Marion and Geoff

Background:

Welsh actor, comedian, host and writer Rob Brydon rose to fame after portraying Keith Barret on the hit TV series “Marion and Geoff” (2000-2003), which he also created. The role earned him a British Comedy Award, a Royal Television Society Television Award and a BAFTA TV nomination. For his work on the TV show “Human Remains” (2000), which he co-wrote and costarred in with Julia Davis, he won a British Comedy Award for his performance. Brydon, who was a member of the improvisational comedy group “More Fool Us,” has since starred in TV shows like “The Keith Barret Show” (2004-2005), “Supernova” (2005-2006), “Gavin & Stacey” (2007-2010, received a BAFTA TV nomination) and “The Trip” (2010, received a BAFTA TV nomination). He also served as a presenter or host in “Annually Retentive” (2006-2007), “Would I Lie to You” (2008-2010) and “The Rob Brydon Show” (2010, received a BAFTA TV nomination). Brydon has also acted in such films as “24 Hour Party People” (2002), “MirrorMask” (2005) and “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” (2005). A noted voiceover artist, Brydon has lent his voice to a number of TV commercials and computer games.

Brydon has two daughters and a son from his first marriage and a son with his present wife, Clare Holland, whom he married in 2006.

Wales

Childhood and Family:

Robert Brydon Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, on May 3, 1965. He was raised in Baglan by a school teacher mother, Joy Brydon, and a car dealer father, Howard Jones. He attended St. John's School in Porthcawl and Dumbarton House School in Swansea until age 14 and then continued to study at Porthcawl Comprehensive School. At Porthcawl, he joined the school's youth theater group. After leaving school, Robert began a three year program at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Halfway through the second year, he quit to begin his career on radio.

Robert married Clare Holland, a former producer on “The South Bank Show,” on October 6, 2006. Their son, Tom, was born in April 2008. The family currently resides in Strawberry Hill in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Robert also has three children, Katie (born September 1994), Amy (born August 1999) and Harry (born October 1996), from a previous marriage.

The Trip

Career:

After dropping out of college, 20 year old Rob Brydon got his start as a presenter on BBC Radio Wales. During his six year stint with the station, Brydon served as a DJ on Saturday morning shows. From 1992 to 1994, he was the main presenter on the Friday night entertainment show “Rave” on BBC Radio Wales, along with fellow radio personality Alan Thompson. The show also aired nationally on BBC Radio Five. Between 1994 and 1995, Brydon appeared in episodes of the original Radio Wales version of the sitcom “Satellite City,” starring Boyd Clack. Brydon also served as a comedian on BBC Radio Five Live's “The Treatment” and sporadically as a presenter on BBC Radio 2.

In 1988, Brydon, then billed as Rob Jones, broke into the small screen as the host of the game show “Invasion,” which premiered on BBC Wales TV on January 2, 1988. From 1990-1991, he hosted the regional talk show “Pick of the Week” and in 1994, was cast in the award winning TV film “The Healer,” starring Paul Rhys, Geraldine James and Julie Covington. He went on to have unaccredited or small parts in “Eleven Men Against Eleven” (1995), “First Knight” (1995), “Lord of Misrule” (1996), “The Very Thought of You” (1998), a British comedy starring Joseph Fiennes, Monica Potter and Rufus Sewell, and the Guy Ritchie movie “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (1998). He also guest starred in the TV shows “Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...” (1996) and “Married for Life” (1996). He then played the role of Karl in the TV miniseries “Cold Lazarus” (1996), starring Albert Finney, starred as Brian Baskerville on the animated children's TV show “The Baskervilles” (1999) and have a recurring role on the British comedy series “Barbara” (3 episodes, 1999).

