Francis Wright

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Francis Wright (born 1958 in London) is a British actor, puppeteer, and writer.

A Londoner born and bred, educated at St. Paul’s School and studied drama at the Arts Educational Schools, graduating with honours. Francis decided to specialise in puppetry as it seemed to be a good way of never being typecast and consequently doomed to a life mainly out of work. He spent the first four years - from 1976 - of his professional career with Playboard Puppets (of Button Moon fame) touring schools and theatres, playing everything from a tortoise to a granny.

Having had various forays into television and film, (beginning with ITC Entertainment's THE Munch Bunch), he became one of the two leading characters in a long-running series for BBC Schools called 'You & Me' ... His character’s name was Dibs - or the yellow one, as he was known to those who could never remember the names. The rather downtrodden Dibs, and his opposite number, the gruff-voiced Cosmo, carried on exploring life's little ups and downs for eleven years.

During that time, Francis worked on his first feature film, the sword and sorcery epic 'Dragonslayer', (starring Peter MacNicoll and Ralph Richardson) in which his character, a slime covered and vicious baby dragon, was unceremoniously decapitated by the hero.

Credits include the satirical puppet show SPITTING IMAGE, the Psammead in Five Children & IT, the Phoenix in THE Phoenix & The Carpet, and the March Hare in Hallmark Films' version of Alice in Wonderland, which boasted a cast more star-studded than the Milky Way (Peter Ustinov, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Kingsley, Ken Dodd, Miranda Richardson, and Gene Wilder, to name a few) and Labyrinth, a musical adventure starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, surrounded by the animatronic skills of the Jim Henson Creature Shop.

He features as ‘The Head’ in ITV'S Art Attack and Art Attack International, and also co-wrote (with director Peter Eyre) and performed in three series of the whacky children's comedy BUG ALERT! for Channel 4 and ITV. He even became an icon of sorts when he inherited the role of SWEEP in series 50 and 51 of the classic ITV children’s show SOOTY. This involved having to squeak a lot, and frequently get covered in custard.

Other series include GROTBAGS (with Carol Lee-Scott as an ample-bodied green witch), MORTIMER AND ARABEL (the first drama series performed entirely with puppets, created by author Joan Aiken), JAYS' WORLD, GOPHERS, and many others.

Francis has always maintained that a puppeteer should be a capable and versatile actor, able to use a multitude of voices and to interpret a script intelligently, according to a director's wishes. He teaches personal presentation and communication skills, working with anyone who feels the need to develop and improve the way they come across in public. As a result of lecturing at Middlesex University, he became involved in the Reality Show AMERICAN PRINCESS for NBC, which involved turning ten American girls from all walks of life into young ladies. Francis was responsible for their speaking and elocution skills, being a kind of Henry Higgins to their Eliza Doolittles. For AUSTRALIAN PRINCESS (Channel 10) he repeated this role, and much fun was had by all.

Recent projects include voice overs for advertising, and narrating two 10-part series: B & B THE BEST (for BBC TV) and ROSEMARY SHRAGER’S COOKERY SHOWDOWN (ITV).