On this date in 1974, entertainer Matthew Richard Lucas was born in London to Diana (née Williams) and John Lucas, who owned a chauffeuring business. Some of his mother’s family fled Nazi Germany. Alopecia caused the loss of all his hair at age 6. His father died of a heart attack at age 52 when Lucas was 22.
Lucas attended the same boys school as comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, then studied at the University of Bristol (1993-95) and spent time with the National Youth Theatre. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series “Rock Profile” (1999–2000, 2009), “Little Britain” (2003–07, 2020) and “Come Fly With Me” (2010–11).
He played Nardole in the BBC series “Doctor Who” (2015–2017) and appeared in the films “The Infidel” (2010), “Alice in Wonderland” (2010), “Bridesmaids” (2011) and “Small Apartments” (2012). In 2020 he became co-presenter with Noel Fielding of “The Great British Bake Off,” which debuted in 2010.
His memoir Little Me was published in 2017. During the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, his song “Baked Potato” was the No. 1 British iTunes download and raised over £1 million for food banks. He reprised the role of Monsieur Thénardier in the concert version of “Les Misérables” at the Sondheim Theatre in late 2020.
Lucas is gay and began a civil partnership in 2006 with a ceremony attended by Elton John and Courtney Love. They dissolved their partnership two years later. From 2012-15, Lucas lived with his “Bridesmaids” co-star Rebel Wilson, an Australian actress, in West Hollywood, Calif.
He calls himself “a fairly secular Jew” and an atheist. He believes “people should be free to practice their religion if it doesn’t hurt others.” (Twitter, Aug. 6, 2018)
PHOTO: Lucas at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International; Gage Skidmore photo under CC 3.0.
