The bestMichael Sheenmovies and TV shows feature a strong mix of historical dramas and fantasy efforts that prove his versatility as an actor. Sheen is a Welsh actor who got his experience studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. After almost a decade of mostly full-time stage work in London, he devoted more time to movies in the early 2000s. He had minor roles inMary Reilly(1996) andThe Four Feathers(2002) but enjoyed his breakout in the action-horror movieUnderworldin 2003.
That led to his biggest success, as Sheen brought his Tony award-winning acting skills to the world of movies and TV shows. He also succeeded in genre-fare and critically acclaimed releases. He impressed critics with a stage play-like performance inthe Ron Howard movieFrost/Nixonand showed his skills in fantasy when he took on the role of the angelAziraphale in the streaming seriesGood Omens. In recent years, he has returned more to stage work but remains a movie and TV star to watch in any project he takes on.
The Twilight Sagais not high art, but the franchise is a fan favorite. The series follows the romantic relationship between a vampire named Edward (Robert Pattinson) and a human girl named Bella (Kristen Stewart). Out of all the movies, many consider the best to be the last one,The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. This was mostly because there was a lot more action and a jaw-dropping moment in the end where several main characters were brutally killed - albeit with an unexpected twist.
Michael Sheen played a large part in that final battle scene, playing Aro, one of the three leaders of the Volturi, the dominant coven who ruled as the governing members of the vampire world. The final movie was the biggest success at the box office, making $829 million, bringing the franchise total to an impressive $3.3 billion. Even critics were impressed, with it being called the best of the franchise.
In 2019, Michael Sheen joined the cast of the network television procedural seriesProdigal Son. The series stars Tom Payne (Jesus fromThe Walking Dead) as Malcolm Bright, a disgraced former FBI profiler who works for the NYPD.Michael Sheen stars as his father, Martin, who is incarcerated in an asylumafter committing 23 murders as the killer known as The Surgeon. The twist is that Malcolm can see things from the killer’s point of view - which has him worried he will soon fall like his father.
The series splits its time between the cases and the personal relationship between Malcolm and Martin, as the father keeps trying to force his way back into his son’s life.
The series starts with a copycat killer, forcing Malcolm to talk to his father for the first time in 10 years to get his insights to help solve horrible crimes. The series splits its time between the cases and the personal relationship between Malcolm and Martin, as the father keeps trying to force his way back into his son’s life. The series lasted two seasons and 33 episodes and received mixed reviews from critics, with many reviews saying the show would have been better with more Michael Sheen.
The movie that made Michael Sheen a major star in the United States was a horror-action thriller that received mixed to negative reviews, but was a success and created a franchise.Underworldis about a world where vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies. Vampires live in privacy in their large covens, while forcing the werewolves underground to live in packs. Kate Beckinsale plays Selene, a vampire death dealer, whileMichael Sheen plays Lucian, the head of the Lycans, whotakes the battle with the vampires.
I’m A Diehard Underworld Fan & I Think The New Movie Would Actually Work Better Without Kate Beckinsale
With the Underworld director having teased a new movie, it’s the perfect opportunity for a franchise reboot, even without Kate Beckinsale’s Selene.
While Lucian died in this film, Sheen proved so popular as a lead that he returned in 2009 forUnderworld: Rise of the Lycans, a prequel filmthat showed why he became such a sworn enemy of the vampires and how his actions in the first movie proved warranted. He was the star of the latter film, but the first remains the better of the two. His character was one of the franchise’s strongest and helped this remain a popular franchise for years.
Released in 2018,Apostleis an underrated and under-seen horror movie, mostly because it was a Netflix exclusive that flew under the radar. The film stars Dan Stevens (Legion) as Thomas Richardson, a man who travels to a remote Welsh island to rescue his sister, who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. The film shares a lotin common with the brilliant British horror classicThe Wicker Man,with Thomas finding an island full of dangerous people who plan a blood sacrifice to keep the island fertile.
That makes Michael Sheen’s role inApostleequal to the role that Christopher Lee played inThe Wicker Man, that of the head of the cult. In this case, Sheen is Malcolm Howe, the leader of an island cult and the main antagonist. However, unlike that original classic, this movie sees an actual goddess protecting the island, and Malcolm is not the most evil being on the island. Critics praised the film with a 79% Rotten Tomatoes score, while the cast received high praise.
Midnight in Parisis one of Woody Allen’s best late-career films. Owen Wilson stars as Gil Pender, a disillusioned screenwriter vacationing in Paris with his fiancée and her wealthy family. However, one night, as he is walking the streets of Paris, he travels back in time to the 1920s and meets members of the Lost Generation (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dalí, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso). It is there that he tries to finally finish his latest work.
