Born:
April 02, 1969
in
Salford
Best Known For:
Cold Feet and The Fast Show.
Early-life:
Thomson was born Patrick Francis McAleer in Salford on April 2, 1969 to Mary McAleer, who gave him up for adoption six weeks later. He was adopted from the Catholic Children's Rescue Society by Andrew and Marita Thomson, a businessman and a bookseller from Didsbury. He attended Runshaw College between 1985 and 1987, studying for four A-levels, including theatre studies. He was described as "clearly a talent for comedy". Following this, he turned down a scholarship in America to study drama at Manchester Polytechnic.
Career:
While at university, Thomson met Steve Coogan, who secured him a job on Spitting Image. They would continue to collaborate on such programmes as Coogan's Run , the Paul and Pauline Calf video diaries (where he played Fat Bob) and Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge, which he also contributed to writing. In 1994, Thomson appeared in the BBC sketch series The Fast Show. He made guest appearances on various series such as Soldier Soldier, Playing the Field and Men Behaving Badly in the 1990s before being cast as Pete Gifford in the ITV hit comedy drama Cold Feet. He participated in the BBC series Comic Relief does Fame Academy and chalked up several TV shows before starring in another TV series, New Street Law, about a Manchester chambers. He has since appeared in Kingdom and Coronation Street.
Quote:
"People who know me know me, but the public believe what they read in the papers. They stare at me. I wonder what they're thinking."
Trivia:
Thomson was a contestant in the 2013 series of Celebrity MasterChef.