Matthew Holness
Known For
Acting
Born
in Whitstable, Kent, England
Biography
Born in Whitstable, Kent in 1975, Matthew Holness is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is best known for his comic creation, the fictional horror novelist Garth Marenghi. He read English at Trinity College, Cambridge and was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights. His contemporaries included Footlights president, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman and his Marenghi co-writer Richard Ayoade. Holness first appeared on television as a cast-member of the 2000 BBC Choice TV series Bruiser, which starred Mitchell, Webb, Colman and Martin Freeman. In that same year he won the Perrier at the Edinburgh Fringe for Garty Marenghi's Fright Night, which was transferred to UK television in the guise of the 2004 Channel 4 horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Other credits include 2006's Man to Man with Dean Learner, several productions with Ricky Gervais such as The Office, Life's Too Short and Cemetery Junction, and the 2017 Channel 4 sitcom Back which starred Mitchell and Webb. In 2018 he made his feature length directorial debut with the film Possum, having previously helmed short films The Snipist and A Gun For George.
Most Known For
The Office
as Simon
The Haunting of Bly Manor
as Dominic Wingrave
The Russell Howard Hour
as Garth Marenghi
Friday Night Dinner
as Chris Parker
Toast of London
as Max Gland
Toast of Tinseltown
as Richard Chickentoss
We Are Lady Parts
as Gameshow host
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
as Garth Marenghi / Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.
Year of the Rabbit
as Hector, Crown Prince of Bulgaria
Back
as Laurie
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Garth Marenghi
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Steve Pising
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Glynn Nimron
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Merriman Weir
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Amir Chanan
Man to Man with Dean Learner
as Randolph Caer / Garth Marenghi / Glynn Nimron / Steve Pising / Amir Chanan
Life's Too Short
as Ian
Free Agents
Bruiser
Cemetery Junction
as Band Leader