Mark Umbers

Mark Umbers (born 17 June 1973) is an English theatre, film and television actor. Early life and education Born in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, Umbers was brought up in Wetherby and was educated at Malsis School before attending Sedbergh School. In 1995 he graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Latin and Greek Literature and Philosophy. Career Umbers' first professional engagements were in 1997 in the BBC dramas The Student Prince and Berkeley Square. His theatre debut was the lead role in a production of The Pirates of Penzance which transferred to Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London. Trevor Nunn and John Caird cast Umbers in their multi-award-winning 1999 season at the Royal National Theatre, where he appeared in productions including The Merchant of Venice, which was later filmed for broadcast by the BBC. After playing Lord Sidney opposite Richard E. Grant in the BBC series The Scarlet Pimpernel, Umbers returned to the National to play Freddy in the acclaimed 2001 revival of My Fair Lady, later transferring to Theatre Royal Drury Lane. In her Evening Standard review, Zoe Williams suggested that Umbers was ‘known throughout the western world as the most beautiful man ever seen’.