Rowan Atkinson was born in
Consett, Co Durham, England. His father owned
a farm in the area, but he was brought up
in a residential area. He had two older brothers
Rupert and Rodney. He went to Public school
(i.e. private) in England. He attended Newcastle
University before going to Oxford in 1975,
and it was at Oxford that he met screenwriter
Richard Curtis, with whom he wrote and performed
comedy revues at the Oxford Playhouse and
later at the Edinburgh Fringe.
After an acclaimed revue at the Hampstead
Theatre in 1978, Atkinson was offered
starring roles in two British television
series, but chose instead to join the
BBC's legendary "Not The Nine O’clock
News" team, where he first performed
with Tall Guy director Mel Smith. The
show recorded hugely successful albums,
released several best-selling books,
won an International Emmy Award, and
the British Academy Award for "Best
Light Entertainment Program of 1980."
For his performance in "Not the
Nine O’clock News," Atkinson
personally won the "British Academy
Award" and was named "BBC Personality
of the Year." His show at London's
Globe Theatre was sold-out for its entire
run, and he won the Society of West End
Theatres award for "Comedy Performance
of the Year."
In 1983, he began working with The Tall
Guy screenwriter Richard Curtis on their "situation
tragedy" -- "Black Adder" --
for BBC Television. After touring the
world with his own show and appearing
in "The Nerd" in London's West
End, Atkinson co-wrote and starred in
two new seasons of the innovative series "Black
Adder."
While filming The Tall Guy during the
day, Atkinson could be found in the theatre
in the evenings starring in "The
Sneeze," a collection of Checkov
adaptations. Atkinson played a British
consul opposite Sean Connery in the James
Bond film "Never Say Never Again," and
in 1989 co-starred with Steven Wright
in the Academy Award-winning short film "The
Appointments of Dennis Jennings." He
was recently seen in Nocholas Roeg's "The
Witches" alongside Angelica Huston,
in which he is once again cast as a villain,
and all across the world in his "Bean" film. |
