Early Career
Allen first came to national prominence in 1990 when he documented an England fan's eye view of the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy with his camcorder, for the BBC series Video Diaries in an episode entitled On The March With Bobby's Army.
Allen's first acting roles came by way of Channel 4's The Comic Strip and later starred alongside Dawn French in Ben Elton’s West End hit Silly Cow at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He also starred with Diana Rigg in Howard Brenton’s Berlin Bertie at London’s Royal Court Theatre – directed by Danny Boyle. He received a Fringe 1st Theatre Award, starring in ‘A Prayer for Wings’ directed by Joan Plowright at the Edinburgh Festival.
Starred as DC Cray alongside Rowan Atkinson in BBC’s comedy series The Thin Blue Line while writing his debut feature screenplay, Twin Town.
Allen also presented BBC’s Standing Room Only and wrote and directed several documentaries for the BBC in the 1990s including Yr Darian, ‘Bombay Brown Wash’, ‘Booze Bores Barbours and Brilliance’ and ‘Rotten to the Core’.
Allen and author Pat McCabe are organisers of the Flatlake Festival held annually in Ireland.
As of 2012 Allen is making a documentary film 'Found in Translation' about poet, Dylan Thomas in preparation for Thomas' 2014 Centenary.
Read more about this topic: Kevin Allen (actor)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)