Tarrant was born in 1952 in
Shirebrook,
Derbyshire, and studied for a degree in English and Drama at
Exeter University, then at the cutting edge of
dramaturgy. He briefly worked as a teacher before taking up acting, first at the
Northcott Theatre,
Exeter and then with Medium Fair Community Theatre Company, Exeter 1975–77 (a company developed from the university drama department). After leaving Medium Fair he was part of
Peter Cheeseman's company at the
Victoria Theatre,
Stoke-on-Trent. The play returned several times to the Nottingham Playhouse and played in other venues across England. He followed this with the role of the vagrant Davies in a Nottingham Playhouse production of
Harold Pinter's
The Caretaker, his performance described by
The Stage as "brilliant – wild-eyed, twitchy, aggressive, over-defensive and ungrateful". He starred as the 'Old Gent' in an adaptation of
The Railway Children at the
National Railway Museum. In 2009 he starred with
Stephanie Turner in
Honeymoon Suite at the New Vic in
Basford. Tarrant performed in a nationwide tour of
Calendar Girls which began in Chichester in January 2010. Television roles included appearances in
Holby City,
Heartbeat,
Doctors,
Midsomer Murders and as Ted Williamson in an episode of
Casualty which aired on
BBC 1 on 11 December 2010. Tarrant also taught at secondary schools between acting roles. ==Personal life==