Ricky Gervais was born in Reading in 1961. He is a comedian, actor, director, producer, writer and broadcaster.
Ricky achieved fame with his television series “The Office” and the subsequent series “Extras”, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant.
Besides writing and directing the shows, Ricky played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras.
Ricky has starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. Ricky has performed on three sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast prior to March 2009,The Ricky Gervais Show.
He has accumulated a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards and the 2006 Rose d’Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2010 he was voted third greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Channel 4, behind Richard Pryor and Billy Connolly. In 2010, he was named on the Times 100 list of the world’s most influential people.
Ricky has recently released “Cemetery Junction” , a feature film about life in 1970’s Reading.