Mackenzie Crook (born Paul James Crook) is an English actor, director, comedian, and writer, best known for his roles in television and film. He gained widespread recognition for portraying Gareth Keenan in the British sitcom The Office (2001–2003) and for his role as Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2003–2007). He also played Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and the title role of Worzel Gummidge (2019–2022), which he wrote and directed.
Crook has also worked extensively in theatre, including a Tony Award-nominated performance in Jerusalem.
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Early life and education
Crook was born Paul James Crook, and grew up in Dartford, Kent, England. As a child he received a course of hormone therapy for three years to treat a growth hormone deficiency.
Crook attended Sutton-at-Hone Primary School and then Wilmington Grammar School for Boys. As there was no drama department at his grammar school, he joined a local youth theatre. He has said that he failed his A-levels because he "completely lost interest" after his GCSEs. In the summers, he spent time at his uncle's tobacco farm Chindito, in Gutu District, central Zimbabwe, where he developed a love for painting.
Crook's first jobs included working at a Pizza Hut restaurant and at Halfords, where he felt he was "waiting for real life to start".
After moving to London when he was in his early twenties, Crook worked on the comedy circuit, appearing as two characters he created, Mr. Bagshaw and Charlie Cheese. He went on to appear in shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he was spotted by Bob Mortimer.
Crook changed his name when joining Equity, the actors' union, not to be confused with an other actor named Paul Crook. His name Mackenzie came from his family's former surname, Mackenzie-Crook.
Career
Film and television
One of Crook's earliest television appearances was in the 1998 Channel 4 sketch show Barking, where he played the grotesque schoolteacher Mr Bagshaw, who was said to be based on a variety of obnoxious overbearing science teachers Crook had in school. In 1998, Crook was offered his first major television role as a comedy sketch contributor on Channel 4's The Eleven O'Clock Show, from which he was later dropped. He was later a member of the main cast of the BBC sketch show TV to Go in 2001.
In late 1999, he hosted the short-lived ITV1 show Comedy Café as his Charlie Cheese character. The show, made by Channel X for ITV1, had Cheese interviewing celebrities about their latest live tour, book, album or film release.
In 2001, Crook auditioned for the role of Gareth Keenan in Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's popular mockumentary The Office. Though it was originally written for a larger, thuggish actor, Crook won the role, and in 2001 he was nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist.
Crook featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), as Ragetti, a pirate with a comically ill-fitting wooden false eye, who is teamed with Pintel (Lee Arenberg).
Crook has appeared in advertisements as the character for Visa and M&M's. He has also been heard as himself in adverts for MTV and Film4, and as a voiceover artiste for motor insurance company Green Flag in 2007. In 2010, he narrated an advertisement for electrical retailer Currys.
Crook appeared as Launcelot Gobbo in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and had a minor role in the 2004 film Finding Neverland as a theatre usher. His other film appearances include The Gathering (2003) and The Brothers Grimm (2005).
He has starred in three of Tim Plester and Ben Gregor's short films: as Gary Tibbs in Ant Muzak (2002), as Servalan in Blake's Junction 7 (2004), and as Glorious George in World of Wrestling (2006), all released on DVD. He has done voice-over in the TV series Modern Toss, was featured in I Want Candy as Mr. Dulberg, a quirky university professor; and voiced Rolli Bobbler in the English version of an animated film from Finland called Quest for a Heart (original Finnish name Röllin Sydän). He also performed a duet with Ricky Gervais in the 2007 Concert for Diana.
Theatre
Crook played Billy Bibbit in the 2004 London West End production of the stage play of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest opposite Christian Slater, and in 2006 he appeared in The Exonerated at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
He starred in director Ian Rickson's production of The Seagull opposite Kristin Scott Thomas, as the troubled writer Konstantin for which he earned a nomination from the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Starting at the Royal Court Theatre in London in February/March 2007, it transferred to Broadway in September 2008. In December 2008, he finished the Broadway run of The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
From 15 July to 15 August 2009, Crook appeared at the Royal Court in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. He and the play received positive reviews and it was transferred to the West End's Apollo Theatre in February 2010. In May 2011 he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, for his role in the Broadway transfer of the show, and also appeared in the 2011 London revival. Another revival of the play ran in 2022 at the Apollo Theatre, featuring the creative team from the first production as well as Mark Rylance and Crook in their original roles as Johnny "Rooster" Byron and Ginger.
On 18 April 2010, Crook took part in the fund raising event We Are One, a celebration of tribal peoples, in aid of indigenous rights organisation Survival International, at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the UK and Hollywood's leading actors and musicians. The event was created and directed by Mark Rylance. Crook appeared as Jasper in The Aliens at the Bush Theatre in October 2010. In early 2012 he played Sergeant Kite in The Recruiting Officer at the Donmar Warehouse.
Other work
Crook has directed a music video for the London electro band Paw Paw (his sister Zoe is one of the band members). The stop motion animation video accompanies the band's debut single 'Wired OK', released on 16 July 2007 on Albino Recordings.
Crook appeared as a postman in the music video for Paul McCartney's single "Dance Tonight" alongside actress Natalie Portman. The video for the song was directed by Michel Gondry and was posted exclusively on YouTube on 22 May 2007.
Crook has a deal with publisher Faber to illustrate and write a children's book. His first one, The Windvale Sprites, was released in November 2011. It was announced on 8 February 2012, that Crook's book was nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, in the 5–12-year-old category. The book contains references to a storm in 1987 which hit Dartford and surrounding areas.
On 9 April 2010, it was announced that Crook would star in the music video for Slow Club's new single, "Giving Up on Love", after band member Rebecca Taylor wrote to him.
Crook regularly works in radio, and appeared in the BBC Radio Four show North by Northamptonshire, in 2011 alongside Geoffrey Palmer, Sheila Hancock, Lizzie Roper and Jessica Henwick.
Crook narrated the audiobook version of the novel Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace.
In June 2024, it was announced that Crook would direct the second series of Bridget Christie's Channel 4 comedy-drama about menopause The Change.
Crook has written two children's books: The Windvale Sprites and The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth. His first book written for adults, If Nick Drake Came To My House, was set for release in November 2024.
Personal life
Crook is an atheist. He and his wife Lindsay, a former advertising executive, live in Muswell Hill, London. They were married in April 2001 and have a son and a daughter.
