Reeson Wayne "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor, writer and comedian. He created, wrote and starred in sketch show The League of Gentlemen, along with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. He and Pemberton also created, wrote and starred in the dark comedy series Psychoville. The pair currently write and star in their anthology series The League of Gentlemen, Psychoville and Inside No. 9, Shearsmith plays multiple characters. He had notable roles in Spaced, The World's End and the Doctor Who episode Sleep No More, as well as making a small appearance in Shaun of the Dead.
The League of Gentlemen began as a stage act in 1995, transferred to Radio 4 as On the Town with The League of Gentlemen in 1997 and then arrived on television on BBC Two in 1999. The latter saw Shearsmith and his colleagues awarded a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux. Following The League of Gentlemen, Shearsmith appeared in comedy programmes including Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere as well as playing insane villain Tony in the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer comedy Catterick. He appeared in two episodes of the award-winning pop-culture comedy Spaced as Robot Wars obsessed TA soldier Dexter and played neurotic Doctor Flynn in hospital sitcom TLC alongside Alexander Armstrong. From March 2006 to January 2007, he appeared in the West End as Leo Bloom in The Producers. In the 2008 English language DVD release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy, Shearsmith voiced the character of "Ante", a heavy-set, bizarrely-dressed biker member of the "Lappish Mafia". In this, his voice is used along with Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss. Psychoville began June 2009 and marked his return to BBC2. The dark comedy series was written by Shearsmith and his League of Gentlemen writing partner Steve Pemberton. Both Shearsmith and Pemberton played numerous characters in the programme, which ran for two series and a Halloween special. In 2010 Shearsmith appeared in the John Landis black comedy Burke and Hare In 2011, Cameron Mackintosh's new musical Betty Blue Eyes opened in the West End, in which Shearsmith played downtrodden husband Gilbert Chilvers alongside Sarah Lancashire. Also in 2011, he played Harry Wiseman in Eric & Ernie, a feature-length TV drama about Morecambe and Wise. In 2012, he appeared in Bad Sugar, a comedy pilot written by Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong, along with Olivia Colman, Julia Davis and Sharon Horgan. A full series order was cancelled due to availability of the writers and cast. He also appeared in comedy pilot The Function Room. In 2013, he played Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time, a docu-drama about the conception and making of Doctor Who, which was written by Mark Gatiss. He worked with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer again in the first series of House of Fools as Martin the ghost and in the Christmas special as Santa. He made two guest appearances in Jeremy Dyson's Psychobitches as Old Mother Shipton in series one and Princess Margaret in series two. Also in 2013, he starred in Ben Wheatley's A Field in England as Whitehead and appeared in The World's End. In 2014, Shearsmith and Pemberton returned to BBC2 with a new dark comedy series called Inside No. 9. Each episode of the anthology series takes place in a different 'No. 9' location. Shearsmith and Pemberton play various characters in the series and have also directed two of the episodes. Also in 2014, he starred as Malcolm Webster in ITV drama series, based on a true story, The Widower. He starred as Detective Sergeant Stone in Chasing Shadows, an ITV drama series about missing persons. In 2015, he played Gagan Rassmussen in the Series 9 Doctor Who episode "Sleep No More", Steele in High-Rise directed by Ben Wheatley, Ray in Peter Kay's Car Share and Pastor John in the Christmas specials of Julia Davis's Hunderby. In February 2015, Shearsmith was interviewed by Adam Buxton on BBC Radio 4's Chain Reaction and he then interviewed Bob Mortimer. He appeared in Hangmen at the Royal Court Theatre from Thursday 10 September to Saturday 10 October 2015. In 2016, he appeared in Mid Morning Matters With Alan Partridge, American musical comedy series Galavant and dark comedy thriller Stag. He appeared live at Latitude Festival in Southwold, Suffolk. A Christmas special of Inside No. 9 aired in December 2016 and a third series in 2017. In 2017, he appeared in the title role in The Dresser at the Chichester Festival Theatre, as well as reuniting with The League of Gentlemen for three television specials, transmitted on BBC2 in December 2017. Shearsmith appeared as himself in the 2018 short film To Trend on Twitter in aid of young people with cancer charity CLIC Sargent with fellow comedians David Baddiel, Steve Pemberton, Helen Lederer and actor Jason Flemyng. In 2020, he received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as The President and Jon in A Very Expensive Poison at The Old Vic.
Personal life
Reece is married to Jane Shearsmith, and they have two children together. His daughter Holly appears in the first episode of Psychoville as the birthday girl who gets a makeover from Mr Jelly the clown, played by Shearsmith.
