Sidney Sloane (born Gary Gibson; 7 June 1967) is a British actor and television presenter. Born to

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

parents, he grew up in the

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

borders of

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. He attended Southmead Primary School and John R.C. Secondary School. He took the stage name Sidney Sloane when he changed career from

Stockbroking A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks and ...

to study acting in 1997 at the Academy of Creative Training in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. A successful audition landed him a main role in the Belgrade Theatre Company's production of

The Twits ''The Twits'' is a humorous children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was written in 1979, and first published by Jonathan Cape in 1980. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, idle unke ...

which took on a No.1 theatre tour of the United Kingdom. After an invitation to meet with some BBC executives and a screen test for the possible role as a presenter, a formal job offer was made. Sloane helped launch

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

the British children's television in 2002. He was the channel's second longest serving and the only remaining original presenter when he left the presentation team on 12 April 2013. Sloane worked as a radio presenter on

BBC Southern Counties Radio BBC Southern Counties Radio was a BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of north-east Hampshire. It was the first BBC local radio station to introduce an all-speech format. ...

as well as acting in radio dramas and taking voiceover assignments. On 14 November 2012, Sloane appeared in a new televised production entitled ''Let's Play'', which aired on

. The series inspires pre schoolers to discover the world through creative role play and dressing up. ''

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strateg ...

'' is co presented by Rebecca Keatley. Sloane toured with his own live production, ''Sid's Show'', which was performed in venues across the United Kingdom until June 2013. In Christmas 2012, Sloane appeared in pantomime as 'Jack' at the

Ashcroft Theatre The Ashcroft Theatre is a theatre located within the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London. The theatre was named after Croydon-born Dame Peggy Ashcroft and is a proscenium theatre with a stepped auditorium. The mural on its fire curtain is by t ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

for Evolution Productions. He also appeared in the edition for Christmas of television quiz show, ''

Celebrity Mastermind ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. It began in 2002 as a one-off special, expanding to the current arrangement of 10 episodes, broadcast during December a ...

''. Sloane left his presentation role on

on 12 April 2013, but continues to have a presence on the channel as he has one of the main roles in ''Let's Play'', which continues to be shown. Sloane played Dandini in ''Cinderella'' at the

Hawth Theatre The Hawth Theatre is an arts and entertainment complex located in of woodland about from the town centre of the English town of Crawley. It is wholly owned by Crawley Borough Council and is currently operated by Parkwood Theatres. History The ...

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

at Christmas 2013, alongside

Stephen Mulhern Stephen Daniel Mulhern is an English television presenter, magician, and comedian. He began his television career on CITV, presenting the children's shows ''Finger Tips'' (2001–2004) and ''Tricky TV'' (2005–2010). Mulhern has presented vario ...

, with Ian Smith and Michael J. Batchelor as the ugly sisters.

References

External links

* — 1967 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Black British television personalities English male television actors English male voice actors English people of Jamaican descent English television presenters Male actors from London People from Wandsworth {{UK-tv-actor-1960s-stub