Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge, Seán Lincoln in Episodes, Bigwig in Watership Down, Postman Pat in Postman Pat: The Movie, Richard Pitt in Hang Ups, Andrew in Bliss (2018), and Nathan Stern in The Split (2018–2022).
As a stage actor, he was Tony-nominated for his portrayal of Norman in The Norman Conquests on Broadway. He starred as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End, which won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. He co-presented the 2020 edition of Children In Need for the BBC.
Early life and education
Mangan was born in Ponders End, in Enfield, north London, to Irish parents. He has two sisters, Anita and Lisa.
Mangan was educated at two private schools, Lochinver House School for boys in Potters Bar, and Haileybury and Imperial Service College (now co-educational), a boarding school in the village of Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. He was in a school prog rock band called Aragon, who recorded an album called The Wizard's Dream.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Mangan took a year out to care for his mother, Mary, who died of colon cancer at age 45. Weeks after her death, he auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to study there for three years.
Career
Theatre
After graduating from RADA in 1994, Mangan did not pursue lead roles on screen, preferring to take what he saw as the less limited opportunities on the stage. Between 1994 and 2000, he performed in plays throughout the UK and the West End before joining the theatre company Cheek by Jowl for an international tour of Much Ado About Nothing, earning him a nomination for a National Theatre Ian Charleson Award. He worked again for director Declan Donnellan at the Royal Shakespeare Company in School for Scandal, and at the Savoy Theatre in Hay Fever.
In 2008 he played the title role in The Norman Conquests, directed by Matthew Warchus, at The Old Vic and then at the Circle in the Square on Broadway. The production was a huge critical success earning several Tony Award nominations, including one for Mangan himself and won the Tony Award for Best Revival.
In 2012 he appeared at the Royal Court in a Joe Penhall play, Birthday, directed by Roger Michell, playing a pregnant man.
Mangan starred as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York's Theatre alongside Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves from October 2013 until they were replaced by Mark Heap and Robert Webb in April 2014. The production won the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy.
Television
Mangan's breakthrough television performance was as Adrian Mole in the six-part BBC TV show series Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years in 2001. That same year he appeared in Sword of Honour on Channel 4, alongside Daniel Craig.
In 2002, he appeared as Dan Moody in the I'm Alan Partridge episode "Bravealan". A scene where Alan repeatedly shouts "Dan!" at Dan from a distance in a car park, while Dan seems not to notice him, was named the second best moment from the series by Metro, and in 2014 Mangan said that he has "Dan!" shouted at him by passers-by almost every day.
Mangan played Guy Secretan in the BAFTA-winning British sitcom Green Wing. In Channel 4's The World's Greatest Comedy Characters, Guy was voted 34th. He starred as Keith in Never Better, a British television sitcom on BBC Two. He plays a recovering alcoholic Keith Merchant and Kate Ashfield is his long-suffering wife Anita. The series was written by Fintan Ryan for World Productions.
In 2009, Free Agents, a romantic black comedy starred Mangan, Sharon Horgan and Anthony Head. Originally a pilot for Channel 4 in November 2007, the series began on 13 February 2009. It spawned a short lived US remake, which was cancelled after just four episodes aired, although four more were later released on Hulu.