Trivia

A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he also loves playing pantomime dames, and has done so on numerous occasions.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Comedy performance in Comedy of Errors.

He was nominated for a 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role of 2001 for his performance in Henry IV Parts 1 and II performed at the Barbican Theatre in London.

Longtime (from 1982) companion of Byron Johnson.

An early screen role for Barrit came in Alice through the Looking Glass (1998), in which he played Humpty Dumpty.

During a party to celebrate the graduation of an actor friend from drama school, Barrit declared he thought anyone could act. The friend bet him he couldn't get a job as an actor, so Barrit scoured The Stage and answered an ad, promptly landing a job with a children's theatre company. "I was bet on the Saturday, I got the job on the Sunday and I handed in my notice as an accountant on the Monday. And that's how I became an actor.".

In 2004, in a limited-run revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Royal National Theatre Barrit played Pseudolus opposite Philip Quast as Miles Gloriosus, Hamish McColl as Hysterium and Isla Blair as Domina (who had previously played Philia in the 1963 production). The production was nominated for the 2005 Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production.

On 7 July 2008, he took over the role of The Wizard from Nigel Planer in the West End production of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Originally set to begin 9 June, his performance had to be postponed as he had to undergo an operation. Beginning 12 December 2011, he returned to Wicked, reprising his role of the Wizard, taking over from Clive Carter. He ended his third return engagement with the show on 7 July 2012 (four years after his debut), and was replaced three weeks later by Keith Bartlett.

In 2014, he appeared as Michaud in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Therese Raquin at the Theatre Royal, Bath.

In 2003, he played Shylock in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, while in 2007 he appeared in The History Boys at Wyndham's Theatre portraying the general studies teacher, Hector, made famous by Richard Griffiths in the film version.