Mark Williams <!-- do not add a date or year of birth without providing a reliable source (IMDb is not a reliable source!); see the talk page for past attempts --> is an English actor, comedian, presenter and screenwriter. He first achieved widespread recognition as one of the central performers in the BBC sketch show The Fast Show. His film roles include Horace in 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Arthur Weasley in seven of the Harry Potter films. He appeared in Doctor Who and Red Dwarf. Since 2013, Williams has portrayed the title character in the long-running BBC series loosely based on the Father Brown short stories by G. K. Chesterton.
Early life
Williams was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England and grew up in Sidemoor. He was educated at North Bromsgrove High School and then Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in English in 1978, and was president of the college's Junior Common Room.
Career
Williams' acting work began in small-scale touring theatre, and he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.
He played Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, making his first appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. Other high-profile appearances include the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Claire Danes in 2007 and a 2012 role in Doctor Who as Brian Williams, father of the Doctor's companion, Rory.
Since 2013, he has appeared in the lead role in the BBC costume drama Father Brown. Williams also featured in the first series of Blandings, the BBC TV adaptation of the P. G. Wodehouse Blandings Castle stories, broadcast in 2013, in which he played Beach, the Emsworths' tipsy butler.
In 2014 and 2015, he presented the BBC daytime game show The Link. The show ran for two series. His other film roles include 101 Dalmatians and The Borrowers, both with Hugh Laurie.
Williams has also presented several documentary programmes exploring industrial history which is his passion;
|Five episodes
|-
|Merlin
|Voice of the Goblin
|Episode: "Goblin's Gold"
|-
||2011
|Frankenstein's Wedding
|Alphonse Frankenstein
|
|-
|rowspan=3|2012
|Being Human
|Regus
|
|-
|Hustle
|Dale Ridley
|
|-
|Doctor Who
|Brian Williams
|Episodes "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three"
|-
|rowspan=2|2013
| Blandings
| Sebastian Beach
| Six episodes
|-
|Still Open All Hours
|Planter's Salesman
|
|-
| 2013–present
| Father Brown
| Father Brown
| Title character, 130 episodes
|-
| 2014–2015
| data-sort-value="Link, The" | The Link
| Presenter
| BBC daytime game show
|-
| 2015
| Drunk History
| Robert Catesby
| Episode: "Episode Four"
|-
| 2016
| data-sort-value="Comic Strip Presents..., The" | The Comic Strip Presents...
| Chief Constable
| Episode: "Redtop"
|-
| 2017
| Hospital People
| Tony
| Episode: "The Local Millionaire"
|-
|2018
|Twirliwoos
|Waiter
|Episode: This Way, That Way
|-
|rowspan=2|2021
| Midsomer Murders
| Pat Everett
| Episode: "The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy"
|-
|data-sort-value="Dumping Ground, The" | The Dumping Ground
|Les Vegas
|Episode: "Old Friends"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2022
| Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts
| Himself
| HBO Max Special
|-
| Sister Boniface Mysteries
| Father Brown
| Cameo; episode: "My Brother's Keeper"
|}
Music videos
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 2023
| "Weirdo" by
| Clown
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Voice role
|-
| 2016
| Lego Dimensions
| Arthur Weasley (voice)
|}
Theme park rides
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 2019
| Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
| Arthur Weasley
| Face capture & voice only (stunt double used in pre-show)
|}
Voice-over
- Power Rangers Operation Overdrive - Big Mouth Monster (episode: "Both Sides Now")
- Merlin - The Goblin (episode: "Goblin's Gold")
- Power Rangers Samurai - Eyescar (episode: "The Rescue")
- Lego Dimensions - Arthur Weasley
- We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Dad
- Early Man - Barry