Simon Callow

He was awarded C.B.E. in the 1999 Queens Birthday Honors List for his services to drama.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Director of a Musical for "Carmen Jones".

He was awarded the Patricia Rothermel Award at the 1999 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for his outstanding services to theatre.

Started acting after Sir Laurence Olivier s insistence that if he wanted to act, he should take a job at the box office of the Old Vic Theatre in London.

Played the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the stage version of "Amadeus" before appearing in the film version, in which he played "Emmanuel Schikaneder", who appeared in the first performance of Mozarts "The Magic Flute" and wrote the operas libretto.

Played Charles Dickens and the voice of "Ebeneezer Scrooge" in the 2001 animated movie, Christmas Carol: The Movie , before playing Charles Dickens once again in the 2006 revival of "Doctor Who" .

In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 28, down from 26.

Callow is the author of numerous books, including a biography of Charles Laughton , a book on acting and, most recently, a multi-volume biography of Orson Welles.

His first television role was to have been that of First Crew Member in "Carry on Laughing!" {Orgy and Bess (#1.4)} . His scene was ultimately cut from the episode, although his name remains listed in the closing credits.

The names of George Coulouris and Agnes Moorehead are consistently mis-spelled throughout his book "Orson Welles: The Road To Xanadu", which also refers to "Touch Of Evil" as "A Touch Of Evil"; this latter mistake also occurs in his later book about Welles, "Hello, Americans".

Has said in interviews, he has not had a television set for a number of decades.

His father was of English descent, while his mother was of Danish, French, German, and English ancestry.

Release of his book, "Being An Actor".

(June 2008) Performing at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. There Reigns Love - Devised and performed by Simon Callow. July 11 - August 3.

(September 2005) He is currently playing "Count Fosco" in "The Woman in White" at the Palace Theatre in London.

He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Amadeus and Shakespeare in Love .

Has appeared as a character named Kemp in episodes of two different television series, Scarecrow and Mrs. King in 1984 and Inspector Morse in 1987.

Descended from circus performers - his great-great-grandmother was a bareback rider and his great-grandfather was a clown.

I love storytelling and I love just relating directly to an audience.

To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into a magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.

He very soon acquired the reputation of being the best public speaker of his time. He had taken pains to master the art, approaching it with scientific precision. On the morning of a day on which he was giving a speech, he once told Wilkie Collins, he would take a long walk during which he would establish the various headings to be dealt with. Then, in his mind’s eye, he would arrange them as on a cart wheel, with himself as the hub and each heading a spoke. As he dealt with a subject, the relevant imaginary spoke would drop out. When there were no more spokes, the speech was at an end. Close observers of Dickens noticed that while he was speaking he would make a quick action of the finger at the end of each topic, as if he were knocking the spoke away.

My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.