Michael Angelis (born in Merseyside, Liverpool, England, UK on 18th January 1952) is an English actor and voice actor who was the longest running Thomas and Friends narrator, holding the position for 21 years. He narrated from the third to sixteenth seasons for the UK. He also narrated six American episodes on the New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures DVD, the first six The Railway Stories CDs, other miscellaneous merchandise and promos/commercials.
Bio
Angelis appears in many British television shows, such as "The Liver Birds", "Reilly: Ace of Spies", "Minder", "Sweet Medicine", "A & E", "Merseybeat", "A Touch of Frost", "Boys from the Blackstuff", "Midsomer Murders", "The Bill", "Auf Wiedersehen Pet", "I Woke Up One Morning", "George and Mildred", "Z Cars" and "Good Cop".
He has an older brother, Paul Angelis and was married to Helen Worth from 1991 until 2001. He later married model Jennifer Khalastchi. Coincidentally, Paul provided the voice of Ringo Starr, who narrated the series in the UK and US before Michael Angelis, in The Beatles animated film "Yellow Submarine".
He was originally hired to voice James and Percy in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but was later replaced by Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne respectively because the American test audience thought that he made the characters sound old.
Michael has also starred in various television adverts, including Stones Bitter, the Post Office, McDonald's and Think Road Safety Campaigns.
Angelis also narrated John Peel's autobiography, "Margrave of the Marshes", on BBC Radio 4 in 2005, later released by AudioGO. In 2006 he starred in the film, "Fated", set in his hometown of Liverpool, as well as in episodes of "Midsomer Murders" and "The Bill" in 2007.
In September 2011, he participated in the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Reunion" talking with other cast members about his roles in the landmark 1980's drama series "Boys from the Blackstuff".
Filmography
Film
TV
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Trivia
- Some episodes from foreign dubs of the television series have credited Michael Angelis as the narrator even though they were redubbed.
- He, Mike Grady and Clive Mantle appeared in "Casualty".
- He and Mark Moraghan both appeared on the same episode of "Harry Enfield and Chums".
- He, Michael Brandon, Rasmus Hardiker, Maggie Ollerenshaw, Nicola Stapleton and Andrew Sachs all had roles in "The Bill".
- He was not credited in any of the fifth season intro segments for unknown reasons.
- He and TUGS voice artist Nigel Anthony both had roles in "Midsomer Murders".
- Michael Angelis attended the Blue Carpet UK premiere event for Hero of the Rails on 26th September 2009.
- Despite being the UK narrator, his US narrations for a few of the sixth season episodes was the only narration released in the US, until Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 6 was released on Amazon in May 2016 when Alec Baldwin's narration was released in the US.
Gallery
