Sean Foley is an actor, writer and director. A double Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee, his work – as lead creative on 14 West End shows: as co-writer/star; writer/director; adaptor/director; and director – has also been Olivier nominated multiple times. He has – uniquely – been personally nominated in the acting, writing and directing categories.

Sean is the Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep, and his next production at the theatre is a new stage adaptation of Withnail & I. Sean’s other directing credits for The Rep include Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Save The World – Live On Stage and The Play What I Wrote.

Theatre credits include: the Olivier nominated The Upstart Crow, (director), starring David Mitchell and Gemma Whelan; The Play What I Wrote, (co-writer/director), first major revival guest starring Tom Hiddleston, Adrian Lester, et al; ; his Olivier Award winning production of Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, (Duke of Yorks), starring Stephen Mangan and Matthew MacFadyen; Olivier Award nominated The Miser, (co-writer and director, Garrick Theatre), starring Griff Rhys Jones; The Painkiller, in Kenneth Branagh’s West End season, (as adaptor/director, Garrick Theatre), starring Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon; the 5 times Olivier nominated The Ladykillers (as director and script associate), including Best Director, Best New Play and Whatsonstage Award for Best New Comedy, Gielgud, starring Peter Capaldi; the Olivier nominated, Arturo Brachetti: Change, (as writer/director, Garrick); the Olivier Award winning Do You Come Here Often? (as co-writer and actor, Vaudeville); the Olivier Award winning The Play What I Wrote, (as co-writer and actor – further jointly nominated as Best Actor, Wyndham’s). The play was also Tony Award nominated on its Broadway transfer); the Olivier Award nominated, Ducktastic, (as co-writer and actor, Albery). The Walworth Farce, with Brendan, Domhnall and Briain Gleeson, Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

Further directing work includes: The Man In The White Suit, (as writer/director, Wyndhams), starring Stephen Mangan; The Dresser, (Duke of York’s); his RSC debut, adapting and directing Thomas Middleton’s A Mad World My Masters, (Swan Theatre, Stratford, and Barbican); Harry Hill and Steve Brown’s, I Can’t Sing! at The London Palladium, starring Cynthia Erivo; Present Laughter, The Critic, and The Real Inspector Hound, (Chichester Festival Theatre); Joe Orton’s What The Butler Saw, (Vaudeville); Ben Hur, (Watermill); Pinter’s People, (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); as writer only, his adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s Amedee, or How To Get Rid Of It, debuted at Birmingham Rep.

Sean has also directed the live shows of leading comedians, including: Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress, (Leicester Square); Armstrong and Miller Live (UK Tour); Catherine Tate Live (UK and Australian Tour)

As co-artistic director of the right size, he created, co-wrote and starred in ten original stage comedies 1990 to 2000. The company played in over 25 countries around the world, winning many international awards.

His feature film directing debut, Mindhorn, written by and starring Julian Barratt & Simon Farnaby, was first seen at the London Film Festival and won the London Film Comedy Award for Best First Feature. TV directing includes episodes of Sky’s anthology series, Urban Myths: Marilyn and Billy, starring Gemma Arterton; and, Diana and Freddy.