The Office

Background:

“There's nothing wrong with getting 20 million viewers, but I think there's something wrong with aiming at getting 20 million viewers, because then you have to take away all the things that will offend, and you'll end up with something so anodyne that it just washes over you for half an hour. I imagine “The Office” (2001) was also one of the most hated shows on television, that some people passionately hated it. But that's better, for me. David Bowie said that after Let's Dance, which is his biggest album ever and obviously not his best, he was doing these stadium gigs and looked out at the audience and suddenly realized that he had Phil Collins fans instead of Iggy Pop fans. And that's how I feel about everything I do: I want Iggy Pop fans.” Ricky Gervais

British comedian, actor, writer, host and filmmaker Ricky Gervais has reached mainstream prominence thanks to his critically acclaimed TV series “The Office” (BBC Two, 2001-2003) and “Extras” (BBC Two/HBO, 2005-2007), both of which he co wrote and co directed with long time partner Stephen Merchant. He also starred as David Brent in “The Office,” for which he picked up a Golden Globe Award, three BAFTA Awards, a British Comedy Award, a Royal Television Society Award and a Television Critics Association Award, and Andy Millman in “Extras,” where he won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Satellite Award and a British Comedy Award, not to mention nominations at the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, for his performance. Gervais won a Satellite Award for his starring role in the film “Ghost Town” (2008). Other film acting credits include “For Your Consideration” (2006), “Night at the Museum” (2006) and its sequel, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” (2009), “Stardust” (2007), and “The Invention of Lying” (2009), which he also also co directed and co written with Matthew Robinson and produced. He has guested in “Alias,” “24” and “The Simpsons.” At the stand up circuit, Gervais has performed the sold our tours “Animals” (2003), “Politics” (2004) and “Fame” (2007). His new comedy show, “Science,” premiered at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow in August 2009. Multi faceted Gervais has also published the best selling “Flanimals” book series and performed with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in “The Ricky Gervais Show,” the most downloaded podcast in the world. Gervais began his career in the music industry as part of the pop duo Seona Dancing in the early 1980s and then moved to radio before starting gaining notice on the small screen in the late 1990s through a performance in “The 11 O'Clock Show.” His career earned substantial momentum with “The Office.”

Gervais has a long running relationship with TV producer Jane Fallon, whom he met while still in college. They currently live in Hampstead, London. In 2008, they purchased a second home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He mentions “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984) his favorite film.

Gervais is an atheist, a fact that he publicly disclosed during a 2007 interview with Kirsty Young for Desert Island Disc. He stated he had lost his faith as a child.

A life long fan of wildlife documentaries, Gervais has been actively supported animal rights. He is opposed to fox hunting and bull fighting, among other animal rights causes.

Reading, Berkshire born and raised Gervais is close friends with American comedian Jon Stewart. He also has developed good friendships with fellow “The Office” and “Extras” co writer and co director and podcaster, Stephen Merchant, fellow “The Ricky Gervais Show” star Karl Pilkington, illustrator Rob Steen, and comedian Robin Ince.

Philosophy

Childhood and Family:

Ricky Dene Gervais was born on June 25, 1961, in Reading, Berkshire, England, to a French Canadian father, Jerry Gervais, and an English mother, Eva Gervais. His father emigrated from London, Ontario, Canada while on foreign duty during the Second World War. After meeting with Ricky's mother, they settled in the suburb of Whitley in Reading. Despite growing up in relative impoverishment, Ricky had a stable and happy family, where openness and honesty among family members became the emphasis. One of four siblings, he has two brothers, Larry and Robert Gervais, and a sister, Marsha Gervais.

Ricky was educated at Whitley Park Infants and Junior Schools and Ashmead Comprehensive School. He attended college at the University College London in London, England. Originally, he was intended to study Biology in college, but changed subject to philosophy within two weeks of his arrival. He graduated with a degree in Philosophy. It was at UCL that Ricky met long time girlfriend Jane Fallon.

Extras

Career:

During his final year in college, Ricky Gervais founded a pop duo, Seona Dancing, with his friend Bill Macrae. The group released two singles in 1983 called “Bitter Heart” and “More To Lose” before disbanding in the following year. He continued to become a manager for the UK indie group Suede and later spent several years working as an entertainments manager for the University of London Union (ULU). In the meantime, he also took a handful of unnoticeable stand up comedy stints. After a string of office jobs, Gervais joined the London radio station XFM, where he became “head of speech.” While there, he recruited future writing partner Stephen Merchant as his assistant. In 1998, after the Capital Radio group took over XFM, Gervais, accompanied by his assistant Merchant, moved to BBC Radio 1, where he became music advisor and provided sketch material to many programs.

Gervais' first break on television also arrived in 1998 when he wrote and performed on the cult favorite sketch comedy series “The 11 O'Clock Show” (BBC Four). He played an intolerant news reporter there. The same year, he also co wrote with Merchant the pilot for a series called “Golden Years,” where Gervais starred as a David Bowie fanatic. The episode was shown in September 1999 during the season 2 of the Channel 4 series “Comedy Lab.”

