Anyone who has seen a Michael Sheen role won’t have been the slightest bit surprised that he had such a stirring monologue in him. Michael Sheen recently went viral for an epic pre-match speech to the Welsh football team on A League of Their Own, so much so that he was actually invited to address the Welsh World Cup squad in person.
The actor possesses a wide range, charisma, and a remarkable aptitude for emulating the traits of actual people without using mimicry. He’s also obviously up for anything, as seen by the revelation that he’ll be portraying Coleen Rooney’s attorney in the recently announced courtroom drama Vardy v. Rooney on Channel 4. Here are some of Sheen’s best on-screen appearances, in our opinion:
Quiz
Sheen has always been unsurpassed in his ability to represent real-life individuals in a terrifyingly precise manner, and his portrayal of Chris Tarrant in this ITV drama on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? the cheating scandal is the pinnacle of his skill in this regard.
It’s simple to spend the entire three episodes so enthralled by Sheen’s brilliance that you completely forget about Matthew Macfadyen’s coughing Major. Uncanny to the point of actual witchcraft.
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The Damned United
When Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Stephen Graham, and other legendary actors are in a movie with you, you might think it would be difficult to stand out, yet Sheen offers one of his best performances as controversial football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United.
We explore the story of Clough’s turbulent 44-day tenure as manager of Leeds United in 1974, which includes, as you can see above, a pre-match talk that doesn’t quite have the same charm as his recent one. This is another excellent example of capturing the essence of a well-known personality.
Good Omens
In this film adaptation of the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett book, something genuinely wonderful occurred when Sheen and Tennant met.
Frost/Nixon
The all-star cast of Good Omens, which also stars Miranda Richardson, Jon Hamm, Daniel Mays, and Anna Maxwell Martin, is a comedic treat, but the show’s outstanding chemistry between Michael Sheen and David Tennant as angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley is its true USP. Interested in season two news? Learn more about the Good OmensNY Comic-Con panel in our report.
Staged
In a razor-sharp portrayal of the historic 1977 interviews, Sheen plays iconic broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon, a job he once again pulls off with astounding realism and without resorting to mimicry.
Due to his co-star Frank Langella’s outstanding portrayal of President Nixon, Sheen rather criminally failed to receive any significant Best Actor nominations for this, one of his greatest performances (Langella was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe).
Twilight: New Moon
The global epidemic has one benefit, and that is Staged. In this satirical lockdown comedy, David Tennant and Michael Sheen reunited as an epic double-act, playing self-mocking fictional versions of themselves as they practice a play over Zoom.
It’s a rare chance to witness them acting alongside Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg, their real-life wives, who deftly and humorously handle their husbands’ pliable egos and immature quarreling. Amazing appearances by stars like Whoopi Goldberg, Judi Dench, and Samuel L. Jackson are also included.
30 Rock
Michael Sheen’s involvement in the Twilight films may seem a bit out of the left field, but the actor is versatile. He portrays Aro, the chief of a long-ago vampire coven in Italy.
His part may not be the most substantial of his career, but it demonstrates that he can play characters from almost any genre, including those in a vampire-themed fantasy romance that is mostly geared at adolescent girls. He gets to deliver a rather passionate speech once more.
The Queen
Over the course of four episodes, Wesley Snipes plays one of Liz Lemon’s misguided love interests in a deliciously ludicrous (and funny-named) role. You’d think Wesley would be utterly unlikeable—deeply he’s grating, contradictory, and full of contempt for Liz—but the couple’s hilarious back-and-forth is immensely entertaining, and Sheen plays his part to comic perfection.
Watch it for Liz alone’s flawless delivery of the words “I can’t endure through the London Olympics we’re not prepared.”
Passengers
https://youtu.be/1v-OdpxRZp4
Three times in his career, Michael Sheen has played former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The first was in the film The Deal, and the most recent was in the TV film The Special Relationship, but The Queen is where he is best renowned for and possibly gives the greatest Blair representation.
Close your eyes and you won’t have any trouble thinking you’re listening to the genuine thing, but please don’t do it because you’ll miss out on his spot-on and frequently quite humorous facial expressions and bodily tics.
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Masters of Sex
Sheen plays Arthur, an elegant and knowledgeable robotic bartender, in this sci-fi romance film starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence.
See also:
Sheen is a scene-stealing highlight whenever he appears on screen, even though Passengers may not have been a smash with the reviewers.
Sheen received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series for his depiction of Dr. William Masters in this American historical drama. Master of Sex, which was frequently as seductive as its name suggests and ran for four seasons before being canceled in 2016, told the partially real stories of two pioneering studies of human sexuality in the 1950s.
Sheen and Lizzie Caplan are co-stars in the film, and the two have fantastic chemistry. And sure, Michael Sheen gets to deliver another impressive speech, as you can see in the clip above.
Prodigal Son: For Sheen, portraying a creepily endearing serial killer is a novel role. He does so with panache as Dr. Martin Whitley, adding disarming humor to the two seasons of this thriller.
The Good Fight: Sheen shines as an outlandish, no-filter lawyer who is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. Roland Blum is a riot of a character. Sheen plays Lucian, the Lycans’ leader, in the action-horror movie Underworld. He also appeared in the prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.