 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Jon Culshaw | |
|---|---|
 Culshaw at the premiere ofMiss Potter in 2006 | |
| Born | Jonathan Peter Culshaw (1968-06-02)2 June 1968 (age 57) Ormskirk,Lancashire, England |
| Notable work |
|
| Comedy career | |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Genres | Impressions,sketch comedy |
Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian andimpressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedyDead Ringers since 2000.
Culshaw has voiced a number of characters forITV shows including2DTV (2001),Spitting Image (1994–96) andNewzoids (2015–2016), as well as appearing inThe Impressions Show alongsideDebra Stephenson from 2009 until 2011.
Culshaw was born on 2 June 1968 inOrmskirk,Lancashire,[1] and educated atSt Bede's Catholic High School[2] andSt John Rigby College,Wigan.
Culshaw's radio career began inhospital radio in Ormskirk. His first job was atRed Rose Radio (now Rock FM) inPreston in 1987, where, even then, he used to occasionally read the weather in the voice ofFrank Bruno. He did voice-over work, then was catapulted to prominence withSpitting Image, where he voiced around forty characters, includingJohn Major in the 1990s, who was then thePrime Minister.
For around four years in the late 1980s, Culshaw was a DJ on commercial radio stationViking FM,[3] based inHull, and also had a breakfast show onPennine Radio (now thePulse of West Yorkshire) andRadio Wave inBlackpool. It was a receptionist at Viking FM who persuaded Culshaw that he should go onstage with his impressions and make it his living. Culshaw later appeared onBBC Radio 2'sIt's Been a Bad Week, appeared as a guest on theBBC TwoStar Trek Night quiz in August 1996, and was also a regular guest on theChris Moyles afternoon show onBBC Radio 1 from 1998 to 2002, where he would phone up commercial organisations such as aKwik-Fit garage in the voice ofPatrick Moore orObi-Wan Kenobi politely requesting whether they could service hisX-wing fighter and how much time it would take.[citation needed]
Culshaw rose to fame in January 1998 while working withSteve Penk onCapital Radio, by impersonatingWilliam Hague and succeeding in contactingNumber 10 Downing Street. He was put through toTony Blair who, despite instantly discovering the ruse, had a lengthy conversation with him until a member of Blair's staff ended the call.[4]
Culshaw was one of the stars of theBBC Radio 4 comedy seriesDead Ringers, which ran from 2000 to 2007 as well as theBBC Two television series of the same name, from 2002 until 2007. The radio series ofDead Ringers made a return toBBC Radio 4 in 2014.
In 2018, Culshaw gave a rare dramatic performance asDavid Bowie in the BBC radio playThe Final Take: Bowie in the Studio, an imagined account of Bowie as he works onhis final album and looks back over his life.[5]
Between 2001 and 2002, Culshaw hosted a programme onITV calledAlter Ego, where he interviewed male celebrities in their own style of speaking, a form of simultaneous translation. Culshaw also appeared on2DTV, a cartoon version ofDead Ringers. In early 2004, using the same production team, he had his own programme,The Impressionable Jon Culshaw commissioned forITV.
In 2005, Culshaw was a celebrity contestant onComic Relief Does Fame Academy and was the fourth person to become eliminated. In the same year, he also appeared in the BBC General Election coverage, in the guises ofTony Blair andGeorge W. Bush. In January 2006, Culshaw presented one series of theBBC programmeJon Culshaw's Commercial Breakdown. In November 2007 and December 2008, Culshaw, a keenamateur astronomer, appeared onThe Sky at Night impersonating a youngSir Patrick Moore. In March 2011, he appeared again on the 700th episode ofThe Sky at Night, reading viewer questions to the panel of experts. Culshaw later appeared two months later reporting on theNorthern Lights.
In January 2008, he appeared onBig Brother: Celebrity Hijack, as part of apub-quiz team withChris Moyles. In May 2008, Culshaw appeared in theBBC documentary seriesComedy Map of Britain.
From 2009 until 2011, Culshaw starred in theBBC One comedy sketch showThe Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson alongsideDebra Stephenson.
On 13 March, 2010, Culshaw was a guest judge on theBBC One charity programmeLet's Dance for Comic Relief. In 2013, he appeared as a contestant on the show, where he performed a routine to "Praise You" byFatboy Slim. However, he was eliminated by the public vote.[6][7]
In 2010, Culshaw appeared in the television series,Missing as Des Martin. In November 2013, Culshaw appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homageThe Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[8]
In 2015, he has voiced a number of characters alongsideDebra Stephenson for theITV sketch showNewzoids. A second series aired in 2016.[9][10][11]
In 2017, Culshaw was one of the minor hosts of theChannel 5 documentary seriesSecrets of the National Trust.[12] In February 2021, Culshaw appeared onCelebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was "Doctor Who – the Jon Pertwee Years".[citation needed]
In 2021, Culshaw appeared as a guest onCelebrity Yorkshire Auction House, series 1 episode 2. He entertained the auction company's staff when they collected his sale items, and the buyers that attended the auction. He also donated all of the proceeds of the sale to charity.[citation needed]
Until 2023, Culshaw narrated the Channel 4 property seriesSun, Sea, and Selling Houses.[citation needed]
In film, Culshaw appeared asTony Blair in the 2004 filmChurchill: The Hollywood Years and voiced Piston Pete in the 2008 filmAgent Crush.
