This wiry blond English actor has excelled in character roles, playing everything from villains to a transsexual. Born and raised in rural Cambridge, England, Steven Mackintosh began acting as a child in local theatricals. At the age of 12, he was tapped for his professional debut in a play at London's Bush Theatre in which he played "this beast of a child who swore and cursed at everyone." Soon thereafter, the teen was cast as Nigel, the glue-sniffing, exercised-obsessed pal of the title character in "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4". Mackintosh's career received a further boost when he landed the role of Eugene Jerome in the London premiere of Neil Simon's autobiographical "Brighton Beach Memoirs".
Inevitably films beckoned. The actor made his debut in a bit part as actor Simon Ward in the Joe Orton biopic "Prick Up Your Ears" (1987) and appeared as a rookie crewman in "Memphis Belle" (1990). Alternating between films and TV, Mackintosh has created a gallery of fascinating characters ranging from a drug dealer in "London Kills Me" (1991) to a glam rocker in the 1993 BBC miniseries "The Buddha of Suburbia" to a psychopath known as 'The Street' in "Prime Suspect 5: Errors in Judgment" (PBS, 1997). One of his best roles, however, was as the transsexual Kim (formerly Karl) in "Different for Girls" (1996), playing up the ordinariness of the character and avoiding camp. More recently, the actor excelled as a rural farm worker who dreams of enlisting as a pilot in the WWII-era "The Land Girls" and offered an amusing turn as the owner of a cannabis factory in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (both 1998). On British TV, Mackintosh headlined two impressive 1998 miniseries, offering strong characterizations as the long-suffering John Rokesmith in "Our Mutual Friend" and as the husband in a crumbling marriage in "Undercover Heart".
Family
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Daughter: Blythe Mackintosh. born c. 1996
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Daughter: Martha Mackintosh. born c. 1992
Education
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Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge, England
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The Sylvia Young Theatre School, London, England
Milestones
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1980 London stage debut at age 13 in The Name of the Beast at the Bush Theatre (date approximate)
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1983 West End debut in the stage musical Bugsy Malone , based on the Alan Parker film
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1985 Featured in the British TV production The Browning Version
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1985 Had recurring role on The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole as Adrian s glue-sniffing friend Nigel
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1986 Was member of The National Theatre
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1986 Starred as Eugene Jerome in the London production of Neil Simon s Brighton Beach Memoirs
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1987 Film debut in bit role as actor Simon Ward in Prick Up Your Ears
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1988 US TV debut, had title role of The Luck Child in an episode of The Storyteller (NBC)
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1990 Was a member of the ensemble of Memphis Belle
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1992 Played featured role in London Kills Me , directed by Hanif Kureishi
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1993 Played a glam-rock singer in the BBC miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia , adapted by Hanif Kureishi
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1994 Appeared as Diggery Vann in the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame production The Return of the Native
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1996 Cast as Sebastian in Trevor Nunn s film version of Shakespeare s Twelfth Night
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1996 Delivered a superb performance as a transsexual in Different for Girls (released theatrically in the USA in 1997)
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1996 Played the villianous The Street in Prime Suspect 5: Errors in Judgment (PBS)
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1998 Co-starred in the British TV adaptation of Dickens Our Mutual Friend
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1998 Had featured roles as a drug dealer in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
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1998 Portrayed a farm worker who romances the titular Land Girls
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1998 Starred in the six-part British TV drama Undercover Heart , which examined the break-up of a marriage
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1999 Played an out of work musician who becomes a murder suspect in The Criminal ; shown at the London Film Festival
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2000 Co-starred with Julia Ormand in the London production of My Zinc Bed , written by David Hare
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2000 Had leading role in the ITCV production Lady Audley s Secret
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2004 Cast in the drama The Aryan Couple
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2004 Starred in the drama The Mother
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2006 Starred opposite Kate Beckinsale in Len Wiseman s Underworld: Evolution
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As a child, appeared in local stage productions in Cambridge