Margi Clarke is a British actress, born in Liverpool and raised in Kirkby, is known for her Scouse accent and platinum-blonde hair.

Her official launch into showbusiness came in 1978, as a presenter on the late-night entertainment magazine show, What's On, which was just shown in the ITV Granada region. She was known then simply as Margox.

In the early eighties she was the lead singer of many punk and nu-wave bands in the then thriving Liverpool music scene, including Margox and the Zinc who supported, among others, Adam and the Ants.

She first came to prominence in 1985 after starring in the low-budget cult film Letter to Brezhnev about two working-class Liverpool girls who meet two Russian sailors. This film is widely regarded as one of the most important British films of all time, and inspired the whole "guerilla" film-making scene that eventually blossomed a decade later.

The film was made for approximately £50,000 (Clarke called this "the cocaine budget on Rambo"), and became a huge international hit. Margi originated her role of Theresa in Letter to Brezhnev some three years earlier when the she played the role in a modest run at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983.

In 1986, at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, Clarke took the prize for "Most Promising Newcomer". She followed this with the European art-house trilogy for the Kaurismäki brothers ( I Hired a Contract Killer', "Helsinki Napoli All Night Long" and "L. A. Without a Map".

She went on to star in the films The Dressmaker , Strike It Rich, and Leaving the 21st Century, and had a well-known role in the Pet Shop Boys' video for their 1987 single, Rent. She was the stand-in host for Paula Yates on Channel 4's The Tube on several occasions.

1n 1989, she landed the part of Queenie in the long running BBC series Making Out, set in a Manchester electronics factory and written by Debbie Horsfield.

In 1991 she returned to presenting, on the late night ITV show The Good Sex Guide which gained unheard-of audience figures of 13 million for a show that aired at 10.35pm. She was rewarded with a win at the RTS Awards for "Best Female Presenter" in 1994. A second series was equally successful, and a third, The Good Sex Guide Abroad, soon followed. Clarke turned down an offer to take the series into a late night chat show format, the host eventually being Toyah Wilcox.

Following the success of The Good Sex Guide, Carlton TV offered Margi her own day-time show, and the resulting Swank run for two series. In 1994, Margi tried a new venture, stand-up comedy, and took her one-woman show 21st Century Scutt around the country, including a stint at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. She was a regular guest on Channel 4's notorious music show The Word, including one occasion where she tricked presenter Terry Christian into showing "his plums" in a hidden camera set-up.