Simon Bird

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Simon Bird
File:Simon Bird, 2010.jpg
Bird at the BAFTAs TV Awards, June 6, 2010
Born Simon Antony Bird[1]
(1984-08-19)19 August 1984 (age 31)
Guildford, Surrey, England
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Birkbeck, University of London
Occupation Actor, Comedian
Years active 2004-present
Spouse(s) Lisa Owens (m. 2012)

Simon Antony Bird (born 19 August 1984) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the BAFTA-winning E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, and for playing Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner.

Early life

Bird was born in Guildford, Surrey as the third of four children[2] of Graham Bird and Heather née Gage.[3][dead link]

Bird was educated at Cranmore School, West Horsley, the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he read English.[4] At Cambridge, Bird was the President of the Footlights, the university's sketch and theatrical group.[5]

Career

Early comedy career

While completing an MA in cultural and critical studies at Birkbeck College, Bird set up the sketch comedy group "The House of Windsor" with Joe Thomas (who plays Simon Cooper in The Inbetweeners) and Jonny Sweet[6] They performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and in 2008 with a show called The Meeting, described as a site-specific comedy installation set in an actual boardroom, which received national media attention and a clutch of five-star reviews.[citation needed] Bird and Thomas were also regulars on series 1 and 2 of The Weekly Show, a podcast for Channel 4 Radio (2006-7).

Bird also performs stand-up comedy and took part in Chortle's national student comedy awards in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, coming second in his final attempt. (He was a finalist in 2006, and was disqualified for deliberately breaking the rules in 2007.)[7][8]

Breakthrough

In 2008, Bird was cast in E4's teen comedy The Inbetweeners as Will McKenzie, along with Joe Thomas.[9] He won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best Male Newcomer[10] and the 2009 British Comedy Award for Best Actor.[11] He was also nominated for Best Comedy Performance at the 2008 Royal Television Society Awards,[12] and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Awards.[10]

Subsequent work

In 2010 Bird created a BBC Three comedy panel show The King Is Dead, in which a well-known person is hypothetically killed off and a panel of three personalities go head-to-head in a series of satirical quiz rounds and challenges in their bid to replace them. He hosted alongside Nick Mohammed and Katy Wix.

Another of Bird's projects is Friday Night Dinner, a single-camera comedy written by Robert Popper and made by Big Talk Productions. Although his character in Friday Night Dinner is a member of a Jewish family (the Friday night dinner being a Jewish tradition), Bird himself is not Jewish.[13]

Simon Bird returned to the character of Will McKenzie in The Inbetweeners Movie which was released on 17 August 2011.

Bird has also co-created, co-written, and co-starred in a pilot, 'Chickens', for Channel 4, alongside Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas. It is about three men who remain in England during World War I. It was broadcast as part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase season. In 2012, Sky1 picked up a 6 episode season, filming began in late 2012 and the series premiered in Summer 2013.[14]

As of 2015, Bird currently voices thetrainline.com TV advertisements.

Personal life

Of his choice of career, Bird states that, "I never came into this industry to be an actor. I wanted to be a comedian. All the people I love are being themselves – like Larry David" and that his parents wish for him to complete his Ph.D.[15] Bird is a Crystal Palace fan and since 2012 has been married to Lisa Owens [16]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2011 The Inbetweeners Movie Will McKenzie
2013 The Look of Love Jonathan Hodge
2013 The Harry Hill Movie Ed
2014 The Inbetweeners 2 Will McKenzie

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2008–2010 The Inbetweeners Will McKenzie 18 episodes
British Comedy Award Best Male Comedy Newcomer (2008)
British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actor (2009)
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Role (2010)
2010 The King is Dead Himself (Host) 7 episodes; also creator and writer
2011 Comedy Showcase Cecil Episode: "Chickens"
2011–present Friday Night Dinner Adam Goodman 19 episodes
2013 Chickens Cecil 6 episodes; also creator and writer

References

17: Bird to Marry Girlfriend http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2059713/The-Inbetweeners-star-Simon-Bird-marry-girlfriend-Lisa-Owens.html

  1. ↑ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984-2004.; ancestry.com
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Simon Bird - Revels Chortle Student Comedy Awards 2007
  8. ↑ Simon Bird - Chortle Student Comedy Awards 2008 2
  9. ↑ http://www.e4.com/inbetweeners/about.html
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://www.britishcomedyawards.com/past-winners/2008.aspx
  11. ↑ http://www.britishcomedyawards.com/past-winners/2009.aspx
  12. ↑ http://www.rts.org.uk/winners-rpa?term_node_tid_depth=122
  13. ↑ http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2011-03/04/gq-tv-simon-bird-interview-friday-night-dinner-the-inbetweeners-movie-film
  14. ↑ http://sky1.sky.com/chickens/inbetweeners-stars-simon-bird-joe-thomas-to-star-in-chickens
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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