Mat Fraser

Actor, poet, musician, writer and 'thalidomide ninja' – Mat Fraser lists an impressive array of performance skills that anybody would be proud of. But Mat doesn't have just any body – he is phocomelic, born with shortened, 'seal-like' arms.

Performance power

Although from a theatrical family (he was conceived whilst his parents were on tour), Mat first learnt the power of performance at school. Encountering continual prejudice and abuse because of his appearance, he always managed to joke his way into favour with the toughest of antagonists. Such experiences helped turn Mat into the rounded performer he is today, but his first love was music and he spent 15 years as the drummer in a rock band.

Acting out

Eventually he left to 'like, find myself' and came into acting, via the Graeae Theatre Company. It opened his eyes and encouraged Mat to question his philosophy on life: 'I didn't think of myself as disabled, because non-disabled society had put a negative definition on disability.' He has since worked regularly in theatre and television – you may recognise him as Marlon from Channel 4's Metrosexuality – and on a number of radio shows.

Perceiving the person

Writing and performing have proved to be the perfect media for Mat to articulate his feelings and his belief that the bodies of people with disabilities are equal to everyone else's, just different.

His solo show, Sealboy: Freak, asks whether an audience can ever see beyond the disability and just perceive the person as a performer. It's not easy, despite our supposedly greater, 21st century social awareness. But the show forces audiences to re-examine their inner feelings about these issues.

Nevertheless, Mat's recent role in the Virgin mobile phone advertising campaign proves that progress is being made: this was the first time a disabled person had been used in a mainstream advert purely as an enigmatic performer and not as an object of pity.

Perhaps the days of a James Bond with a disability aren't so far off after all.

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