After writing for the BBC short lived sketch show “Bruiser,” Gervais had his own TV show on BBC Four called “Meet Ricky Gervais,” where he mixed a talk show format with his alarming reporter character, previously introduced on “The 11 O'Clock Show.” Debuted on September 4, 2000, the show, however, earned negative feedback and was canceled after six episodes on October 27, 2000. Thanks to a video footage of Gervais that Merchant shot and submitted to ITV in the 1990s, the two were able to secure a writing job at the network's sketch comedy series “ The Sketch Show” in 2001, but it was not until they co created the comedy series “The Office” that they enjoyed a big success.

Debuted on July 9, 2001 on BBC Two, “The Office,” centering on every day lives of office workers in the Slough, Berkshire branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company, initially received small acclaim during its first six episode run and was almost canceled due to poor ratings. Thanks to gradual gossip and critical acclaim, the show had developed an audience by the time it returned for the next six-episode run in 2002. It was concluded with two episode Christmas specials in 2003. Shown internationally through BBC Worldwide channels such as BBC Prime, BBC America and BBC Canada, “The Office” has since become one of the most flourishing British comedy exports of all time.

Upon its debut, “The Office” won a 2001 British Comedy for Best New TV Comedy and a nomination for Best TV Comedy. It went on to collect more awards in 2002 such as a BAFTA for Situation Comedy Award, a Banff Rockie Award for Best Comedy, a British Comedy for Best TV Comedy, Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Writer's Award and Best Entertainment and a RTS for Best Situation Comedy or Comedy Drama. Subsequent awards that the show received included a Broadcasting Press Guild for Writer's Award, the Silver Rose at the 2003 Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival, a Television and Radio Industries Club for TV Comedy Programme (all 2003), a BAFTA for Situation Comedy Award, a Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy, the Peabody Award, the RTS Television Award for Best Situation Comedy and Comedy Drama (all 2004) and the 2005 TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement Movies, Mini-Series and Specials. Meanwhile, Gervais, who starred as multi talented general manager David Brent on the series, gained extensive recognition for his performance. He was handed three consecutive BAFTA Awards for Best Comedy Performance from 2002 to 2004, a 2002 British Comedy for Best Comedy Actor, a 2003 RTS for Best Comedy Performance, a 2004 TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy and a 2004 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy. Gervais also co directed the show with Merchant.

After the first season of “The Office,” Gervais and Merchant collaborated to create a Saturday radio show for XFM called “The Ricky Gervais Show.” Premiered in November 2001, the show starred Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington and went on to run sporadically until January 2004, and later in the mid 2005. Starting in the late 2005, the show was developed into a podcast series of 12 shows. It emerged as the world's most successful podcast in the early 2006 and was listed in the Guinness World Record in 2007 for the most downloaded podcast in the world.

2001 also became a turning point for Gervais' stand up career following a few unsuccessful efforts in the late 1990s. His first successful show, “Rubbernecker,” ran at the Cafe Royal as part of the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It also featured Jimmy Carr, Robin Ince, and Merchant. It was followed by the well known live themed trilogy, “Animals” (2003), “Politics” (2004) and “Fame” (2007).

Gervais made his feature film acting debut in the 2001 Moody Shoaibi directed comedy “Dog Eat Dog,” where he was cast as Bouncer. The same year, he also voiced penguin in the 30 minute British animated TV movie “Legend of the Lost Tribe,” which also starred the voices of Jane Horrocks, Steve Coogan, Jeff Goldblum and Natalie Imbruglia, to name a few. After the success of “The Office,” Gervais landed a notable role of Daniel Ryan, a notorious British bomb expert, in an episode of the American hit series “Alias” called “Facade” (2004). He recalled, “I've been offered a part in “Alias” and I'm going to do it. I love Alias, it's great and J.J. Abrams is writing me a part especially. It's just whether I can do it or not-it's got to be the right time, the right project, it's got to be fun, it's got to be worth it and it mustn't be bad for my career. Most people go, “It'll do, it's work and it'll make me a bit more famous” or “the money's good,” but I just think I've never regretted saying no. But a lot of people have regretted saying yes.”

Gervais' popularity in the US increased when he, in partnership with Merchant, joined forced with creator Greg Daniels to develop an American version of “The Office.” Debuted on NBC on March 25, 2005, the show starred Steve Carrell as Michael Scott and was a critical success. It has won

a 2006 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Carell), a 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, a 2007 Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and a 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Greg Daniels), among other awards and nominations.

