Artist Profile
Mark Little
Mark Little was born in Brisbane, Australia and spent his childhood in rural Southern Queensland. He trained as an actor at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and relocated to Melbourne in 1981.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 has appeared in fifteen feature films including 'An Indecent Obsession' and 'Short Changed' and received Australian Film Institute nominations twice. He played Constable Morris in 'A Cry in the Dark' and the lead role of Boady in the highly acclaimed, 'Nirvana Street Murder'. Mark also appeared in the television series, ‘The Flying Doctors’ and was awarded the Australian Television Society award for Best Actor in a Series.
Settling in Britain in 1992, Mark hosted Channel 4’s ‘The Big Breakfast'. He had previously hosted the ABC's 'Countdown Revolution', Australia's top rating pop show. Mark has presented on numerous British television series including his own strand on ITV’s ‘Wish You Were Here’. He won the Theatre Land edition of ‘The Weakest Link’ and narrated Sky 1’s ‘The Villa’.
Mark's theatre appearances include Costard in 'Loves Labours Lost', Crispin in 'A Chorus of Disapproval’, Laurie Blake in ‘The Temple’, Roy in ‘Cosi’ and Toad in ‘Wind in the Willows’. He played the lead role in ‘Serial Killers’ for Derby Playhouse. Mark has also appeared as the Australian performance artist, Leigh Bowery, in ‘Taboo’ in London’s West End and again on tour and has appeared as Bottom in Stafford Festival Shakespeare’s production of A Mid Summer Night’s Dream.
Mark’s West End debut was in 1999 in 'Defending the Caveman' at the Apollo Theatre. The following year Mark was awarded The Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for ‘Defending the Caveman’.
Also known for his self-devised work, Mark has written many productions for the Edinburgh Fringe and toured his show’s nationally throughout the UK to critical acclaim. Mark originally presented his ‘performance art’ in 1981 at Melbourne’s emerging comedy clubs and performed at Melbourne’s inaugural Comedy Festival in 1987. Mark performance takes place within ‘stage installations’ he creates and builds himself . He received the Paramount Comedy Award in Edinburgh for ‘Psychobubble’ in 1997.
In 2003 Mark presented and scripted ‘The Mozambique Poo Tour’, a film dealing with sanitation problems and solutions in the developing world.. In 2005 he returned to Australia and reprised the character of Joe Mangel for 4 months. In 2008 he hosted the successful ‘Mark Little’s Raw Talent Rodeo’ in his adopted home of Brighton and Hove and for the first time exhibited his visual art in Brighton’s Festival of Artist’s Open Houses. He was a contributing artist in Cath Farr: The Art of Fun, the winner of Best Open House 2008.
In 2009/2010/2011 Mark has appeared on Channel 5’s ‘The Wright Stuff’ as a regular panelist, reviewed newspapers for ‘This Morning’, been seen on ITV”S ‘Ladies of Letters’ , appeared on Celebrity Masterchef 2010 and the BBC sitcom ‘Whites’.
Recently, Mark directed, designed and performed the classic Australian one man play ‘A Stretch of the Imagination’ in London. ‘Stretch’ received London Time Out’s Critics Choice and will be staged again soon.
Mark also wrote a weekly column for The Daily Sport and is currently preparing to return to the comedy stage. He recently wrote and directed the comedy pilot ‘Robin’ which can be viewed via Mark’s web site.
www.markedmundlittle.co.uk
