Mark Gatiss, UK, Actor, Writer

b. 17 October 1966

English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Following a childhood fascination with Doctor Who, Gatiss's early writing was devoted to the series, beginning with a sequence of novels in Virgin Publishing's New Adventures series of Doctor Who stories.

Gatiss is perhaps best known as a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen

He was named at number 1 on the DS "50 Most Influential Gays", 2011, and also featured on The Independent on Sunday's Pink List of influential gay people in the UK in 2010 and 2011. He is married to actor Ian Hallard.

As a writer, Mark’s output over the last decade has been phenomenal. And as an actor, he’s proved himself as versatile as he is convincing. Mark was fortunate enough to turn his childhood passions into his career. He gave Sherlock Holmes the kiss of life and made him ‘must-watch’ TV. He’s also written for Doctor Who (and appeared in it as the maniacal Dr Lazarus), and penned Jekyll. And as an actor, has appeared in cult classics Nighty Night and as the late Malcolm MacLaren in Worried About The Boy. But it’s his twisted characters and partnership with Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson as one quarter of The League Of Gentlemen that will go down in TV comedy history.

Mark’s married to actor Ian Hallard and despite his many successes, it’s his normalcy that we love and admire.

“I am a gay man who loves James Bond films and snooker – all kinds of working-class pursuits,” he says.

And because of all of that, DS reckons he’s the most influential gay celebrity of 2011.