| Martin Kemp |
Kemp playing Steve Owen in EastEnders |
| Birth name |
Martin Kemp |
| Born |
October 10, 1961 (1961-10-10) (age 45)
 Islington, London, England |
| Spouse(s) |
Shirlie Holliman |
Martin John Kemp (born 10 October
1961),
brother of Gary Kemp, is an English actor and former pop
musician. He was born in Islington, London.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Personal
life
- 3 Selected
Filmography
- 4 External
links
|
Career
In the 1980s he and his brother Gary Kemp had a great deal of
success in the New Romantic band Spandau
Ballet. Their most popular album was titled True.
He also performed on the popular 1984 famine relief project song Do They Know It's
Christmas, written by Bob Geldof
and Midge
Ure.
He and his brother Gary branched out into acting in 1990, both of them
appearing in the British film The
Krays in which they played the notorious
gangster twins, Ronald and Reginald Kray. Their
performances received a great deal of critical acclaim.
Since The Krays, Martin Kemp has been in
the public eye more than his brother. He moved to Los
Angeles in the early 1990s and made appearances in television series
such as The Outer Limits
and Highlander.
He also appeared in several Hollywood films such as Waxwork II: Lost in Time
(1992) and Embrace of the Vampire
(1994).
In 1995 he moved back to the UK and after recovering from a
brain tumour he had a guest appearance in the ITV police drama series The Bill.
He went on to became popular for his role as villain Steve Owen
in the BBC's
top soap
opera, EastEnders from 1998 to 2002. His character
was involved in some of the soap's highest rated story lines such as
the Saskia
Duncan murder and Who Shot Phil?. By the time he left
the series, he was one of the best-known faces on British television.
He then switched over to appearing in several television
dramas for ITV
such as The Brides in the Bath
in which he played real-life murderer, George
Smith and Can't Buy Me Love
opposite fellow EastEnders star Michelle
Collins in which he played a man who conned his wife and friends into
believing he had won the lottery. In 2006 he starred in a two-part ITV television
drama thriller Love Lies Bleeding
and made a guest appearance in an episode of the murder
mystery television series Marple.
Martin Kemp is now the face of SCS, a UK home furnishings company. He was
featured on the company's 2006 television advertising campaign and on
their website. He is advertising for them still in 2007 for their
Easter Campaign.
A small budget British Film Back in Business
was released in February 2007 which Martin Kemp also stars in , however
it was a limited release and one month later went straight to DVD due
to the poor reviews.
Personal life
Martin Kemp has been married to Shirlie Holliman since 1988. Holliman is a
former back up singer of the group Wham!
and one-half of the 1980s
pop duo Pepsi and Shirlie. The couple have
a son and daughter together. Martin Kemp is also patron of the UK and
Ireland charity, The Encephalitis Society,
and at the time of becoming patron confirmed that he had controlled epilepsy since
the 1990s, as a result of having two brain
tumours. The Society is the only resource in the world that provides
information globally on the disease and its consequences. Encephalitis
is inflammation of the brain usually as a result of infection or an
inappropriate auto immune response.
Selected Filmography
- Back in Business
(2007) .... Will Spencer
- Love Lies Bleeding
(2006) .... Mark Terry
- Marple
(2006) .... Jackie Afflick
- Can't Buy Me Love
(2004) .... Alan Harris
- Where the Heart Is
(2004) .... Ian Thorpe
- The Brides in the Bath
(2003) .... George Smith
- EastEnders
(1998-2002) ..... Steve Owen
- Sugar Town
(1999) .... Jonesy
- Monk Dawson
(1998) .... David Allenby
- The Bill (1998)
..... Tom Marsh
- Tales from the Crypt
(1996)
- The Outer Limits
(1995) .... Michael Deighton
- Embrace of the Vampire
(1994) .... Vampire
- Highlander
(1993) .... Alfred Cahill
- Aspen Extreme
(1993) .... Franz Hauser
- Waxwork II: Lost in Time
(1992) .... Baron Von Frankenstein
- The Krays (1990)
.... Reggie Kray
External links
