Paul McCleary worked as a foreign exchange dealer for The Bank of America before training at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In a career spanning 30 years he has worked regularly with The Royal Shakespeare Company, where his roles have included Young Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, and most recently Alonso in The Tempest – which toured the U.S., Japan, and much of Europe. His many other Shakespeare credits include five productions of Hamlet and three of Romeo and Juliet. All in all, he has appeared in sixteen different Shakespeare plays.

Other work includes Waiting for Godot (Vladimir), The Weir (Jim), To Kill a Mocking Bird (Atticus) and Krapp's Last Tape. Recent television and film credits include Calendar Girls, Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere, and Outlaws. Paul has toured with the Actors From The London Stage in productions of Romeo and Juliet (1997), All's Well That Ends Well (1999) and Much Ado About Nothing (2002).

In January 2004 Paul married his American actress wife Jill, whom he met on the first of the Actors From The London Stage tours.