Dexter was born in
Nottingham,
Nottinghamshire, England. As a teenager, he was an early member of the
Central Junior Television Workshop which led to various TV roles before he moved from Nottingham to London to attend
RADA. After graduating in 1995, Dexter's early successes were on stage, in particular with two high-profile productions of
Tennessee Williams plays, beginning with
Sam Mendes's 1995
Olivier Award-winning production of
The Glass Menagerie at the
Donmar Warehouse, in which he played Jim O'Connor. This was soon followed by
Trevor Nunn's
Tony Award-winning production of Williams's never-before-seen
Not About Nightingales, which transferred from London's
National Theatre to the
Circle in the Square Theatre on
Broadway in 1999. Since then, Dexter has moved primarily into film and television. Among an extensive list of credits, he is probably best known for his portrayals of prominent political figures including
David Cameron in the
Channel 4 political drama
Coalition,
Tony Benn in the
Netflix drama
The Crown,
John Dean in
Charles Ferguson's 2018 series
Watergate - as well as the fictional 'UK Prime Minister' in
Transformers: The Last Knight. In his native UK he is also known for his role of Timothy Gray in the 1950s-set
ITV crime drama
The Bletchley Circle, opposite screen wife
Anna Maxwell Martin. He has made various appearances on British science fiction shows including
Red Dwarf and multiple roles on
Doctor Who - most notably with his 2020 portrayal of computer pioneer
Charles Babbage. Between October 2008 and January 2009, Mark Dexter made regular appearances on
NBC in
America, playing the role of Samuel Tuffley in eight episodes of
Crusoe, a major 12-part mini-series. In summer 2009, Dexter returned to the
National Theatre in London, playing Robin Conway in
Rupert Goold's production of
J. B. Priestley's
Time and the Conways; he followed this by appearing alongside
Kevin Spacey in the role of cynical journalist E.K. Hornbeck, a thinly disguised portrayal of
H. L. Mencken, in
Trevor Nunn's revival of
Inherit the Wind, at the
Old Vic. During the first half of 2010, Dexter appeared in the recurring role of businessman
Paul Stokes in
Coronation Street. He played Count Skriczevinsky in
Trevor Nunn's production of
Flare Path at the
Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 2011. He played a lead role in the 2011 released feature
Blooded by Ed Boase. In 2012, Dexter appeared in episode "
Trojan" of the
Dave series
Red Dwarf as
Arnold Rimmer's brother Howard. In December 2012 in the UK (or January 2013 in the USA via
BBC America), Dexter appeared as the principal villain, Sir Arthur Donaldson, in the opening episode of BBC's Victorian crime drama
Ripper Street. On 3 March 2013, Dexter portrayed the celebrated polar explorer
Ernest Shackleton in episode 9 of the
ITV series
Mr Selfridge, and later that year he appeared as CIA Agent 'Marlow' in
24: Live Another Day, which was broadcast in the US and UK in spring 2014. In October 2014, it was announced that Dexter would portray British Prime Minister
David Cameron in political drama
Coalition, a film for
Channel 4 set to be broadcast in the run-up to the UK general election in 2015. It was broadcast on 28 March 2015. In April 2015, he played
David Cameron once again in a new production of
Peter Morgan's play
The Audience, alongside
Kristin Scott Thomas as Queen Elizabeth II, directed by
Stephen Daldry. In this production at The Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue, Dexter also played former Prime Minister
Tony Blair. Dexter was cast as SS Commander 'Dietrich' in the
WWII drama
The Exception directed by
David Leveaux, which had special screenings at the Toronto and
Tribeca film festivals (September 2016 & April 2017), ahead of its general release in June 2017. In 2020, Dexter joined the cast of the HBO finance drama
Industry playing Hilary Wyndham throughout Season 1. Later, in December of that year, a second season of the show was announced. ==Filmography==