Simon Bird
Simon Bird | |
---|---|
![]() Bird at the Ballon d'Ors | |
Born | Simon Antony Bird[1] 19 August 1984 (age 31) |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge Birkbeck, University of London |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2000–present |
Spouse |
Lisa Owens (m. 2012) |
Simon Antony Bird (born 19 August 1984) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner and Will McKenzie in The Inbetweeners.
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][dead link]
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 |
2015 | Crackanory | Himself | Episode: "Unlucky for Sam" |
References
17: Bird to Marry Girlfriend http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2059713/The-Inbetweeners-star-Simon-Bird-marry-girlfriend-Lisa-Owens.html
- ^ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984-2004.; ancestry.com
- ^ Barton, Laura (5 October 2012). "Mr Bird is not amused - Simon gets serious". London Evening Standard.
- ^ Gerald. "Simon Bird: 'Danger with The Inbetweeners is that it will no longer be believable that we are under the age of 40'".
- ^ Wyllie, Alice (7 October 2012). "Simon Bird on Friday Night Dinner, and why his awkward persona isn't all an act". The Scotsman.
- ^ Deacon, Michael (27 March 2009). "Interview: Simon Bird and Joe Thomas on The Inbetweeners". Telegraph.
- ^ Sweet, Jonny. "House of Windsor". Retrieved 18 December 2014.
- ^ Simon Bird - Revels Chortle Student Comedy Awards 2007
- ^ Simon Bird - Chortle Student Comedy Awards 2008 2
- ^ http://www.e4.com/inbetweeners/about.html
- ^ a b http://www.britishcomedyawards.com/past-winners/2008.aspx
- ^ http://www.britishcomedyawards.com/past-winners/2009.aspx
- ^ http://www.rts.org.uk/winners-rpa?term_node_tid_depth=122
- ^ http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2011-03/04/gq-tv-simon-bird-interview-friday-night-dinner-the-inbetweeners-movie-film
- ^ http://sky1.sky.com/chickens/inbetweeners-stars-simon-bird-joe-thomas-to-star-in-chickens
- ^ Webb, Claire (22 August 2013). "Chickens: Inbetweeners Simon Bird and Joe Thomas on playing overgrown schoolboys - again". Radio Times.
- ^ Buckley, James. "Crystal Palace vs Brighton & Hove Albion". www.shortlist.com.
External links
- Simon Bird at IMDb
- Digital Spy - Simon Bird, James Buckley (The Inbetweeners)
- Virgin Media - Meet the Inbetweeners
- Use dmy dates from August 2011
- 1984 births
- English male comedians
- English male television actors
- English male writers
- English stand-up comedians
- 21st-century English male actors
- People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford
- Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London
- Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
- People from Guildford
- Living people