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Early life

Smiley was born in 1963 in Belfast and grew up in Holywood with an older brother and sister.¹² He was raised Catholic.³

He moved to London with his first wife in 1983. He began doing stand-up in 1993, after accepting a bet at an open-mic night.⁴ He had worked as a cycle courier, like his character in Spaced, and as an acid house DJ.⁵

Career

He became well known for his role as Tyres O'Flaherty, the bicycle riding raver, in two episodes of the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, and for his appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Melbourne Comedy Festival.⁶ He played Mac, a former member of the British Army's Parachute Regiment in the 2008 horror film Outpost and as a zombie in Shaun of the Dead.

In 2003, he guest starred in the Doctor Who audio drama Creatures of Beauty. In 2004 he appeared in season 2, episode 4 of Hustle as Max the forger.⁷ He also was a small character in episode 2 "The Model" of 15 Storeys High.

He has appeared in all three series of The Maltby Collection on Radio 4 as Des Wainwright, an eccentric security guard who keeps repeating himself and reminding people he was in the SAS. He plays the part of Benny "Deadhead" Silver in the BBC drama series Luther. In 2010, he had a major role in the film Burke & Hare alongside his Spaced co-stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes.

In 2011, he starred in British horror film Kill List. The film received critical acclaim, and earned him the "Best Supporting Actor" Award at the 2011 British Independent Film Awards.⁸

In 2013, he has appeared in an episode of BBC One's Ripper Street as George Lusk, and the critically acclaimed Channel 4 shows Utopia as Detective Reynolds and Black Mirror in the episode "White Bear" as Baxter. He also starred in A Field in England as the main antagonist, the alchemist O'Neill. He also played Roddy in Father Figure. In November 2013 he appeared in the third episode of the BBC Two Mitchell and Webb comedy Ambassadors as Mr Jackson. In 2014, he played Micky Murray in BBC Four's The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.⁹

To coincide with the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia in May 2014, Michael Smiley: Something to Ride Home About was a travelog programme for BBC Northern Ireland, directed by George Kane, featuring Smiley cycling around Northern Ireland and meeting local people.¹⁰¹¹¹² A second series was commissioned for 2015.¹³

In 2014 Smiley played Colonel Morgan Blue in the Doctor Who episode "Into the Dalek".¹⁴

He also had a major role in British crime series Luther acting as “Deadhead” Benny Silver from 2010 until 2019.

In 2019, Smiley co-starred with Elijah Wood and Martin Donovan in the film Come to Daddy directed by Ant Timpson.¹⁵

In 2020, he starred in Dead Still, a six-part Irish-Canadian television drama series, alongside Eileen O'Higgins & Kerr Logan. It premiered on May 18, 2020 on Acorn TV and May 15, 2020 Citytv.¹⁶ The series is a co-production between Ireland's Deadpan Pictures and Canada's Shaftesbury Films and is written by John Morton, and directed by Imogen Murphy and Craig David Wallace.¹⁷¹⁸

In 2021, Smiley appeared in the lead role in The Toll, a Welsh black comedy film later released in the United States with the title Tollbooth.

Personal life

Smiley has been married twice and has four children: two with his first wife and childhood sweetheart Merilees, and two with his second wife, journalist/broadcaster Miranda Sawyer.¹⁹ He resides near Brockwell Park in Herne Hill, London.²⁰

He shared a flat with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the 1990s.²¹ He is an avid cyclist.²²

Filmography

Television

Films

Radio

External links

• Michael Smiley at IMDb

References

1. "BBC One - Monumental - Michael Simley". BBC One. Retrieved 18 August 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qb0qx/profiles/michael-smiley ↩

2. "Michael Smiley: 'I'm an overnight success after 20 years!'". Belfast Telegraph. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/michael-smiley-im-an-overnight-success-after-20-years-30202335.html ↩

3. Nolan, Larissa. "Michael Smiley: My Holywood love story had hardship and a happy ending". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 4 June 2021. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/michael-smiley-my-holywood-love-story-had-hardship-and-a-happy-ending-c0kpkcw7k ↩

