Michael Ball

Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. In 1985, he made his West End debut as Marius Pontmercy in the original production of ''Les Misérables''. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles Chart with "Love Changes Everything", from the musical ''Aspects of Love'', where he played Alex Dillingham. He played the role in the West End and on Broadway. His album ''Coming Home To You'' reached number one in the UK making it his 4th number one album to date. On 24 April 2020, Ball and Captain Tom Moore entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with a cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone", with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020.

In 1992, Ball represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing second with the song "One Step Out of Time". In 1995, he reprised the role of Marius in ''Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert''. His other West End roles include Raoul de Chagny in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1987), Giorgio Bachetti in ''Passion'' (1996), and Caractacus Potts in ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' (2002). In 2004, he played Jean Valjean in a concert performance of ''Les Misérables'' for the Queen at Windsor Castle. He has twice won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He won in 2008 for his role as Edna Turnblad in ''Hairspray'', and then in 2013 for the title role in the revival of ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''. In 2018, he played Anatoly Sergievsky in the West End revival of ''Chess'', and he returned to ''Les Misérables'' in 2019 and 2020 as Inspector Javert. He reprised his role of Edna Turnblad in the 2021 revival of ''Hairspray'' and in 2023 played the other leading male role of Sir George Dillingham in a revival of ''Aspects of Love''. In 2024, Ball will reprise the role of Javert in ''Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular World Tour''.

Ball was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for his services to musical theatre. Provided by Wikipedia