AllMovie

British actor Steve Pemberton first made his mark as a regular player on what was -- even by the standards of English comedy -- certainly one of the strangest sitcoms to run in the U.K. during the late '90s and early 2000s. The League of Gentlemen unfurled in the eccentric English hamlet of Royston Vasey, where countless cruel absurdities and bizarre situations transpired. The program required Pemberton and his co-stars, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss, to each play a varied number of roles, à la Monty Python or Kids in the Hall; it lasted for several seasons and clocked in as a considerable hit, making British audiences fully aware not only of Pemberton's presence, but of his apparent fearlessness as an actor. As if underscoring his own versatility, Pemberton concurrently performed in straight-faced dramas as well, such as the 2004 Churchill: The Hollywood Years, the 2005 Lassie (as Eddie Hynes), and, most visibly, Woody Allen's cutthroat British drama Match Point, as a detective. In 2007, Pemberton hearkened back to breezy English comedy with his neat comic turn as a vicar in Mr. Bean's Holiday.