... [taking] a lively break from his usual high-crust duties to bring wit, actual acting and some unexpected musculature to the goth-horror flick". "Variety" said he hit "all the right notes in a star-powered performance that will amuse, if not amaze, anyone who only knows the actor as Tony Blair or David Frost" while Richard Corliss of "Time" noted that he "tries bravely to keep a straight face"


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen had a supporting role in 2009's "", the second film in the highly popular vampire series. In its review, "Rolling Stone" said: "Late in the film, a real actor, Michael Sheen, shows up as the mind-reading Aro, of the Italian Volturi vampires, and sparks things up. You can almost hear the young cast thinking, 'Is that acting? It looks hard.' So Sheen is quickly ushered out." While "The New York Times" said he "preens with plausible menace", "USA Today" felt he "plays the character with more high-pitched giddiness than menace". He was named Actor of the Year at "GQ" magazine's annual Men of the Year ceremony. Sheen made two one-off stage appearances in 2009; he performed a scene from "Betrayal" as part of a Harold Pinter tribute evening at the National Theatre and performed improvisational comedy as part of The Groundlings' "Crazy Joe Show" in Los Angeles.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2010, Sheen had a supporting role in the science fiction sequel "". Referring to his David Bowie-esque character, Sheen has said, "I was paid to show off basically". "The Wall Street Journal" found little fun in the movie "except for a gleefully campy turn by Michael Sheen" while "The New York Times" said he "shows up to deliver the closest thing to a performance in the movie". "The Daily Telegraph" felt his "lively hamming as a cane-swishing nightclub owner merely underlines how impersonal—how inhuman—much else here is". However, "USA Today" felt his "scenery-chewing performance ... is meant as comic relief, but this movie thunders along so seriously that the attempt at humor feels jarring". In other 2010 film work, Sheen voiced Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit, in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" and Dr. Griffiths in Disney's "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" and appeared as a terrorist in "Unthinkable". On television, Sheen's performance in the third instalment of Peter Morgan's Blair trilogy, "The Special Relationship", was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or Movie. The HBO film examined the "special relationship" between the US and the UK in the political era of Blair and Bill Clinton. It was the sixth collaboration between Sheen and Peter Morgan; both parties have since said they will not work together again "for the foreseeable future". Sheen also made a guest appearance in four episodes of NBC's "30 Rock" as Wesley Snipes, a love interest for Tina Fey's Liz Lemon. Fey, the sitcom's star and creator, has said that "he was so funny and delightful to work with". In November 2010, Sheen received the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2011, Sheen starred in and was creative director of National Theatre Wales's "The Passion", a 72-hour secular passion play staged in his hometown of Port Talbot, Wales. In addition to a professional cast, over one thousand local amateurs took part in the performance and as many more volunteers from local charity and community groups were involved in preparations in the months leading up to the play. The event was the subject of both a BBC documentary and "The Gospel of Us", a film by director Dave McKean. Sheen has described it as "the most meaningful experience" of his career. "The Observer" declared it "one of the outstanding theatrical events not only of this year, but of the decade". "The Independent"s critic described it as "the most extraordinary piece of community-specific theatre I've ever beheld". While "The Daily Telegraph" bemoaned the large-scale production's logistical problems, "overall I found it touching, transformative and, in its own wayward way, a triumph." "The Guardian" felt it was "so much more than just an epic piece of street theatre..transforming and uplifting". Sheen and co-director Bill Mitchell were jointly honoured as Best Director at the Theatre Awards UK 2011. In 2013, Sheen was nominated for a Best Actor Welsh BAFTA for "The Gospel of Us".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen's most notable film appearance of 2011 was a supporting role in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris". Allen noted that "Michael had to do the pseudo-intellectual, the genuine intellectual, the pedant, and he came in and nailed it from the start". Sheen enjoyed playing "someone who's just absolutely got no sense that he's overstepping the mark or that he's being a bore." The film opened the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and became Allen's highest-grossing film to date. Also in 2011, Sheen starred in "Beautiful Boy", an independent drama focusing on the aftermath of a school shooting, voiced the enigmatic and mysterious villain House in the "Doctor Who" episode "The Doctor's Wife" written by his friend Neil Gaiman and made cameo appearances in "" and "Resistance". In 2012 film work, Sheen starred opposite Toni Collette in the independent comedy "Jesus Henry Christ" and reprised his role as the vampire Aro in the final instalment of "".


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen played the title role in "Hamlet" at the Young Vic in late 2011 and early 2012, a role he first explored in a 1999 BBC Radio 3 production. While there had been tentative plans over the years for both Peter Hall and Michael Grandage to direct Sheen in the play, he eventually asked Ian Rickson. Rickson's production was set in the secure wing of a psychiatric hospital and featured original music by PJ Harvey. The "Evening Standard" declared Sheen's performance "an audacious achievement" that "will live in the memory" while "The Independent" praised "a recklessly brilliant and bravura performance." "The Daily Telegraph" felt that Sheen "could be right up there among the great Hamlets", were it not for Rickson's "mindlessly modish" staging, while "The Times" found him "unbearably moving". "The Guardian" described him as "fascinating to watch ... intelligent, inventive and full of insights ... [he] delivers the "What a piece of work is a man" passage with a beautiful consciousness of human potential." "The Observer" declared him an actor "always worth crossing a principality to see and hear" whose To be, or not to be' is a marvel."


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2013, Sheen appeared in a supporting role as the boyfriend of Tina Fey in the comedy "Admission", with Stephanie Zacharek of "The Village Voice" describing the character as "a whiskery, elfin academic who chuckles to himself as he reads the Canterbury Tales prologue aloud in bed, in Middle English, no less. (Sheen is scarily good at this.)" In 2014, he starred in the fantasy children's film "Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box". R. Kurt Osenlund of "Slant Magazine" said "the ever-versatile Sheen brings an artful hamminess to his role" but Matt Pais of "RedEye" found him "insufficiently zany" in "a part that Robert Downey Jr. would nail but never accept." His second film role of 2014 was a minor role in the political thriller "Kill the Messenger". Also in 2014, he starred in IFC's six-episode "The Spoils of Babylon", a television parody of classic, sweeping miniseries, in which he played the husband of Kristen Wiig's character.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2015, Sheen starred opposite Carey Mulligan in the romantic drama "Far from the Madding Crowd" as prosperous bachelor William Boldwood. His performance was well received. Anthony Lane of "The New Yorker" remarked: "How you prevent such a fellow, crushed by his own decency, from sagging into a bearded Ashley Wilkes is no easy task, yet Sheen succeeds, and Boldwood's brave smile grows dreadful to behold." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of "The A.V. Club" found the character "pitiful, and sometimes downright painful to watch. He's not Hardy's Boldwood, but he's a Boldwood. The only sad, genuine moment of the film belongs to him." Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" remarked that Sheen's face "is etched with agony and an awful kind of abject adoration, forever trying to find ways to forgive the loved one in advance for rejection. When Sheen's Boldwood confides to Oak that he feels "grief" you really can feel his pain." Stephanie Zacharek of "The Village Voice" also referred to the scene where Boldwood expressed his grief, commenting: "Sheen's performance is fine-grained, and the pure Englishness of his understatement is heartrending." Also in 2015, Sheen had well-received comedic television performances in "Comedy Bang! Bang!", "The Spoils Before Dying" and "7 Days in Hell". Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times" said his television host in "7 Days in Hell" was "played with damp lechery and cigarette-ash mastery." Liz Shannon Miller of "Indiewire" said he may have "stolen the show" while John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" described him as the "scene-stealer of the bunch."


