Marc James Wootton (born 8 February 1975) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his role as Mr Poppy in the Nativity! film series. He also starred in the television series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, La La Land, Nighty Night and voiced Max in Counterfeit Cat.

Career

Wootton began performing as a schoolboy in Portsmouth, and one of his first comedic creations was the Russian Gavroski Brothers, which he took to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2008, he said of this experience: "They were three agitprop activist peasants trying to spark a revolution. 'Like a Soviet Cyderdelic?’ I suggest – and he reacts as if this has never occurred to him before."

He quickly moved on to theatre directing, and at the same time ran the Canal Cafe Theatre in London.

At the same time, Wootton co-created mockumentary Cyderdelic, initially as a stage act with Barry Castagnola and Liam Woodman, becoming a success at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival.

Wootton made early television appearances on the Channel 4 comedy show The 11 O'Clock Show and BBC Three's Cyderdelic, E4 comedy The Pilot Show and the BBC Two sitcom Thin Ice. His breakthrough role came with the Channel 4 comedy gameshow My New Best Friend, in which contestants had to convince their closest friends and relatives that a series of awful characters (played by Wootton) were their new best friend, for a prize of £10,000. He then wrote and starred in the BBC Three sketch show Marc Wootton Exposed, the first series of which started on 13 January and finished on 25 February 2008.

His regular character Shirley Ghostman, a parody of television psychics such as Derek Acorah and Colin Fry, was spun off into his own series, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, for BBC Three. The series was shelved after an in-character appearance by Wootton on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, during which he made a number of jokes referencing "Jews, cancer patients and Hitler". The BBC apologised after receiving over 350 complaints.

Ghostman returned, along with other characters, in Wootton's six-part show La La Land. The series premiered on the Showtime USA network on 25 January 2010 and premiered on BBC Three on 27 April 2010. In 2018, Wootton wrote and starred in the six part comedy series High & Dry for Channel 4 in the UK, which debuted on the station on 4 May 2018.

Collaborations

Wotton played the role of softly spoken dating agent Gary Furze (Lasso The Moon agency) in the first series of Julia Davis' Nighty Night. In the second series he played Dennis, Linda's aggressive husband. Wootton collaborated with Julia Davis again in the semi-improvised character comedy Couples, for BBC Radio 4. In 2014, he starred in the first episode of the comedy anthology series Inside No 9, "Sardines".

In 2006, Wootton appeared in the film Confetti as a best man, Snoopy. In 2009 he starred in Debbie Isitt's Christmas comedy film Nativity, a role he reprised in the sequel, Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger, released in November 2012.

Filmography

Theatre

• Season's Greetings as Eddie – National Theatre (2010–2011)

• A Midsummer Night's Dream as Nick Bottom – Royal Shakespeare Theatre – Royal Shakespeare Company (2011)

• The Same Deep Water As Me as Kevin Needleman – Donmar Warehouse (1 August – 28 September 2013)

• Bull – The Young Vic (2015–2016)

• Till the Stars Come Down as Marek - National Theatre (2024)

Radio

• And The Winner Is hosted by Matt Lucas, Panellist BBC Radio 2 (2011)

• Date Night, BBC Radio 4 (2019)

Awards

• Rose D'or Golden Rose Award Best Gameshow, 2004 My New Best Friend (2004)

• British Comedy Award Best New TV Comedy My New Best Friend (2003)

• BBC Two Greenlight Award Cyderdelic (2003)

References

External links

• Marc Wootton official site

• Marc Wootton official Instagram