Early life

McNeice was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire. His acting training started at the Taunton School in Somerset, followed by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and two years at the Salisbury Playhouse. The next few years were spent in theatre, including a four-year career with the Royal Shakespeare Company and a production of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway.

Career

McNeice's television breakthrough was as Harcourt in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He played the alcoholic sous chef Gustave LaRoche on the television series Chef!, and went on to appear in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune as the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, a role he later reprised for the 2003 sequel Children of Dune. His television appearances have included all seven series of Doc Martin, in which he plays Bert Large, as well as the third episode of the second series of Lewis. He appears as the Newsreader in the HBO/BBC production Rome.

McNeice has also appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell, and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. His breakthrough into American films occurred when he played Fulton Greenwall in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). He played the Nazi Gerhard Klopfer in the 2001 BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy. Since then, he has been in Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and the 2005 supernatural thriller White Noise. He also appeared as Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

McNeice gave his distinctive voice and accent to voice-acting roles like the Vogon character Kwaltz, director of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, in the 2005 film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2007, he made his Doctor Who debut when he guest-starred as villain Zeus in the Big Finish BBC Digital Radio 7 drama Immortal Beloved. He had a cameo role as Joachim von Kortzfleisch, a German general who refused to put his troops under the command of officers plotting to depose Hitler's government, in Valkyrie.

McNeice was initially cast in the role of Illyrio Mopatis in the HBO pilot of Game of Thrones, but because of scheduling conflicts the role was then given to Roger Allam. McNeice appeared as Winston Churchill in four episodes of Doctor Who in 2010 and 2011; he had previously played Churchill in the 2008 premiere production of the Howard Brenton play Never So Good, and later played him again in the 2012 stage version of The King's Speech.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, TheThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Wackford Squeers / Scaley / Croupier	TV series
1983	The Cleopatras	Alexander	TV series
1983	Voice Over	"Fats" Bannerman
1984	Minder	Eric Morgan	Episode: "Rocky Eight and a Half"
1984	Top Secret!	Blind souvenir salesman
1985	Edge of Darkness	Harcourt	TV Mini-Series
1987	84 Charing Cross Road	Bill Humphries
1987	Personal Services	Harry
1987	Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, TheThe Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	Bernard Rice
1987	A Perfect Spy	Sefton Boyd
1988	Whoops Apocalypse	Thrush
1988	Raggedy Rawney, TheThe Raggedy Rawney	Farmer
1989	Valmont	Azolan
1989	Around the World in 80 Days	Batcular	TV Mini-Series
1990	Russia House, TheThe Russia House	Merrydew
1990	1871	Prince of Wales
1991	Secret Friends	Businessman
1992	B & B	Horace Gilbert
1992	Year of the Comet	Ian
1992	Ungentlemanly Act, AnAn Ungentlemanly Act	Dick Baker	TV film
1992	Blackheath Poisonings, TheThe Blackheath Poisonings	George Collard	TV film
1993	Age of Treason	Casca	TV film
1993	Don't Leave Me This Way	Oscar Ghilardi
1994	No Escape	King
1995	Funny Bones	Stanley Sharkey
1995	Pie in the Sky	Mr Wilkes
1995	Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, TheThe Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain	George Garrad
1995	Sharpe's Battle	Wagonmaster-General Colonel Runciman	TV film
1995	Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls	Fulton Greenwall
1996	Chef!	Gustave LaRoche	TV series
1996	Cadfael : The Devil's Novice	Canon Eluard	TV series
1997	Beautician and the Beast, TheThe Beautician and the Beast	Iva Grushinsky
1997	Life Less Ordinary, AA Life Less Ordinary	Mayhew
1998	How to Make the Cruelest Month	Peggy Asks
1998	Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant	Mr. Tapling	TV film
1999	Auteur Theory, TheThe Auteur Theory	Sir Maximilian Fair Brown
1999	Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat	Potiphar
1999	Cherry Orchard, TheThe Cherry Orchard	Pishchik
1999	Christmas Carol, AA Christmas Carol	Fezziwig	TV film
1999	David Copperfield	Mr. Dick	TV film
2000	Longitude	Doctor	TV series
2000	Frank Herbert's Dune	Baron Vladimir Harkonnen	TV miniseries
2000	Sleeper, TheThe Sleeper	Mr. Tarburck	TV film
2000	The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz	Inspector
2001	Anazapta	Bishop
2001	Body, TheThe Body	Dr. Sproul
2001	Conspiracy	Dr. Gerhard Klopfer	TV film
2001	From Hell	Dr. Robert Drudge
2001	Town & Country	Peter Principal
2001	Fourth Angel, TheThe Fourth Angel	MI5 officer
2002	Amnèsia	Doug Chandler
2002	Man and Boy	Nigel Batty
2002	Final Curtain, TheThe Final Curtain	Priest
2003	Chaos and Cadavers	Harry Kane
2003	Frank Herbert's Children of Dune	Baron Vladimir Harkonnen	TV miniseries
2003	Blackball	Hugh the Sideburns
2003	I'll Be There	Graham
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Quizmaster
2004	Spartacus	Lentulus Batiatus	TV film
2004	Around the World in 80 Days	Kitchener
2004	Rocket Post, TheThe Rocket Post	Alex Miln
2004	Freeze Frame	Saul Seger
2004-	Doc Martin	Bert Large	TV series
2005	Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, TheThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Kwaltz	Voice
2005	White Noise	Raymond Price
2005	Cherished	Bill Bache	TV film
2005	Oliver Twist	Limbkins
2005-2007	Rome	The Newsreader	TV series
2006	Black Dahlia, TheThe Black Dahlia	Coroner
2008	Day of the Dead	DJ Paul
2008	Valkyrie	Joachim von Kortzfleisch
2009	Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer	Cassius Dio (Historian)	TV film
2010-2011	Doctor Who	Winston Churchill	Episodes: "The Beast Below" "Victory of the Daleks" "The Pandorica Opens" "The Wedding of River Song"
2010	Jonathan Creek	Father Roderick Alberic
2012	Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger	Mr. Peterson Senior	Film
2012	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	Mayor Sapsea	TV film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]