Introduction
Ali Cook (also credited as Alistair Cook) is an English actor and comedian originating from Yorkshire. Cook played Sgt. Paul McMellon in the feature film Kajaki, which won the Producer of The Year Award at the 2015 British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award in 2015.
Cook's career started on the Channel 5 sketch series, The Jerry@Trick show with the alternative comedians Jerry Sadowitz, Phil Nichol and Boothby Graffoe. Andrew Newman, then the head of comedy at Five, spotted Cook during tapings which lead to him writing and starring in seven of his own comedy and Magic series for Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky1. His Channel 4 Series Dirty Tricks was nominated for a British Comedy Award and The Golden Rose of Montreux.
He regularly tours the UK and internationally with comedy promoters Off the Kerb in between acting commitments.
Television career
Cook began on Jerry Sadowitz's television sketch show Jerry@Trick Show before moving on to co-write and star in TV series, including Monkey Magic (nominated for The Golden Rose of Montreux), Psychic Secrets Revealed with Derren Brown (both for Channel 5)and the Secret World of Magic for Sky One.Cook was the star of Channel 4's late night show Dirty Tricks (nominated for a British Comedy Award and The Golden Rose of Montreux).Cook starred in the first Penn & Teller: Fool Us (ITV) hosted by Jonathan Ross. In 2011 he performed his Houdini-style water Torture Escape on The Slammer (CBBC). He has also starred in the prestigious France 2 series Le Plus Grand Cabaret du monde produced by Magic. Recent television credits include: Mr Selfridge, the role ofthe villainous Patrick in multiple episodes of Emmerdale in 2016 andThe ABC Murders in 2018.
Television
- 2002 The Jerry@trick Show, Ronin Entertainments, Channel 5
- 2002 Monkey Magic, Objective Productions, Channel 5
- 2003 Psychic, Objective Productions, Channel 5
- 2003 Monkey Magic Two, Objective Productions, Channel 5
- 2004 Secret World of Magic, Objective Productions, Sky One
- 2005 Dirty Tricks, Objective Productions, Channel 4
- 2010 Talk of the Terrace, ESPN
- 2011 Penn & Teller: Fool Us, September Films, ITV1
- 2011 The Slammer, CBBC
- 2011Le Plus Grand Cabaret du monde, Magic, France 2
- 2013 Mr Selfridge, ITV1
- 2016 Emmerdale, ITV1 (multiple episodes)
- 2018 The ABC Murders (TV series), BBC 1
Film
Cook portrayed Sgt. Paul "Spud" McMellon in 2014's Kajaki, which won the Producer of The Year Award at the 2015 British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for aBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts Award in 2015.
Cook stars alongside Katherine Parkinson and Jay Pharoah in 2018's How to Sell A War, directed by Rudolph Herzog and produced by Film and Music Entertainment.
Other recent credits include: Muscle directed by Gerard Johnson, In the Cloud directed by Robert Scott Wildes for Sony Pictures, the role of enterprising gangsterTeddy "Odd Legs" in Once Upon a Time in London directed by Simon Rumley, and British Independent Film Awards nominated thriller Isolani in which Cook was directed by Paul Wilson, 2016'sThe Call Up, and The Anomaly, written, directed and produced by Noel Clarke in which Cook stars oppositeIan Somerhalder, Luke Hemsworth and Brian Cox and 2013's Get Lucky, playing a professional thief alongside Luke Treadaway.
In 2011 he appeared in Outside Bet, directed by Sacha Bennett, alongside Bob Hoskins, Phil Davis and Jenny Agutter. He has played the lead role in ten British short film dramas, most notably the psychotic character Greg in Andrew Saunder's and Stephen Frears' Striklem. In 2007 he wrote, produced and starred in his own comedy short, The Enchanter: The Crime Fighting Magician, a spoof of 1970s detective series, directed by Adrian Vitoria.In 2011, Cook was an executive producer on the feature film Dark Tide, starring Halle Berry.
Theatre
Cook has written and performed three critically acclaimed sell-out Edinburgh solo shows: A Touch of Vegas (2008), Pieces of Strange (2010), and Principles and Deceptions (2011).
- Edinburgh Spotlight review 2010
- Broadway Baby review 2010
- Chortle review 2011
- Baby review 2011
Stage
- 2015, Stage, Impossible: London's Magic Spectacular, Jamie Hendry Productions, Noel Coward Theatre, London
- 2011, Stage, One man show, Principles and Deceptions, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh
- 2010, Stage, One man show, Pieces of Strange, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh
- 2008, Stage, One man show, A Touch of Vegas, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh