Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s and made notable stage appearances in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool With Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997), and Henry V (1997). His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse.
Sheen has become better known as a screen actor since the 2000s, in particular through his roles in various biographical films. With writer Peter Morgan, he has starred in a trilogy of films as British politician Tony Blair: the television film The Deal in 2003, followed by The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010). For playing Blair, he was nominated for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy. He was also nominated for a BAFTA as the troubled comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's 2006 Fantabulosa!, and was nominated for a fourth Olivier Award in 2006 for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon, a role he revisited in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. He also starred as the controversial football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United (2009).