Some of Culshaw's most famous impressions include former British Prime MinistersTony Blair andBoris Johnson,Obi-Wan Kenobi (as portrayed byAlec Guinness),Russell Crowe, PresidentsGeorge W. Bush andDonald Trump,Ozzy Osbourne, comedianMichael McIntyre, presenterDale Winton, newsreaderBrian Perkins,Sir Patrick Moore,Tom Baker andLes Dawson.
| This section of abiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Jon Culshaw" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Culshaw has appeared in numerousDoctor Who related productions in various roles. This first came to fruition with his impersonation ofTom Baker'sFourth Doctor for both the TV and radio versions ofDead Ringers.
He has also appeared in the webcast "Death Comes to Time" and audio dramaThe Kingmaker forBig Finish Productions. In the latter, he got to perform his Tom Baker impression "for real" (voicing tape recordings of theFourth Doctor), although his nominal part was that ofEarl Rivers. In 2019, he appeared in a trilogy of Doctor Who audio dramas alongsideFifth DoctorPeter Davison, playing the shape-shifting androidKamelion. He later started playingBrigadier Lethbridge Stewart alongsideTim Treloar as theThird Doctor. He has also started playing incarnations of the Master as portrayed by the lateRoger Delgado andAnthony Ainley. He will also portray theTwelfth Doctor in an upcoming audio drama titledDoctor Who – Halloween: Sea Smoke and Other Stories.[13]
In 2006, Culshaw received anhonorary fellowship from theUniversity of Central Lancashire inPreston.[14] In December 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate byEdge Hill University.[15] In July 2013 he was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Laws degree from theUniversity of Leicester.[16] In March 2019, Culshaw sat for British impressionist artist Sherree Valentine-Daines for a portrait painted to mark the opening of the Clarendon Fine Art Gallery in Hampstead, London.[17]
Culshaw is a celebrity ambassador for the charity Trekstock.[18]
Culshaw also supportsthe Starlight Children's Foundation.[19][20]
Culshaw regularly presents GoldDuke of Edinburgh's Awards as part of his support for the charity.[21]
In 2016 he participated in theGreat North Run to raise funds for the Jon Egging Trust, a charity set up in memory of theRed Arrowsflight lieutenant who died while flying at the Red Arrows Display at theBournemouth Air Festival.[22]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Churchill: The Hollywood Years | Tony Blair |
| 2008 | Agent Crush | Piston Pete (voice) |
| 2019 | The Queen's Corgi | President Donald Trump / Bernard St. Bernard (voices) |
| Year | Title | Role | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–1996 | Spitting Image | Various voices | ITV |
| 2001 | Alter Ego | Starring | ITV |
| 2DTV | Voice | ITV | |
| 2002 | Room 101 | Patrick Moore | BBC Two |
| 2002–2009 | Dead Ringers | Starring | BBC Two |
| 2004 | The Impressionable Jon Culshaw | Starring | ITV |
| Little Britain, Series 2 Episode 5 | Andrew Lloyd Webber | BBC Three | |
| 2006 | The Slammer | Guest | BBC One |
| The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 | Guest | Channel 4 | |
| 2007 | The Sky at Night | YoungPatrick Moore | BBC One |
| Red Nose Day 2007 | Various | BBC One | |
| Kombat Opera Presents | Guest | BBC Two | |
| 2008 | Headcases | Voice | ITV |
| 2008-2014 | Horrible Histories (2009 TV series) | Various characters | CBBC /BBC One |
| 2009–2011 | The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson | Starring | BBC One |
| 2013 | Let's Dance for Comic Relief | Contestant | BBC One |
| The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | Tom Baker (voice) | BBC Red Button | |
| 2015_ | Horrible Histories (2015 TV series) | Various characters | CBBC /BBC One |
| 2015–2016 | Newzoids | Various voices | ITV |
| 2017 | Secrets of the National Trust | Co-presenter | Channel 5 |
| 2017-2023 | Sun, Sea and Selling Houses | Narrator | Channel 4 |
| 2023 | Partygate | Boris Johnson | Channel 4 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
