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Angie Le Mar (born 27 October 1965) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director, presenter and producer.
Le Mar is married with three children.
Early life
Born in Lewisham, London, of
Jamaican parentage, she grew up with four older brothers. She attended
Lewisham Bridge School,
Lewisham Girls School
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...
,
Blackheath Bluecoat School
Blackheath Bluecoat Church of England School was a secondary school and sixth form located in the Blackheath Standard area of Blackheath, London, Blackheath, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Its closure was announced in January 2012 and the sch ...
and
Vauxhall College. Her experience at school was difficult, and it was not until she completed her education that she was diagnosed as dyslexic.
At the age of ten, Le Mar appeared in a school play called ''In on the Island'' at the
Albany Empire and then attended the Lewisham Drama Club, inspired by her primary school teacher Mr Woodgate. She then Joined Second Wave Women's Drama group, where she performed ''Net Full of Holes'', also at the Albany Empire.
Career
Le Mar attended the
Barbara Speake Stage School
The Barbara Speake Stage School was opened on 10 February 1945 as an independent school, and was initially set up as a dancing school, by the founding principal Miss Barbara Speake, MBE, and was located in East Acton, London. The school was fee- ...
, and Afro Sax drama club run by
Larrington Walker
Larrington St Anthony Walker (1946 – 3 September 2017) was a Jamaican-born British actor.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Walker emigrated to the UK in 1956. Walker starred in the British television drama Taboo, and starred in movies such as ''Sec ...
,
Ellen Thomas
Ellen Thomas (born January 24, 1947) is an American peace activist. She first became involved with the White House Peace Vigil on April 13, 1984. The daughter of a US Marine, Thomas was born in Brooklyn and grew up in California. She became opp ...
and
Treva Etienne
Treva Etienne is an English actor and filmmaker.
Etienne guest starred in the ''BBC drama'' '' Death In Paradise'', the CBS spinoff '' Criminal Minds Beyond Borders'', and the CW fantasy/horror ''Supernatural''. He has a leading role in the indie ...
. With two fellow actresses Le Mar set up her own theatre company, called the Bemarrow Sisters, which ran for seven years. Productions included ''A Slice of Life'' directed by
Decima Francis, ''Gloria'' directed by
Trevor Laird
Trevor Laird is an English actor.
Biography
Born in Islington, London. Laird trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. Early roles included a 1976 role in a TV adaptation of the Peter Prince novel ''Playthings'', directed by Stephen Frears, and sev ...
and ''This Way Up'' written by
Peggy Bennette-Hume.
She was the first
Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
performer to appear at
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
's
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London. and had the first ever sell-out show by a female black comedian in London's West End. Her TV appearances include the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
The Real McCoy
"The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies.
History
The phr ...
'' and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's ''Get Up, Stand Up'', and presented ''The Saturday Morning Show'' on
Choice FM
Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on DAB Digital Radio, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and Global Player. It specialises in hip ...
. She was also a commentator on ''
Grumpy Old Women
''Grumpy Old Women'' is a British television series, continuing in the same vein as its predecessor, '' Grumpy Old Men''. Both programmes are shown on BBC Two. The first two series were narrated by Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman (born 26 A ...
'' in 2005.
Stand-up comedy
From 1985 Le Mar cut her teeth on the comedy circuit, by initially doing open spots and warm-ups at events such as fashion shows and parties within the black community. She later rose to prominence on the emerging black comedy circuit in the 1990s, sharing the stage with established comedians such as
Felix Dexter
Felix Dexter (26 July 1961
Retrieved 22 October 2013 ,
Curtis Walker
Curtis Walker is a British actor, writer and stand-up comedian. He starred in BBC comedy shows ''Paramount City'', CBBC sitcom ''Kerching!'', ''The Real McCoy
"The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking wo ...
,
Ishmael Thomas and
Leo Chester all members of the BBC comedy series ''The Real McCoy''. Her popularity earned her the title "The Queen of Black Comedy".
