Film and television Between 1998 and 1999, Berry appeared in the video game magazine show
Game Over on
BSkyB's computer and technology channel
.tv. Berry appeared in a UK television commercial for
Lloyds TSB bank with singer
Lionel Richie. Berry's first prominent television role was
Todd Rivers/Lucien Sanchez in the cult 2004 comedy series ''
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and its 2006 spin-off, Man to Man with Dean Learner. He later appeared as eccentric, sinister tycoon Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh''. He met the show's
Julian Barratt and
Noel Fielding while performing at the
Hen and Chickens Theatre, where they were resident in 2000. He can be seen in a cameo performance in
The Mighty Boosh Live DVD. After meeting
Rich Fulcher while filming
The Mighty Boosh, Berry co-created, co-wrote, and co-starred in the comedy series
Snuff Box with him on
BBC Three; Berry also composed the main theme song and score for the series. Fulcher had co-starred as Bainbridge's lackey
Bob Fossil in
The Mighty Boosh. Berry also starred with Fulcher and
Simon Farnaby on
E4's
The Golf War in November 2007. In 2007, Berry joined
The IT Crowd during its second series as
Douglas Reynholm. He was nominated as Best Male Comedy Newcomer in the 2007
British Comedy Awards for the role. In 2010, Berry played journalist Michael Duffy in the
BBC production
Five Daughters, about events surrounding the Ipswich murders of 2006. In 2011, he provided the voice of Allen in the
Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "
Allen Part Two". He appeared in the British comedy panel game
Shooting Stars, portraying
Vangelis. He appeared as an antiques expert in the
ITV sketch show
Monkey Trousers with
Vic and Bob and
Steve Coogan. Berry appeared in a number of films during this period, including ''
The Devil's Chair (2006) and Moon (2009). He starred in The Search'' (2009), a short film about "a lonely man's search for the existence of life outside our universe takes a remarkable turn when he connects with a recently bereaved family". In 2012, BBC Radio 4 aired his comedy series
I, Regress, where he portrayed Dr. Berry, a brilliant but unorthodox regressive therapist. In each 15-minute episode, Berry explored the psyche of a guest patient, attempting to treat their problems in surreal dreamlike sequences. Berry appeared in the film adaptation of the
David Nicholls novel
One Day as Aaron, Dexter's agent. He was briefly featured in the closing ceremony of the
London 2012 Olympics, introducing
ELO's "
Mr. Blue Sky" by way of a mock weather forecast. In July 2012, he appeared as vainglorious actor Steven Toast in the pilot episode of
Channel 4 sitcom
Toast of London, co-written with
Arthur Mathews. Notwithstanding mixed reviews, a series was commissioned, and the first episode was broadcast on 20 October 2013, and it brought Berry the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. In 2015, Berry and Arthur Mathews published
Toast on Toast: Cautionary Tales and Candid Advice, a spoof autobiography of Steven Toast. It was released as an audiobook read by Berry. Berry played the title character in the 2013
Portlandia episode "Squiggleman". Co-creators
Fred Armisen and
Carrie Brownstein included the appearance on a list of their "proudest musical moments" from the show. From 2014 to 2015, Berry co-starred in the
BBC 2 series
House of Fools, written by and starring
Reeves and Mortimer. He portrayed Beef, "the highly sexual, flamboyant and blindly confident friend of Vic and Bob" who "will seduce anything in a skirt". Berry appeared in episode nine of the sixth season of
Dan Harmon's television series
Community, released on
Yahoo Screen on 5 May 2015. In December 2015, he played Professor Awfulshirt in
Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns on
BBC One. Since 2019, Berry has starred in the FX
TV adaptation of the film
What We Do in the Shadows as Laszlo, one of four vampires living in
Staten Island. It was renewed for a second season in May 2019, and began airing in April 2020. The third season aired in September 2021. In an interview with collider.com, Berry said, "It's different and it's very free. The scripts are starting points and then we go from there. That's how I like to work, anyway. So, for me, it was perfect. That's my background, improvisation. It was home for me in that department." In 2019, Berry starred in the IFC/Channel 4 sitcom
Year of the Rabbit. Set in Victorian London, he plays the alcoholic Detective Inspector Rabbit. On 11 February 2020, the series was renewed for a second series of six episodes. Citing budget cuts caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, Channel 4 reversed their decision in January 2021, casting doubt on the show's future. Layla Smith, chief executive of the show's production company
OMG, said "
Year of the Rabbit is a victim of the devastating effects of COVID. [...] IFC are very committed to the show, but we will need to find another partner — and we're working on that." In April 2020, BBC Two commissioned Berry for a
mockumentary series titled
Squeamish About ... The four quarter-hour specials would be cowritten by Berry and
Arthur Mathews and star Berry as Michael Squeamish. The series uses a combination of archive footage and voiceover to produce a surreal perspective on the episodes' subject. In 2021, after the second series of
Year of the Rabbit was axed, Berry was commissioned by the BBC to make a "Steven Toast in America" series. The show was a six-part television programme for BBC One, broadcast under the title
Toast of Tinseltown and co-written by Berry and Arthur Mathews. In September 2024, Deadline announced that Berry and
Natasha Lyonne are creating and starring in a "retro series for Sky titled
Force & Majeure." In March of 2026, Berry was the announcer for the
98th Academy Awards.
