Michael C. Newsome

Raised in the mining village of Thurcroft, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, Michael had his first taste of acting when he was 11. He played the March Hare in "Alice in Wonderland", a performance which significantly slowed the healing of a recent appendectomy incision! The production also included a young Steve Watts as the Mad Hatter. Watts, a strong early influence on Michael and now an admissions tutor at Cambridge University, would go on to tutor both Sam Mendes and Tom Hollander. Michael received training from both John Bird and Colin George of the Sheffield Crucible Theatre. Alumni of the Crucible Theatre include Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot (2000) and The Hours (2002)) and Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and Topsy-Turvy (1999)). In 1973, at the age of 19, Michael was selected to narrate a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Oxford University Music Press held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank. Michael's fellow performers i