Back to UK, Gervais co created, co written and co directed with Merchant the situation comedy series “Extras,” about extras working in theatre and on film sets. Starring Gervais as Andy Millman, Ashley Jensen as Andy's best friend and fellow extra Maggie Jacobs, and Stephen Merchant as Andy's incompetent agent, Darren Lamb, the show, consisting of two series of six episodes each and a Christmas Special, first broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on July 21, 2001 and in America on HBO on September 25, 2005. The second part followed on September 14, 2006 on BBC Two and on February 14, 2007 in HBO. The Christmas Special aired on December, 27 2007 on BBC Two and on December 16, 2007 on HBO. “Extras” won the 2006 Rose d'Or for Best Sitcom (UK) and a 2008 Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Best Comedy or Musical, not to mention another 6 wins and 20 nominations. For his bright acting, Gervais received a 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, a 2007 BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance, a 2008 British Comedy for Best Television Comedy Actor, a 2008 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, a 2007 Satellite nomination for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical, a 2008 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Seriesand a 2009 Astra nomination for Favourite International Personality or Actor. He also shared BAFTA nominations for Best Writer (2006 and 2007) and Best Situation Comedy (2006), Emmy nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (2007) and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (2006 and 2007) and a 2008 PGA nomination for Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic-Comedy. Gervais provided the voice of Bugsy in the 2005 British animated movie “Valiant,” directed by Gary Chapman and starring Ewan McGregor as the voice of Valiant and Tim Curry as the voice of Von Talon, guested in an episode of Fox's hit animated series, “The Simpsons,” called “Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife” (2006), which he also wrote, and had a small but memorable turn as a studio executive named Martin Gibb in the Christopher Guest helmed “For Your Consideration” (2006). Also in 2006, he had an important supporting role of Dr. McPhee in the Ben Stiller successful comedy vehicle “Night at the Museum.” It was followed by a guest stint as a Presidential Aide in “24” (2007) and a notable supporting role of Ferdy the Fence in Matthew Vaughn's “Stardust” (2007), starring Claire Danes.

Gervais made his debut as a leading man in a feature film when he was tapped to portray Bertram Pincus D.D.S. in the David Koepp helmed comedy/fantasy “Ghost Town” (2008), opposite Greg Kinnear. The role brought the actor a Satellite for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical. The same year, he performed a comedy special on HBO called “Ricky Gervais: Out of England - The Stand-Up Special,” where he Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special and Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.

In 2009, Gervais reprised his role of Dr. McPhee in the sequel “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and starred opposite Jennifer Garner in the comedy “The Invention of Lying,” which he also produced, co directed and co written (with Matthew Robinson). Released on October 2, 2009, “The Invention of Lying” has grossed over $32 million at the box office, well above its $18.5 million budget. However, it earned mixed reviews from critics. The same year, Gervais could be seen performing his new comedy show titled “Science” at the 2009 Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow.

More recently, Gervais served as host on the 67th Golden Globes (2010). He revealed that he would never want to host the Academy Awards by saying “Oscars isn't about comedy. It'' about a bunch of people turning up to see if they have won an award. It's a historic, stuffy thing and I would want to have fun with it and I don't think they would want me to do that. I wouldn't be allowed to do what I wanted and it would be no fun for me reading from an autocue. I'd want to do it my way.”

The accomplished actor is set to play Len Taylor in the film “Cemetery Junction,” which he also co written and co directed with Merchant, and produced. The film will be released in the UK on April, 7, 2010. He will lent his voice for the upcoming animation film “Flanimals” (2011), adapted from Gervais' 2004 successful children's book of the same name. The book “Flanimals” has spawned three sequels, “More Flanimals” (2005), “Flanimals of the Deep” (2006) and “Flanimals: The Day of the Bletchling” (2007).

“I don't think a comedian should even be concerned with being cool or sexy - as soon as you do, you aren't a comedian any more. Looks are still the most important thing for women when it comes to meeting a partner. And that's fair enough, but a sense of humour is really important too. For starters, it's a great indicator of whether you are going to get on. If the first time you go on a date you don't find each other funny, there's a fundamental problem.” Ricky Gervais

Awards:

• British Comedy: Best Television Comedy Actor, “Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (#3.0),” 2008

• Satellite: Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, “Ghost Town,” 2008

• BAFTA (TV): Best Comedy Performance, “Extras,” 2007

• Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, “Extras,” 2007

• Writers Guild of America (WGA ): Comedy Series, “The Office,” 2007

• Emmy: Outstanding Comedy Series, “The Office,” 2006

• Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival: Honorary Rose, 2006

• BAFTA (TV): Best Comedy Performance, “The Office,” 2004

• BAFTA (TV): Situation Comedy Award, “The Office,” 2004

• Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, “The Office,” 2004

• Television Critics Association (TCA): Individual Achievement in Comedy, “The Office,” 2004

• BAFTA (TV): Best Comedy Performance, “The Office,” 2003

• BAFTA (TV): Situation Comedy Award,“The Office,” 2003

• Broadcasting Press Guild: Writer's Award, “The Office,” 2003

• Royal Television Society (RTS): Television Award, Best Comedy Performance, “The Office,” 2003

• BAFTA (TV): Best Comedy Performance, “The Office,” 2002

• BAFTA (TV): Situation Comedy Award, “The Office,” 2002

• British Comedy: Best Comedy Actor, “The Office,” 2002

• Broadcasting Press Guild: Writer's Award, “The Office,” 2002