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| Birth Name(s) : Ricky Gervais |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Ricky Gervais Biography
Ricky Dene Gervais (IPA: ) (born June 25, 1961) is an Emmy, Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning English comic writer and performer from Reading, Berkshire. Gervais found mainstream fame with his BBC Two television programme The Office and the series Extras which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and collaborator, Stephen Merchant. Besides writing and directing the shows, Gervais also played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras.
In his final year in 1983 as a student at UCL , Gervais alongside his friend Bill Macrae formed a New Romantic duo, Seona Dancing, (named after a friend and fellow student Seona Myerscough), and were signed by record label London Records, which released two singles - "More to Lose" and "Bitter Heart" which failed to reach the top 40 UK singles charts, reaching only positions 117 and 70 in the United Kingdom. However, a year later, the song "More to lose" was re-marketed as "Medium" by "Fade" and played by a DJ from 99.5 DWRT-FM in Manila, and gained major success and recognition amongst Filipino teenagers.
Gervais contributed to the BAFTA winning The Sketch Show (ITV) penning several sketches. His mainstream TV debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Lab" series of pilots. His one-off show, Golden Years, focused on a David Bowie-obsessed character called Clive Meadows. He then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot which replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999 where his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate amount of politically incorrect statements. Two years later Gervais went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais which was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself.
Extras first aired from 21 July 2005 with an appearance by Ben Stiller. It features cameos from Patrick Stewart, Kate Winslet (who is also from Reading), Ross Kemp, Vinnie Jones, Les Dennis and Samuel L. Jackson. Gervais's main character, Andy Millman, is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than David Brent.
In September 2007, it was announced that Gervais will star in the comedy film This Side of the Truth, co-writing and co-directing with Matt Robinson.
Gervais was trained for the three-round contest by famous boxing trainer brothers Frank and Eugene Maloney, at their Fight Factory gymnasium. It was the second televised charity boxing match, the first being Bob Mortimer against Les Dennis, for Comic Relief. The fight was televised by the BBC, and Gervais came out on top by a split decision verdict. Turner later claimed the only reason Gervais was awarded victory was because of his relationship with the BBC. Gervais later said that the experience was the 'most difficult thing' he had ever done. He donated his £5,000 prize money to the training of a Macmillan nurse.
Gervais has been nominated for best stand-up award at this year's Loaded LAFTAS with NIVEA for Men. The winners will be announced on October 4.
On September 16, 2007, Gervais won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Andy Millman on Extras.
On 2 July 2005, Gervais appeared at the Live 8 event held in Hyde Park, where he performed his famous dance. He produced a series of short films for the cause, linked acts from the studio with Jonathan Ross and also introduced the group R.E.M.. On 5 January 2006, he interviewed Larry David, in a one off special, Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David. On 25 December and 26 December of the same year, Channel 4 aired similar specials where he interviewed the actor/comedian Christopher Guest and infamously Garry Shandling. There are no plans for further episodes of "Meets...", although editions with John Cleese and Matt Groening were recorded in 2006, for broadcast in 2007. A source claimed "The Shandling experience put him off for good."
On February 6, 2006, it was announced that Gervais and Merchant were to write an episode for the third season of the U.S. version of The Office. The episode, entitled "The Convict", aired on November 30, 2006 in the United States.
On 1 July 2007, Gervais performed at the Concert for Diana in Wembley Stadium, a music event celebrating the life of the late Princess of Wales. Towards the end of the event - after a pre-recorded introduction from Ben Stiller - Gervais appeared along with fellow Office star Mackenzie Crook. They performed Freelove Freeway, a song previously heard in the fourth episode of series one of The Office. Due to a technical problem, Gervais then had to fill time until he was able to re-introduce Elton John to close the show, so he did the David Brent dance again, as well as singing the "Little Fat Man" song as performed by David Bowie in episode two of the second series of Extras.
Gervais is an atheist. In an interview given to John Humphrys he said, "Being an atheist makes someone a clearer-thinking, fairer person... They are not doing things to be rewarded in heaven; they're doing things because they're right, because they live by a moral code". He also added that, although he doesn't believe, God would like him. Andy Millman, the character he plays in his and Merchants sitcom Extras, also holds this view. |
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