Brydon, however, did not receive success on television until 2000 when he costarred and co-wrote the BBC dark comedy show “Human Remains” with Julia Davis. He won a British Comedy for Best TV Comedy Actor for his performance on the series. Brydon received even more success with the BBC Two show “Marion and Geoff,” which he wrote, produced and starred in. The show was a commercial hit and ran between 2000 and 2003 and Brydon won a British Comedy for Best Comedy Newcomer in 2000 and was nominated for the British Comedy for Best TV Comedy Actor in 2003. He also picked up the 2001 Royal Television Society Television Award for Network Newcomer - On-Screen and a 2004 BAFTA TV nomination for Situation Comedy Award. Brydon recreated his character Keith from “Marion and Geoff” on several TV specials, including “Comic Relief: Say Pants to Poverty” (2001), “A Small Summer Party” (2001), “Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do” (2003), “Keith Barret: Live” (2005) and “The Happy Couple” (2006) and in an episode of “Jack Dee Live at the Apollo” (2005). He also reprised the role in a one man show in 2003 called “Making Divorce Work” as well as the BBC show “The Keith Barret Show” (2004-2005), which Brydon wrote and produced.

During this time, Brydon also portrayed Mr. Alf in the TV miniseries “The Way We Live Now” (2001), Ryan Letts in the film “24 Hour Party People” (2002), which was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom, and Andy van Allen/Romak in the TV film “Cruise of the Gods” (2002), opposite Steve Coogan, David Walliams and James Corden. He also portrayed Inspector Awdry in the TV film “Marple: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw” (2004), Morris Campbell/Prime Minister in the fantasy film “MirrorMask” (2005), opposite Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry and Gina McKee, and Kenneth Tynan in the TV movie “Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore” (2005). He was then seen as Captain Toby Shandy in the film “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” (2005), for which he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress/Actor. He also guest starred in TV shows like “Murder in Mind” (2002), “Black Books” (2002) and “I'm Alan Partridge” (2002). In addition, his voice could be heard in the TV short “Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe” (2002) and as Peter de Lane on “Directors Commentary” (2004), a spoof he executive produced and wrote. He next provided voices for “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), a zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright that starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

In 2005, Brydon joined the cast of the comedy sketch show “Little Britain” as Roman de Vere. The same year, he also starred with Kat Stewart on the BBC series “Supernova” (2005-2006), playing Dr Paul Hamilton. From 2006 to 2007, Brydon presented the BBC parody show “Annually Retentive,” starring Dave Gorman and Jane Moore. He also served as the show's writer and executive producer.

In 2007, Brydon teamed up with Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, James Corden, Ruth Jones, Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman and Melanie Walters to star in the comedy series “Gavin & Stacey.” He remained with the show until it ended in January 2010 and earned a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Comedy Performance and a British Comedy nomination for Best TV Comedy Actor (both 2009) for the role. 2007 also saw roles in the TV series “Oliver Twist” (as Mr. Fang) and the TV series documentary “Heroes and Villains” (as Stanislav Fréron).

In 2009, Brydon began his stint as the host of the game show “Would I Lie to You,” where he replaced Augus Deayton. The same year, his voice could be heard on several episodes of the sitcom “Horne & Corden” and as the character Snake on the TV short “The Gruffalo.”

Brydon next hosted and wrote the talk show “The Rob Brydon Show,” which debuted on BBC on September 17, 2010. He was nominated for a 2011 BAFTA TV Award in the category of Best Entertainment Performance for his efforts. In November 2010, he began his role of Rob, opposite Steven Coogan as Steve, on the sitcom “The Trip.” The show has brought him British Comedy nominations for Best Comedy Actor and Best New TV Comedy, a 2011 BAFTA TV nomination for Best Situation Comedy, and a 2011 Broadcasting Press Guild nomination for Best Comedy/Entertainment. Still in 2010, he acted on the television film “The One Ronnie” and portrayed Salenko in a series pilot titled “Freddi.”

Awards:

• British Comedy: Best TV Comedy Actor, “Human Remains,” 2001

• Royal Television Society (RTS): Television Award, Network Newcomer - On-Screen, “Marion & Geoff,” 2001

• British Comedy: Best Comedy Newcomer, “Marion & Geoff,” 2000