4. "Michael Smiley: 'I'm an overnight success after 20 years!'". Belfast Telegraph. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/michael-smiley-im-an-overnight-success-after-20-years-30202335.html ↩

5. "Living the life of Smiley". BBC News. 10 August 1998. Retrieved 18 August 2013. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/edinburgh_festival/146739.stm ↩

6. "Living the life of Smiley". BBC News. 10 August 1998. Retrieved 18 August 2013. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/edinburgh_festival/146739.stm ↩

7. "Hustle - what time is it on TV? Episode 4 Series 2 cast list and preview". RadioTimes. Retrieved 10 September 2016. http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/dvf7q/hustle--s2-e4-missions ↩

8. Exley, Gemma (5 December 2012). "British Independent Film Awards 2011: Fassbender, Ramsey & Sophie from Peep Show win". Holy Moly. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20140103231328/http://www.holymoly.com/film-dvd/pictures/british-independent-film-awards-2011-fassbender-ramsey-sophie-peep-show-win60714 ↩

9. "BBC Four - Brian Pern, the Life of Rock with Brian Pern, Birth of Rock". https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03v0svc ↩

10. "'Michael Smiley: Something To Ride Home About' Gets Second Series". Irish Film and Television Network. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014. http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&aid=73&force=1&only=1&rid=4287457&tpl=archnews ↩

11. Jarlath Regan (14 October 2013). "Michael Smiley". An Irishman Abroad (Podcast) (7 ed.). SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014. /wiki/Jarlath_Regan ↩

12. Jarlath Regan (11 June 2014). "George Kane". An Irishman Abroad (Podcast) (56 ed.). SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014. /wiki/Jarlath_Regan ↩

13. "'Michael Smiley: Something To Ride Home About' Gets Second Series". Irish Film and Television Network. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014. http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&aid=73&force=1&only=1&rid=4287457&tpl=archnews ↩

14. Mulkern, Patrick (30 August 2014). "Into the Dalek ****". Radio Times. London, UK. Retrieved 30 August 2014. http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2014-08-30/into-the-dalek ↩

15. Come to Daddy Review by Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, February 6, 2020. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/come-daddy-1277024 ↩

16. Yeo, Debra (15 May 2020). "He shoots dead people: Acorn TV's delightful 'Dead Still' blends the macabre art of post-mortem photography with period mystery". Toronto Star. Retrieved 30 May 2020. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2020/05/15/he-shoots-dead-people-acorn-tvs-delightful-dead-still-blends-the-macabre-art-of-post-mortem-photography-with-period-mystery.html ↩

17. Clarke, Stewart (30 May 2020). "Acorn TV, Ireland's RTE Team for Morbidly Comic Drama 'Dead Still'". Variety. Retrieved 30 May 2020. https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/acorn-rte-dead-still-drama-comedy-michael-smiley-kerr-logan-1203228886/ ↩

18. Keller, Joel (18 May 2020). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Dead Still' On Acorn TV, Where A Memorial Photographer Looks Into Murders In Victorian Dublin". Decider. Retrieved 30 May 2020. https://decider.com/2020/05/18/dead-still-acorn-tv-stream-it-or-skip-it/ ↩

19. "Michael Smiley: 'I'm an overnight success after 20 years!'". Belfast Telegraph. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/michael-smiley-im-an-overnight-success-after-20-years-30202335.html ↩

20. Tyler, Simon (7 June 2013). "Miranda Sawyer Interview". Not a Bad Dad. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130928184832/http://www.notabaddad.com/2013/06/miranda-sawyer-interview/ ↩

21. Marsh, Hannah. "Welcome to the bonkers world of Michael Smiley". The Echo. Basildon. Retrieved 18 August 2013. http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9103419.welcome-to-the-bonkers-world-of-michael-smiley/ ↩

22. "Michael Smiley: 'I'm an overnight success after 20 years!'". Belfast Telegraph. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/michael-smiley-im-an-overnight-success-after-20-years-30202335.html ↩

23. "Bookworm". New Zealand Film Commission. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024. https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/bookworm ↩