Tony Gardner (born 10 January 1964) is an English actor and doctor. He sits on the national governing body of the actors' trade union Equity. He attended St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge. Gardner qualified as a physician at Guy's Hospital in 1987, then as a general practitioner in 1993. He combined medicine and comedy during the 1990s as half of the award-winning comedy duo Struck Off and Die with Phil Hammond. Gardner eventually left medicine to become an actor, starring in a number of TV commercials, including that for the Renault Mégane. He reached prominence playing Brian Johnson in CITV's My Parents Are Aliens (episodes of which he also wrote) and Michael, the café owner in Jack Dee's BBC sitcom Lead Balloon. In 2009–10 he starred in three plays directed by Sir Peter Hall. In 2011 he played Professor Tony Shales in th...