The "real" Tony chatting to me by the pool side

Tony joined the cast of Benidorm in series 4 and was such a hit with the audience that he's back again in series 5 where he plays "uber camp hair stylist" Kenneth. I caught up with him at the pool side bar of the Sol Pelicanos hotel during his lunch break whilst filming during the week.

 But Tony was more than familiar with the hit series as he had originally auditioned for the part of Mick Garvey 5 years ago - which ended up going to Steve Pemberton ... "and rightly so"  he added.  Then last year he told me his agent called him in the middle of rehearsals for a play he was in and said that they were looking for someone to play the part of Kenneth. "I dashed across London in my lunch break, all hot and sweaty, did the audition and didn't even wait to hear their response as I was in such a rush to get back"  he laughed- naturally he was delighted when he got the news that he was indeed to be in the show.  Kenneth in the series now has his own hair salon attached to the Solana Hotel.

Quick change and now in character as Kenneth

Although only 43 years old, Tony has a most impressive resume. His first major film role came in 1998 where he played the part of Stefan Kiszko in "A Life for a Life" a true story of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in recent years. He portrayed the part of Stefan, a 23 year old man who was wrongly accused of the sexual assault and murder of an eleven year old school girl on Rishworth Moor, W.Yorkshire in 1975. A very dramatic role for which he won much acclaim.
Following that offers flooded in - and extremely varied too ! From playing Reese Witherspoon's lover in "Vanity Fair" to "Grawp"- the giant half brother of Hagrid played by Robbie Coltrane in Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. I mentioned this to my son who googled it and said that he didn't recognize him - fortunately hardly suprising as he had had hours worth of prosthetic make up applied!
He has worked with Julie Walters on 4 occasions - the first time (2001) she played the part of his mother in the film "My beautiful Son" then more recently (2010) in "Mo" - the film portraying the life of Mo Mowlam. Other notable parts include Aaron's defence lawyer in Emmerdale (he got him off the murder charge) and in "Monroe" with James Nesbitt and Sarah Parish.

Filming in the Old Town in his skimpy hotpants!

He has another month filming here in Benidorm then is back to the UK for other work commitments - so look out for him... he won't be long off our screens!
While on set I also spoke with other members of the cast amongst which were Steve Pemberton and Tim Healy .... check back to see what they said.