Biography

One of Australia's best known acting and comedy exports, Mark Little was born in Brisbane, Australia and spent his childhood in rural Queensland. He trained as an actor at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. Mark is best known for his portrayal of Joe Mangel in the soap phenomenon 'Neighbours' where he created one of Ramsay Street's legendary characters. Mark had previously played Ron Miller in 'The Flying Doctors' and was presented with the Australian Television Society Award for Best Actor. He appeared in the classic Australian mini-series 'Waterfront' and 'The Dunera Boys'. Mark has appeared in 'Whites' for the BBC and 'Ladies of Letters' on ITV. Mark has appeared in many feature films including 'An Indecent Obsession' and 'Short Changed'. He received Australian Film Institute nominations for Best Supporting Actor for both films. He played Constable Morris in 'A Cry in the Dark' and the lead role of Boady in the highly acclaimed, 'Nirvana Street Murder'. Most recently he appeared in the Lance Armstrong biopic 'The Program' directed by Stephen Frears, playing the Australian journalist Rupert Guiness. Mark was a popular host on Channel 4's 'The Big Breakfast'. He had previously hosted the ABC's 'Countdown Revolution', Australia's top rating pop show. Mark has presented numerous programs on British television including his own strand on ITV's 'Wish You Were Here'. He won the Theatre Land edition of 'The Weakest Link' and recently appeared in and won the Pantomime edition of 'Pointless'. He is a regular panelist on 'The Wright Stuff'. Mark recently appeared on 'Charity Mastermind' donating his fee to The Trussell Trust.

Mark's theatre appearances have included Costard in 'Loves Labours Lost', Crispin in 'A Chorus of Disapproval and Toad in 'Wind in the Willows'. Mark has frolicked as the Australian Performance artist and designer, Leigh Bowery, playing him in Boy George's 'Taboo' in London's West End and again on tour. He played Bottom in Stafford Festival Shakespeare's production of 'A Mid Summer Night's Dream'. Mark directed himself in the Australian classic one-man play 'A Stretch of the Imagination' at the Cock Tavern theatre receiving 'Time Out's Critics Choice'. He recently played Farley Flavors in 'Shock Treatment' at The Kings Head theatre and appeared in the Australian classic play, 'The One Day of the Year' at the Finborough Theatre . Mark's West End Theatre debut was in 1999 in the one-man play, 'Defending the Caveman' at the Apollo Theatre. The following year Mark was awarded The Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for 'Defending the Caveman' and toured the show nationally and internationally for ten years. Mark was a contributing artist in Cath Farr: The Art of Fun, the winner of 'Best Open House 2008' at Brighton Festival of Artists Open Houses and in 2011 they collaborated on a visual art exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery in Western Sydney entitled 'Do Not Panda'.

Also known for his self-devised work, Mark has written numerous productions for the Edinburgh Fringe and toured his shows nationally. Mark first presented his 'performance art' in 1980 at Melbourne's emerging comedy clubs performing at Melbourne's inaugural Comedy Festival in 1987. Mark has always designed his own sets, referring to them as installations. His season of '#secretmeetings' has recently been staged at The Museum of Comedy proceeded by 'Humourmongery' at the Hen and Chickens. In 2011 Mark wrote and directed the comedy film 'Robin'.
- IMDb mini biography by: Cath Farr

[on George Cole] What a legacy he's left us, one of the great characters of TV.