Mackenzie Crook

Mackenzie Crook is an English actor, director, comedian and BAFTA-winning writer. He is known for playing Gareth Keenan in The Office, Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones. He was the creator and star of BBC Four’s Detectorists.

About Mackenzie Crook in brief

Summary Mackenzie CrookMackenzie Crook is an English actor, director, comedian and BAFTA-winning writer. He is known for playing Gareth Keenan in The Office, Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones. Crook was born in Maidstone, Kent, and grew up in Dartford, Kent. He has appeared in adverts for Visa and M&M’s, and as a voiceover artiste for motor insurance company Green Flag in 2007. In November 2010 he starred in A Reluctant Hero, a play by Anton Chekhov, with whom he also tried to take a job as Prince Arthur’s manservant. He also appeared in Wyndham Price’s drama Abraham Point as Comet Looper, and on TV documentary A Scarred Brother: History of the Tattoos. He was the creator and star of BBC Four’s Detectorists, which began filming in January 2009 and was released in 2011. In late 1999 he hosted the short-lived ITV1 show Comedy Café in the guise of his Charlie Cheese character.

He appeared in three of Tim Plester and Ben Gregor’s short films: as Gary Tibbs in Ant Muzak, as Servalan in Blake’s Junction 7, and as Glorious George in World of Wrestling. All three of these films have been released on DVD. He played the leading role of Paul Callow in the comedy film Three and Out, released on 25 April 2008. On 10 May 2008 he appeared in an episode of the BBC1 comedydrama Love Soup playing the character Marty Cady. He starred in the second episode of Merlin, the second season of the second series of Sky Arts Arts, which tried to find a character to take over the role of Prince Cedric, who was played by Johnny Ekhovov. In 2010 he provided a voice over in an advertisement for the electrical retailer Currys. He has also voiced in a television series called Modern Toss and has featured in I Want Candy as Mr Dulberg, a quirky university professor.