Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Clive Rowe grew up in Shaw, Lancashire, in the parish of East Crompton and attended St. James Primary School and Crompton House School. As a teenager he was a member of Crompton Stage Society. He is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Rowe has appeared in many pantomimes. He is of a Caribbean descent.
While a student at the Guildhall School, Rowe played Wally Watkins in a production of Lady Be Good, which caused the Opera critic to note "one of two potential stars in the cast" who "sang the title song most winningly and rattled off the acres of daffy dialogue with the aplomb and timing of a Durante".[1]
In 1992, Rowe was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance as Enoch Snow in the London revival of Carousel.[2] In 1994, he appeared in Once on This Island.[3] In 1996, he appeared as Harry in Company at the Noël Coward Theatre. He won the 1997 Olivier for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his role as "Nicely Nicely Johnson" in the National Theatre revival of Guys and Dolls. In 2007, he played the Baker in the Royal Opera House revival of Into the Woods.[4] He was also nominated for an Olivier Award for his role in 2008’s Mother Goose at the Hackney Empire. He was called one of the best Dames in the business when he appeared on BBC One's Breakfast News on 10 December 2009. He starred in the pantomime Aladdin at the Hackney Empire from November 2009 to January 2010[5]
and in Jack and the Beanstalk from November 2010.[6]
Rowe also played one of the debt collectors in The Old Vic's production of Kiss Me, Kate. He played this role in the winter of 2012/13. From mid-2013 to February 2014 Rowe played King Darius in Tori Amos's musical production of The Light Princess, at the Lyttelton Theatre (National). In the summer of 2018, he starred alongside comedian Matt Lucas in Chichester Festival Theatre’s Me and My Girl.
He toured in In the Willows, a modern, hip-hop retelling of the book of the same name. This show promotes equality by, for example, the incorporation of BSL into the choreography. Rowe plays Badger, teacher of a London state school. He was also in Sister Act as Eddie Souther.