title: Michael Sheen

text: Between 2013 and 2016, Sheen starred in and produced Showtime's "Masters of Sex". He and Lizzy Caplan portrayed the 1960s human sexuality pioneers Masters and Johnson; the series chronicled "their unusual lives, romance and pop culture trajectory, which saw them go from a Midwestern teaching hospital to the cover of "Time" magazine and Johnny Carson's couch". David Sims of "The Atlantic" described Sheen's portrayal of Masters as "an intensely honest and unsympathetic one" while Sonia Saraiya of "The A.V. Club" said Sheen played the role "so seamlessly it's hard to remember that there's a British actor there who has played flamboyant news personalities and prime ministers." Sean T. Collins of "The Observer" described Masters as "a singularly unappealing figure": "It's not that Michael Sheen is bad in the role. On the contrary! Sheen's skill in playing Masters as an asshole who oscillates between headache-inducing self-repression and volcanic rage renders him unpleasant to spend more than two minutes with at a time." Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" remarked: "Masters has never been very likable. In fact, it's a testament to Sheen's performance— and Caplan's nuanced Johnson offsetting Masters—that anyone still cares what happens to Masters on a personal level." He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in late 2013.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2016, Sheen had supporting roles in the dramas "Nocturnal Animals" and "", and the science fiction romance "Passengers". He also reprised his role as the White Rabbit in the fantasy adventure "Alice Through the Looking Glass". In 2017, he had supporting roles in the dramatic comedies "Brad's Status" and "Home Again". In 2018, Sheen was cast as unconventional lawyer Roland Blum in season 3 of television series "The Good Fight".


title: Michael Sheen

text: In May 2019 Sheen starred alongside David Tennant in "Good Omens", based on the novel of the same name written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and was cast as Chris Tarrant in the TV adaptation of James Graham's stage play "Quiz". In September 2019, Sheen began playing the role of Martin Whitly in the American television series "Prodigal Son" on Fox. In April 2020, "Quiz" was shown on ITV. On 14 April, when the channel broadcast the second instalment, the continuity announcer introduced him as "Martin Sheen", a different actor. Sheen reacted to this by changing his Twitter handle to "Martin Sheen". In June 2020, Sheen starred alongside David Tennant again in a six-part television lockdown comedy entitled "Staged", which was made using video-conferencing software. A second eight-episode season started airing in January 2021. In June 2021, Sheen returned to the London stage, after its protracted period of Covid-19 shutdown, in Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood" in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre. A new production of "Amadeus", scheduled for December 2022 at the Sydney Opera House, was announced in July 2022 with Sheen as Salieri.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen is the honorary President of Wales Council for Voluntary Action, the lead national body for the voluntary sector in Wales. Accepting the role he explained "I plan to use my role to actively challenge and support WCVA in their impact and role in supporting the community and keeping us focused on what matters locally as well as the need for national leadership". He is also an ambassador for TREAT Trust Wales, and is the Welsh ambassador of Into Film, a charity which offers after-school film clubs to state primary and secondary schools in an effort to improve literacy levels. He is also an ambassador of the environmental charity Keep Wales Tidy.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen is a patron of British charities including Scene & Heard, NSPCC's Child's Voice Appeal, Healing the Wounds, The Relationships Centre, WGCADA (West Glamorgan Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse) and Adferiad Recovery, a new organisation providing support for vulnerable people in Wales and their families and carers. He has taken part in a number of charity football matches, including captaining the winning team at Wembley Stadium, as well as appearing in the 2012 and 2014 matches. He is a patron of the British Independent Film Awards, an ambassador for the Dylan Thomas Prize and vice-president of Port Talbot Town F.C.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In 2014, Sheen designed a Shakespeare-themed Paddington Bear statue. Placed outside Shakespeare's Globe, it was one of fifty statues of Paddington located around London prior to the release of the film "Paddington", which were auctioned to raise funds for the NSPCC. In 2017 Sheen founded the End High Cost Credit Alliance working to promote more affordable ways to borrow money. That same year Sheen became a Patron of Social Enterprise UK, a charity which supports social projects which benefit local, environmental and co-operative causes. In October 2018 Sheen and Natasha Kaplinsky became vice-presidents (an ambassadorial role) of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). Sheen is a fundraising partner with the non-profit organization, The White Curl, which supports Welsh charities. In December 2021, Sheen announced that he would be giving all of his future earnings to charities, declaring himself a "not-for-profit actor."


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen has done much political work, from campaigning to end high-cost credit agreements to trying to help find a solution to the crisis in local journalism.


title: Michael Sheen

text: He has also highlighted the importance of having a "healthy discussion" about Welsh independence. In 2020 Sheen received much media attention after revealing that he returned the OBE in 2017 in order to "avoid being a hypocrite" following a speech citing "past wrongs" committed by England "to fracture us, to control us, to subdue us".


title: Michael Sheen

text: When that change and the traditional requirements would mean the Prince of Wales would become a new person, and a new Englishman, it would be I think a really meaningful and powerful gesture for that title to no longer be held in the same way as it has before. That would be an incredibly meaningful thing I think to happen. Make a break there. Put some things that have been wrongs of the past right. There's an opportunity to do that at that point. Don't necessarily just because of habit and without thinking just carry on that tradition that was started as a humiliation to our country. That’s what it was. It was a humiliation. Why not change that when we come to this moment where inevitably things will change anyway?


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen was in a relationship with English actress Kate Beckinsale from 1995 until 2003. They met when cast in a touring production of "The Seagull" in early 1995, and began living together shortly afterwards. Their daughter Lily was born in 1999 in London. Their relationship ended in January 2003, soon after the couple moved to Los Angeles. Beckinsale had persuaded director Len Wiseman to cast Sheen in "Underworld"; but while on set, she and Wiseman fell in love, and subsequently married in 2004.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen had a long-distance relationship with English ballet dancer Lorraine Stewart from late 2004 until mid-2010. He dated Canadian actress Rachel McAdams from autumn 2010 to early 2013. He dated American comedian Sarah Silverman from early 2014 to early 2018.


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen lives in Baglan, Wales with his partner, Swedish actress Anna Lundberg. The couple have two daughters together, Lyra (born on 23 September 2019) and Mabli (born on 19 May 2022).


title: Michael Sheen

text: Sheen was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his services to drama. In 2020, Sheen revealed, during an online interview with Owen Jones, that he had "handed back" the medal after doing research for a lecture on the relationship between Wales and the British state, saying "I didn't mean any disrespect but I just realised I'd be a hypocrite if I said the things I was going to say in the lecture about the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state." Individuals who voluntarily renounce an honour continue to legally hold it unless it is annulled by the monarch.


title: Michael Sheen

text: He was awarded the freedom of the borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales in 2008 for his services in the field of the dramatic arts. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Newport, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Swansea University, Aberystwyth University and Swansea Metropolitan University, and has been awarded the James Joyce Award by University College Dublin.


title: Michael Sheen

text: In addition to theatre, film and television credits, Sheen has also appeared in many radio productions, particularly in the early years of his career. Notable radio play appearances include "Strangers on a Train" (1994) opposite Bill Nighy, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1995) opposite Judi Dench, "Romeo and Juliet" (1997) opposite Kate Beckinsale, "Troy" (1998) and "The Pretenders" (2004) both opposite Paul Scofield. He has narrated five novels for BBC Radio 4 and Naxos AudioBooks: "Crime and Punishment" (1994), "The Idiot" (1995), "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1995), "A White Merc With Fins" (1997), "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" (2011) and "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" (2013).


title: Black Mirror

text: Black Mirror is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series is based on "The Twilight Zone" and uses technology to comment on contemporary social issues. Most episodes are written by Brooker, with heavy involvement by the executive producer Annabel Jones.


title: Black Mirror

text: There are 22 episodes across five series and one special, in addition to the interactive film "" (2018). The first two series aired on the British network Channel 4 in 2011 and 2013, as did the 2014 special "White Christmas". The programme then moved to Netflix, where three further series aired in 2016, 2017 and 2019. A sixth series on Netflix has been greenlit and is in active production as of July 2022. Two related webisode series were produced by Netflix, and a companion book to the first four series, "Inside Black Mirror", was published in 2018. Soundtracks to many episodes have been released as albums.


title: Black Mirror

text: The series has received critical acclaim and is considered by many reviewers to be one of the best television series of the 2010s. With "San Junipero", "USS Callister" and "Bandersnatch", the programme won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie three times consecutively. However, some critics consider the morality of the series obvious or cite declining quality over time. "Black Mirror", along with "American Horror Story", has been credited with repopularising the anthology television format, and a number of episodes have been seen by reviewers as prescient.


