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Steven Berkoff was born in Stepney, London 1937. He studied Drama in London and Paris. Performed with repertory companies before forming the London Theatre Group (L.T.G.) in 1968. Their first professional production was In the Penal Colony, an adaptation of a short story by Kafka. Berkoff's first original stage play East, was presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 1975.

Other original plays include West, Decadence, Greek, Kvetch, Acapulco, Harry's Christmas, Lunch, Sink the Belgrano, Massage, Sturm und Drang, Brighton Beach Scumbags, The Secret Love Life of Ophelia, Bow of Ulysses, Ritual in Blood and Messiah.

Among the many adaptations Steven Berkoff has created for the stage, directed and toured are Kafka's Metamorphosis and The Trial, Agamemnon (after Aeschylus) and Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. His plays and adaptations have been performed in many countries and many languages.

He has also directed and toured productions of Hamlet, Macbeth and Oscar Wilde's Salome. He has directed his plays and adaptations in Japan, Germany and Los Angeles as well as Richard II and Coriolanus for the New York Shakespeare Festival.

His one-man show has toured Britain, the USA, South Africa, Finland, Italy, Singapore and Australia. He directed and played the title role in Coriolanus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1995 and at the Mermaid Theatre London in 1996.

In 1997 he directed and performed the American premiere of Massage at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. This performance earned him a nomination for Best Actor in the L.A. Weekly Theatre Awards. Steven then brought Massage to the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in preparation for its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1997. He was honoured with a Total Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival.

Films

He has acted in films such as: A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Passenger, McVicar, Outland, Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo, Underworld, Revolution, Under the Cherry Moon, Absolute Beginners, Prisoner of Rio, The Krays, Fair Game, Flynn, Another 9 1/2 weeks and Rancid Aluminium. He directed and co-starred with Joan Collins in the film version of Decadence.

Television

Television productions include West, Metamorphosis,, Harry's Christmas, Silent Night, a reworking of Harry's Christmas and The Tell Tale Heart.

Other television credits include: Sins, Beloved Family, Knife Edge, The Professionals, War and Remembrance, Michelangelo - Season of Giants, Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, La Femme Nikita an Jonathan Creek.

Writing

He has published a variety of books such as Gross Intrusion and Graft- collections of short stories; I Am Hamlet and Meditations on Metamorphosis, Coriolanus in Deutschland, A Prisoner in Rio- all production journals; The Theatre of Steven Berkoff - a photographic history of his productions over the last two decades; America and Overview - both travel writing and poetry collections; and his autobiography Free Association.

Voiceover

Steven Berkoff has done a variety of voice over work and books on tape including Kafka's Metamorphosis and The Trial for Penguin Audiobooks. Radio productions include the title role in Macbeth and his musical debut as the MC in Cabaret. He recently recorded An Actor's Tale, a selection of his short stories, for Radio 4. He can also be heard on the single by the dance group N-Trance... The Mind of the Machine.