Her reputation took her to the mainstream circuit where she became a regular act at established comedy clubs including
Up The Creek,
Jongleurs and
The Comedy Store
The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
History
The Comedy ...
, culminating in Le Mar performing her sell-out one woman show ''Off The Hook'' at the
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London. , Shaftesbury Avenue, in 2000. She also gained international acclaim when she performed at the Apollo Theatre, New York, and the
Comedy Act Theatre in Los Angeles.
Le Mar celebrated 25 years in her show ''
An Audience with Angie Le Mar'', "Celebrating 25 years", at the
Barbican Theatre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibi ...
in September 2010.
Theatre
Le Mar launched her professional theatre career in 1994 with her comedy sketch show ''
Funny Black Women on the Edge'' that premiered at The Civic Centre in Southwark, London, which she wrote and also made her first directing debut, playing several characters. The show went on to play at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
, at the
Gilded Balloon
Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.
The company has its origins in a venue kn ...
in the same year. The show played at the
Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...
in November 1995, directed by
Paulette Randall
Paulette Randall, MBE (born 1961) is a British theatre director of Jamaican descent.
The show was reprised again in 2007 ''
The Best of Funny Black Women on The Edge'' through Le Mar's production company Straight To Audience Productions', at the
Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...
, directed by
Jo Martin
Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...
and Dawn Reid.
Le Mar wrote her show ''
The Brothers'', which was originally aired as a radio production on Choice FM, produced by
Ivor Etienne. Written in 2006 and directed by Le Mar, the show made its theatre debut at the
Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...
and became the fastest-selling show there since ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''. ''The Brothers'' was also recorded for television and shown on
MTV Base
MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music cha ...
.
In 2007 Le Mar wrote ''
Do You Know Where Your Daughter Is?''. While working as a radio presenter on Choice FM, Le Mar was moved by a call she received on her phone in show from a distressed young lady who had been abused by her boyfriend. The contents of the call inspired her to write the play, which was targeted predominantly to young audiences and parents. The play premiered at the Hackney Empires' ''Acorn Theatre'' and ran for eight weeks. It was toured throughout the London Region and the suburbs between 2008 and 2009, and played at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
, Gilded Balloon in August 2010. There are ongoing plans to tour the show nationally in 2011.
The most recent play written by Le Mar is ''
Forty
40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41.
Though the word is related to "four" (4), the spelling "forty" replaced "fourty" in the course of the 17th century and is now the standard form.
In mathematics
*Forty is a compo ...
'' in which she played the character "Sandra" was premiered at the Hackney Empire in 2008 and again at The
Broadway Theatre, Catford
The Broadway Theatre (formerly known as the Lewisham Theatre) is a theatre on Rushey Green, Catford, in the London Borough of Lewisham. A grade II listed building, the theatre was built in 1932 and is an example of Art Deco design. It has two aud ...
, in 2009, directed by
Karena Johnson
Karena Johnson is a British theatrical director and producer who first started working at London's Oval House Theatre. She was acting artistic director at Contact theatre and Artistic Director of Kushite Theatre Company as well as associate dire ...
. Discussions are ongoing for a television series.
Le Mar directed other productions, including ''Waiting to Inhale'', written by comedian and broadcaster
Geoff Schumann, which played at the
Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...
in 1997, ''Will The Real Wayne Rollins Stand Up'' one-man show at the Hackney Empires' Bullion Room Theatre in 2002, and ''Big Sister'' featuring ''Donna Spence'' and ''Quincy'', also at Hackney's Bullion Room Theatre in 2003.
Le Mar continues to work with young people through her production company Straight To Audience Productions, and has set up a strand within the organisation called 'Straight To Audience Youth' (STAY). Her workshops include writing and directing and stand-up comedy masterclasses.
Television
Le Mar's television appearances includes the successful comedy sketch show ''
The Real McCoy
"The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies.
History
The phr ...
'',
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, ''Late Licence'',