title: Black Mirror

text: The series was originally commissioned by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and premiered in December 2011. A second series ran during February 2013. In September 2015, Netflix purchased the programme, commissioning a series of 12 episodes later divided into two series of six episodes. The first six episodes were released simultaneously on Netflix worldwide as the overall third series on 21 October 2016. The fourth series of six episodes was released on 29 December 2017. A fifth series consisting of three episodes was released on 5 June 2019. The first four series, as well as the special "White Christmas", have been released on DVD.


title: Black Mirror

text: As "Black Mirror" is an anthology series, each episode is standalone and can be watched in any order. The programme is an instance of speculative fiction within science fiction: the majority of episodes are set in dystopian near-futures with novel technologies that exaggerate a trait from contemporary culture, often the internet. An example is "Crocodile", where the Recaller device used to view a person's memories is the main difference from the modern world. Many such technologies involve altering the human body or consciousness, with little in-universe concern for the morality of these actions. They provide convenience or freedom to the user, but exacerbate problematic personality traits. Adrian Martin of "Screen" wrote that many episodes depict "basic human emotions and desires" that "intersect with, and get twisted by, a technological system that invariably spins out of control and into catastrophe". The settings are generally patriarchal and capitalist, and most episodes explore topics associated more with masculinity than femininity. Recurring themes throughout "Black Mirror" include data privacy and surveillance, virtual reality, individualism and consumerism. Many episodes have plot twists.


title: Black Mirror

text: However, individual episodes explore varying genres. Crime fiction episodes include the police procedurals "Hated in the Nation" and "Smithereens" and the Nordic noir "Crocodile". Horror and psychological horror are features of "Black Museum" and "Playtest", respectively. The first episode, "The National Anthem", contains black comedy and political satire. Some episodes employ features of lighter-hearted genres, such as romance in "San Junipero" and "Striking Vipers", romantic comedy in "Hang the DJ", or space opera in "USS Callister". Other genres include drama ("Fifteen Million Merits"), psychological thriller (""), post-apocalyptic fiction ("Metalhead"), and war film ("Men Against Fire").


title: Black Mirror

text: "Black Mirror" can be seen to demonstrate a negative view of unending pursuit of scientific and technological advancement. The majority of episodes end unhappily. However, characters who carefully consider the risks of technology with which they engage are met with happy endings, as in "San Junipero". Juliana Lopes of "Via Panorâmica" argued that the dystopian settings resemble the French Marxist Guy Debord's concept of the spectacle, wherein mass media create alienation and an unattainable utopia for individuals to pursue. For instance, in "Nosedive", the protagonist Lacie strives for a utopian life through superficiality and performativity, in a society where social media success contributes to high socioeconomic status. Academics writing in "Quarterly Review of Film and Video" found that "Black Mirror" episodes fall into a genre of "mind-game films", wherein protagonists are disoriented and narratives are non-linear or fragmented. Films in this genre include "Inception" (2010) and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and these works often show the unreliability of the state, technology or family.


title: Black Mirror

text: Some critics believed that episodes produced under Channel 4 had a more British tone or shared aesthetic qualities not found in later series. In contrast, Netflix episodes including "Nosedive", "San Junipero", "USS Callister" and "Hang the DJ" evidence pastel aesthetics, use of 1980s or 1990s nostalgia and lighter-hearted tones than Channel 4 episodes. The frequency of happy endings and positive uses of technology increase in later series.


title: Black Mirror

text: Later episodes include Easter egg allusions—small references to other instalments. For example, the fictional news channel UKN recurs between episodes, and the company Fence's Pizza appears in both "USS Callister" and "Crocodile". A large number of Easter eggs are found in news tickers and social media feeds shown in various episodes. The final episode of the fourth series "Black Museum" includes references to every prior episode of the series. The song "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" (1964) by Irma Thomas appeared in several episodes: "Fifteen Million Merits", "White Christmas", "Men Against Fire", "Crocodile" and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too". Actors rarely re-occur between episodes, but a small number have appeared in unrelated roles. Hannah John-Kamen played the singer Selma in "Fifteen Million Merits" and the journalist Sonja in "Playtest"; Michaela Coel appeared as an airline check-in agent in "Nosedive" and the crew member Shania in "USS Callister"; Daniel Lapaine had the role of the minor character Max in "The Entire History of You" and the doctor Daniel in "Black Museum".