Stephen Mangan

A popular comic actor on television in his native England, Stephen Mangan played callous young men with highly inflated egos on such popular television series as "Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years" (BBC, 2001), "Green Wing" (Channel 4, 2004-07) and "Episodes" (Showtime/BBC Two, 2011- ). Mangan's dry, witty delivery, always tinged with a palpable element of anxiety, earned numerous fans among TV viewers and critics, and led to a sporadic film career as well as celebrated turns on English and American stages, most notably in a Tony-nominated turn in a 2009 revival of Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquests." In 2010, his improvised comedy feature "Beyond the Pole" (2009), about a well-meaning environmentalist's failed attempt to reach the North Pole, swept international film festivals, and preceded his first American success with "Episodes," a smart, raunchy comedy with Matt LeBlanc spoofing his own image while ruining a sitcom by two British TV writers. The exposure afforded by "Episodes" pointed to a possible stateside career for Mangan's unique talents.