- Born
- Birth nameAlexander Martin Clunes
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Martin Clunes was born the son of the noted Shakespearean actor Alec Clunes. He was educated at the Royal Russell School in Surrey and the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, London. He made his television debut playing an alien prince opposite Peter Davison in Snakedance: Part One (1983) (director Fiona Cumming later said she cast him because she was struck by his unusual looks and "Mick Jagger lips"). He then won a regular role in No Place Like Home (1983), a fairly traditional middle-class BBC sitcom starring William Gaunt.
Clunes' greatest breakthrough came with starring in Men Behaving Badly (1992), an anarchic sitcom which proved to be one of the most popular series of the 1990s. He has since established himself as one of the UK's most consistently popular television actors, starring in the long-running Doc Martin (2004), recreating Leonard Rossiter's famous role in a new version of Reggie Perrin (2009) and playing Arthur Conan Doyle in Arthur & George (2015).
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesPhilippa Braithwaite(1997 - present) (1 child)Lucy Aston(1990 - 1997) (divorced)
- ChildrenEmily Clunes
- Parents
- Prominent lips and ears that stick out
- He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Drama, Charity, and to the community in Dorset. He lives in Beaminster, Dorset, England.
- He is the son of Shakespearean actor Alec Clunes, mostly known for his work on the stage, and Clunes is also the cousin, once-removed, of another distinguished English actor, Jeremy Brett, who was particularly known for his celebrated interpretation of Sherlock Holmes on British television.
- He is one of the young men in Gilbert and George's 1983 photo-sculpture 'The World'.
- He has one daughter, Emily (1999).
- He is President of the British Horse Society.
- I think people need entertaining and they like being entertained. That's all I do. I don't do anything important, I just work in entertainment.
- [his description of himself in a documentary about the making of Doc Martin (2004) in 2006] Jug ears and child-bearing lips.
- I don't do very well being away, and America starts to annoy me after a while. I just like the UK better - I couldn't go over there, it would drive me mad!
- [on the popularity of Doc Martin (2004)] It always seems like such a surprise when another country sort of chimes in wholeheartedly, in a kind of epicurean way. Especially in the way it has been picked up in Canada and the US in almost cultish fashion. You're not going to be a cult in England when you're on mainstream TV.
- It's really such a liberating role. It's nice to be rough with the elderly, violent with children, and generally rude to everyone. But audiences seem to like it, wondering what kind of outrageous thing he will say or do next.
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