Marcus Bentley

Marcus Bentley
Marcus Bentley
Born	Marcus Morgan Bentley; October 4, 1967 (age 57); Middlesbrough, England
Nationality	British
Education	East 15 Acting School
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice-over artist, media personality, broadcaster, continuity announcer
Years active	1990s–present
Employer(s)	Channel 4 (2000–11); Channel 5 (2011–present)
Television	Big Brother
Spouse	Jools (1997–present)

Marcus Morgan Bentley (born 4 October 1967) is a British actor, broadcaster and voice-over artist. Bentley is most famous for narrating the United Kingdom's version of the Dutch reality television programme Big Brother since its inception in 2000. He also did other continuity announcements for Channel 4 until he left in July 2011 to continue narrating the revived Big Brother on Channel 5. Bentley's voice-over work and extremely strong Geordie accent has led to him becoming one of Britain's most recognised voices.

Bentley has also appeared on stage and in The Bill and London's Burning. Although he rarely makes public appearances, his public profile has been raised since Big Brother's revival on Channel 5.

Early life

Bentley was born in Middlesbrough, and was brought up in Stockton-on-Tees. He attended East 15 Acting School.

Big Brother

Bentley was selected as the narrator of the Channel 4 (now Channel 5) Reality Television programme Big Brother, which originated in the Netherlands, and this remains his best-known work. The producers of Big Brother gave him the job of narrator because they liked the way he said "Chickens".^[1] His most notable catchphrase is "Day [x] (in the Big Brother house...)". Bentley has narrated all seventeen series of the show to date, as well as the spin-off shows Celebrity Big Brother, Teen Big Brother, Celebrity Hijack and Ultimate Big Brother.

Other work

Before Big Brother, Bentley starred in several TV adaptations of Catherine Cookson's novels where he honed his now familiar Geordie accent. He also starred in several TV commercials as well as minor parts in feature films, such as Mad Dogs and Englishmen, which starred Joss Ackland, C. Thomas Howell, and Elizabeth Hurley.

Aside from Big Brother, Bentley could be heard on Channel 4 as a continuity announcer until he resigned after ten years, when he reprised his Big Brother narrator role on the revived Channel 5 series.

Another of Bentley's roles is the unseen question master on Sky One quiz show, Dirty Money.

Channel 5

In December 2011, Bentley began doing continuity links on Channel 5, complementing his role as narrator of Big Brother on the same channel.

Personal life

Marcus grew up in Middlesbrough and he is married to Jools. They have 3 children together, and live in Kent in the UK.

References

^ Gareth McLean. "The voice of Big Brother". the Guardian.

External links

[1] Gareth McLean. "The voice of Big Brother". the Guardian.

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