I suppose it's easy to play a hypocritical politician with a smiling face; it's also quite gratifying to play.

He became a theatre aficionado when he was five years old when his father took him to see an act by the name of Tommy Morgan in a theatre in Dundee. Recently he played the writer and pioneer of policing Henry Fielding in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice and Denis Thatcher in 2009's Margaret. Five years later in 2006 he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway.

Ian McDiarmid (pron. Internationally he is perhaps most famous for his role as Emperor Palentine/Darth Sidious in the Star Wars film series.