Mark Williams is an English actor, screenwriter and presenter. He is well known for his role as Horace in the 1996 adaptation of 101 Dalmatians and as Arthur Weasley in seven of the Harry Potter films, and as one of the stars of the popular BBCsketch showThe Fast Show. He also played Brian Williams in the BBC series Doctor Who, and Olaf Petersen in Red Dwarf. More recently he has appeared as the title character in the BBC series Father Brown.
Williams made his film début alongside fellow débutants Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs in the Oxford University Film Foundation production Privileged in 1982. His most famous cinema role is as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, which began 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 as 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; he did not return for the show's second series, for which he was replaced by Tim Vine. 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. Aside from his acting work, Williams has also presented several documentary programmes exploring his passion for industrial history: Mark Williams' Big Bangs on the history of explosives, a follow-up to previous series Mark Williams on the Rails, Industrial Revelations and More Industrial Revelations. Interviewed in 2014 by the Lancashire Evening Post, when asked if some people still saw him as a comedy actor, Williams replied, "Well, it's only a few people in the BBC. In America, they see me as a major British character actor, but unfortunately, the BBC is pretty parochial and people are institutionalised here."
Personal life
Williams is married, and has one child with his former wife. Interviewed in the early 21st century, he remained a supporter of Aston Villa F.C. despite living in Brighton, far from the club's ground.