Voice acting Berry voiced Bubbles, an inter-dimensional dolphin, in the 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants film sequel,
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. That year, he also voiced the main villainess, The Butt Witch, in
Twelve Forever, a series pilot created by Julia Vickerman for
Cartoon Network that was released on its website on 18 May 2015. The show was moved to
Netflix in December 2017. From 2015 to 2016, Berry narrated
Matt Berry Does ..., a series of comedy shorts for the BBC. He provided the voice of Prince Merkimer in
Matt Groening's animated series
Disenchantment, which premiered in 2018 on
Netflix. Berry's distinctive voice has seen him providing many voiceovers for both radio and television advertising, including for
Volvic (as the voice of George the Volcano),
The Natural Confectionery Company (voicing various characters alongside
Rupert Degas), Fridge Raiders, and
Moneysupermarket.com. He has been in the sketch show
The Wrong Door as a recurring bit-part character who runs into a
snooker hall and shouts "stop playing snooker!" before whispering an implied impossible wager to one of the players and completing an infeasible
trick shot. In 2012, he worked with
Team17 on their video game title
Worms Revolution, providing voiceover, as fictional wildlife documentary maker Don Keystone, for both the game and the video advertisements produced for it. In 2014, Berry read out the team sheets at
Luton Town FC before the game. In 2015, he provided the voice for a satirical anti-war film by the UK branch of
Veterans for Peace called
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. In 2019, he provided the voice of
Moominpappa in the Finnish animated children's series
Moominvalley. He provided the voice for the torture droid 8D8 in the 2021
Star Wars television series
The Book of Boba Fett. In 2023, Berry narrated a short segment in an episode of
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about freight trains titled 'The Sad Tale of Henry the Engine', a spoof of the
Thomas & Friends television series. In 2024, he voiced Chester Arborday in the
season 35 episode of
The Simpsons, "Lisa Gets an F1". In 2025, he provided the human voice of Nitwit in
A Minecraft Movie.
Music Berry composed all the music for
Snuff Box and
Toast of London, as well as the music for
AD/BC: A Rock Opera, which he co-wrote with
Richard Ayoade.
AD/BC was a half-hour parody of overblown musicals in general and
Jesus Christ Superstar in particular, telling the story of the innkeeper who allowed Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus to sleep in his stable.
AD/BC was broadcast in December 2004 and featured Fulcher and
Mighty Boosh stars
Julian Barratt and
Noel Fielding. Berry performed a song for an episode of ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', "One Track Lover", a spoof of cheesy romantic 1980s songs. Berry wrote music for the
BBC 2 Steve Coogan comedy
Saxondale and appeared in the first and third episodes of the second series of the show. He composed the theme song for the
Channel 4 sketch show
Blunder. He is also credited on
The Peter Serafinowicz Show. Berry is friends with musical composer Dan McGrath and contributed to the
Strictly Come Dancing theme song by playing guitar and providing the audible "Hey". Berry has recorded eleven studio albums:
Jackpot (1995),
Opium (self-released 2008),
Witchazel (self-released 2009, re-released 2011),
Kill the Wolf (2013),
Music for Insomniacs (2014),
The Small Hours (2016),
Television Themes (2018),
Phantom Birds (2020),
The Blue Elephant (2021), and
Heard Noises (2025). The most recent seven have been released on
Eddie Piller's
Acid Jazz Records. In 2017, a "companion piece" to
The Small Hours was released,
Night Terrors, featuring remixes by artists such as
Saint Etienne. Berry stated in the first issue of
Bearded in 2007 that he was producing and collaborating on new material with 1960s soul singer
Geno Washington and would record an album. It was
Witchazel, which Berry originally released as a one-day-only free download in March 2009. It was later released as a CD and paid-for digital download. The latter comprises former
Bluetones singer
Mark Morriss and singer/clarinettist Cecilia Fage. Rich Fulcher has joined Berry on stage for several appearances.
Geno Washington has joined him onstage at London gigs for encores of the
Snuff Box theme. In October 2007, Berry provided a new track, "Cream Pie", to
Bearded for readers to download free, followed by a cover of the
Blur song "
Sing" in November 2007. "Cream Pie" is still available to supporters of Beardaid. Until 2010, Berry presented a show on
Absolute Radio, where he still performs various voiceovers and was described as "the voice of Absolute Radio". In 2015, Berry was the opening act for
Steven Wilson's second
Royal Albert Hall concert. In July 2018, Berry released the album
Television Themes on
Acid Jazz Records, featuring covers of famous retro TV themes such as
Sorry!,
Doctor Who and
Rainbow. It became his first UK Top 40 album chart hit. In 2019, Berry was revealed as one of the contributing artists on
The Desert Sessions album
Vols. 11 & 12. He co-wrote, narrated, and played the organ on the track "Chic Tweetz". In October 2020, Berry's album
Phantom Birds (also issued by Acid Jazz) made the UK albums chart and eclipsed the number 38 peak of
Television Themes by reaching number 31. In December 2020, he appeared in
Gorillaz's live-streamed concert
Song Machine Live, performing the narration for the spoken-word song "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" from the album
Demon Days. On 14 May 2021, Berry released his ninth studio album
The Blue Elephant through Acid Jazz. In 2023, he released his 10th studio album
Simplicity. His 11th studio album
Heard Noises was released on 24 January 2025 through Acid Jazz. The song "Take My Hand" from Berry's album
Witchazel (2009), which first became known as the opening theme for his comedy series
Toast of London (2012–2015), garnered new interest when it was used as the closing credits theme of the
Netflix documentary miniseries
American Murder: Gabby Petito in February 2025. In the two weeks following the airing of the series, the song was streamed in the U.S. over 579,000 times, representing a 1,505% increase in the song's streaming activity. As of October 2025, Berry has transferred to
Sony Music Publishing for future releases.
Music videos Berry starred in the video for the
Super Furry Animals song "
Run-Away" (2007), directed by
Richard Ayoade. Other appearances include the videos for "Reset" (2011) by London-based experimental band
Three Trapped Tigers and "What Are You Like" (2017) by Irish band
Pugwash. ==Personal life==