Sheen is only in a supporting role here, but his character is very important when it comes to Gil’s eventual life changes made at the end.
Michael Sheen stars in the movie as Paul Bates, one of Gil’s fiancée’s college friends. He speaks with great authority on French history, but since much of his commentary is inaccurate, Gil finds him irritating. Sheen is only in a supporting role here, but his character is very important when it comes to Gil’s eventual life changes made at the end. The film received four Oscar nominations, winning Allen the award for Best Original Screenplay.
Stephen Frears directed the historical docudramaThe Queenin 2006. The movie depicts the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. The drama here comes when the royal family refuses to treat her death as an official royal death, while Prime Minister Tony Blair and Diana’s ex-husband feel otherwise.Michael Sheen played Tony Blair for the second time, following his role in the television filmThe Deal(and then a third time later inThe Special Relationship). Helen Mirren played Queen Elizabeth II.
The film follows the Prime Minister’s stance as the public demands respect paid to Diana, while the Queen refuses and ignores the public’s plea. Sheen and Mirren play well off each other as two of the most powerful people in the ever-changing country. Critics gave the film overwhelming praise, with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and high praise for Sheen and Mirren. The film received six Oscar nominations, with Mirren winning Best Actress, while Sheen received a BAFTA nomination.
Michael Sheen has starred in a few TV shows over his long career, but one of his most acclaimed was the Showtime seriesMasters of Sex. This series aired from 2013 to 2016 and tells the story of William Masters (Sheen) and Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan),two pioneering researchers of human sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s.This is a true-to-life story, but it is a fictionalized version of their real research and work, stretching from October 1956 to August 1969, ending with their engagement.
Michael Sheen received a Golden Globe nomination in 2014 for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
The series lasted for four seasons and 46 episodes, and it mostly received positive reviews. The third season was a letdown, with a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score, but the first two seasons were rated highly at 90% and 98%, and the final season hit 80% as a rebound. Michael Sheen received a Golden Globe nomination in 2014 for Best Actor in a Drama Series, and the series as a whole earned 11 Primetime Emmy nominations, although it only won one.
In 2009, Michael Sheen took on a rare solo lead role in the soccer sports dramaThe Damned United. In this film,he played Brian Clough during his time as manager of Leeds Unitedin 1974. While this is based on a real person, the film is a fictionalized version of his tenure there, based on the bestselling novel by David Peace. As a fictionalized version, it received a lot of criticism based on historical inaccuracies, and this hurt its performance at the box office.
However, when taken as a film,The Damned Unitedreceived critical acclaim and was praised for its performances and standing as a sports drama. The Rotten Tomatoes score is a high 92%, and Michael Sheen received credit for his “star-turning” performance as Clough, a manager who only lasted 44 days as manager of Leeds before losing his job. Sheen received a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama.
Michael Sheen took on the fan-favorite role as the angel Aziraphale in the Prime Video fantasy seriesGood Omens.This series sees Aziraphale as an angel who has been around since the start of creation(Adam and Eve) and his relationship with a demon named Crowley (David Tennant), who has also been around since the start. They then learn that the bureaucrats in Heaven and Hell want to start the Apocalypse to end the human experiment and get on to the big war they both want.
Good Omens Season 3: Confirmation, Cast, Story & Everything We Know
Crowley and Aziraphale will be back in Good Omens season 3, but there are going to be some major changes going into the final season.
This leads Aziraphale and Crowley to do everything they can to stop this war. The series ran for two seasons and 12 episodes, with the second season dealing with the fallout from the pair’s success. There will be a movie that ends the story. The series was a huge success, earning three Primetime Emmy nominations and a Peabody Award nomination, while Sheen was nominated for a Saturn Award, Tell-Tale TV Award, and an Astra Award.
Michael Sheen spent the first decade of his career perfecting his craft as a stage actor, which made his best movie role no surprise. In 2009, he starred in the Ron Howard movie,Frost/Nixon, which was mostly shot like a stage play on the big screen. In this story,Sheen plays journalist David Frost, who was set to interview disgraced U.S. President Richard Nixonafter the Watergate Scandal. The film mostly played out with what were backroom deals to get the interview pulled off successfully and culminated in the interview itself.
Frank Langella played Richard Nixon, while Rebecca Hall, Kevin Bacon, Toby Jones, Sam Rockwell, and more starred in the impressive supporting cast. The film earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (for Langella). Despite his critically praised performance,Michael Sheendidn’t receive any nominations, but the film ended up with an impressive 93% Rotten Tomatoes score with Sheen and Langella both standing out.
