Biography

Mel Smith was born on the 3rd December 1952 in Chiswick, London, England.
     Mel began his career as a theatre-director at some of the country's most established venues, including the Royal Court, but it was his partnership with Griff Rhys Jones that would make him a household name.
     In the late 70s, Mel and Griff co-wrote and co-starred in four series of the hit comedy, Not The Nine O'Clock News, which introduced them to the future scribes of Colin's Sandwich, Paul Smith and Terry Kyan.
     Mel and long-time sidekick, Griff, had written and acted in 11 series of Smith & Jones, Alas Smith & Jones, and The World According to Smith & Jones during the 80s and 90s. They also starred in the films, Morons From Outer Space, which they had co-written, and Wilt.
     Mel and Griff have toured Britain and Australia with live shows of their sketch shows.
     Mel other film appearances were in National Lampoon's European Vacation, The Princess Bride, Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Brain Donors, and Twelfth Night.
     Mel's television appearances include Colin's Sandwich, Filthy Rich & Catflap, The Young Ones, Minder and a tour de force performance in Muck and Brass. He was also the voice of Santa in Raymond Briggs' animated classics The Snowman and Father Christmas.
     Mel has acted on the West End stage: Big In Brazil, which he also directed, Summer With Monica, The Gambler, which he had written, and Not In Front Of The Audience.
     Having written for the stage and the big screen, Mel has written many books with Griff including Smith & Jones - Head to Head.
     Even in the musical field of the industry Mel has had some success. Kim Wilde and he, under the name of Mel and Kim - a comical nod to the 80s duo of the same name - scored a Christmas number one in the Singles Chart with Rocking Around The Christmas Tree, where all the proceeds went to Comic Relief.
     The sketch show, Alas Smith & Jones, has won both an Emmy Award and The British Comedy Award for Top Entertainment Series (1991) where Griff and he were named Top Entertainment Performers.
     Mel has directed the films, The Tall Guy (1989), Radioland Murders (1994) - penned by one George Lucas - and Bean (1997). In 1990 Paul Smith had told me that directing films was where Mel would eventually settle destroying any hopes of a third series of Colin's Sandwich.

Currently

October 2002