What's My Motivation? - Tapa blanda

It's not all Oscars and ovations. This is a true tale of one man's relentless pursuit of the actor's life. It begins with a boy who nurtured an illicit taste for Gilbert and Sullivan performed in Sussex scout huts, while his friends were, more sensibly, out getting laid and stoned. It is a story of an obsessive who, despite his share of successes, has endured the ritual humiliations of his profession - end-of-the-pier seasons, Christmas panto hell, minimum wages in straight-to-video flops and TV fillers, patently doomed provincial tours with rancid digs, theatre workshop at the sewage works, the challenge of safety training videos and dressing up as a chicken to advertise TV dinners - all in the quest for the elusive perfect role.

Michael trained at RADA. His second job was Horrible Henry to Gary Oldman's cat in Dick Whittington at York. After seventy plays in rep he appeared in A View from the Bridge at the NT for which he was nominated for an award as Best Supporting Actor. He didn't win it. He has appeared in West End shows including Burn This, Henceforward, Company, and six months as Billy Flynn in Chicago opposite Denise Van Outen. He is currently encased nightly in lycra in Mamma Mia. He has appeared in a trillion TV programmes from Brookside to A Touch of Frost and recently as Hugh Reid in Foyle's War and Mr Gibbs in My Dad's the Prime Minister. Films include Disney's Heidi and Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvey. He has worked with everyone from Alan Ayckbourn to John Malkovich. He writes regularly for the Guardian and other papers.