111 Facts About Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand was born on 4 June 1975 and is an English comedian and actor.

Russell Brand is known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner.

Russell Brand worked as a voice actor in the animated films Despicable Me in 2010, Hop in 2011, and Despicable Me 2 in 2013, and played the title character of the 2011 remake of the romantic comedy Arthur.

Since guest-editing an edition of British political weekly New Statesman in 2013, Russell Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change, and media bias.

Russell Brand has incorporated many of his controversial public acts into his comedic material.

Russell Edward Brand was born in Orsett Hospital in Grays, Essex, England.

Russell Brand is the only child of Barbara Elizabeth and photographer Ronald Henry Brand.

Russell Brand's parents separated when he was six months old, and he was raised by his mother.

When Russell Brand was 8, his mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer and then breast cancer one year later.

Russell Brand then started to use illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, and ecstasy.

Russell Brand says he had a "strange relationship" with his father, whom he saw sporadically and who took him to visit prostitutes during a trip to Thailand when Russell Brand was a teenager.

Russell Brand made his theatrical debut at the age of 15 in a school production of Bugsy Malone, and then began work as a film extra.

Russell Brand attended Grays School and in 1991, he was accepted to the Italia Conti Academy and had his first year of tuition funded by Essex County Council.

Russell Brand performed stand-up at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000.

Russell Brand launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006.

Russell Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the coverage about him in the tabloid press.

Russell Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball in 2006 and again at the 2012 edition at Radio City Music Hall.

In December 2007, Russell Brand performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.

In 2013, Russell Brand presented and toured his comedy show Messiah Complex, in which he tackled advertising, the laws on drug addiction and the portrayal of his heroes, such as Gandhi, Guevara, Malcolm X and Jesus, and how he is, in comically contrived ways, similar to them.

In January 2017, Russell Brand announced his new tour Re:Birth, which debuted in April 2017 and was meant to go through November 2018.

Russell Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a video journalist on MTV: he presented Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the tea-time request show Select.

Russell Brand was fired several days after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios.

On 8 January 2008, Russell Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house, in the E4 show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

Russell Brand next returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show, 1 Leicester Square, which had its broadcast time revised to allow for a more adult-oriented theme.

The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4.

Russell Brand has, after all, been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years.

Russell Brand was later announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public.

Russell Brand said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era", referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]".

Russell Brand said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney".

Russell Brand made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologised for the comments later in the show.

Russell Brand claimed that MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20 percent higher than the previous year.

Russell Brand returned to host the 2009 MTV VMAs, on 13 September 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

On 12 February 2011, Russell Brand guest hosted an episode of the hit American sketch comedy Saturday Night Live.

In 1994, while still a teenager, Russell Brand appeared in episodes of The Bill and the children's adventure series Mud.

In 2002, Russell Brand appeared on the TV shows Cruise of the Gods and White Teeth.

Russell Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show; the role eventually went to Matt King.

In 2007, Russell Brand appeared in Cold Blood for ITV, playing an ex-con called Ally.

Russell Brand played a recovering crack addict named Terry in the pilot for the ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks.

Russell Brand voiced an Earth Guardian in Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.

Russell Brand appeared in a small role in the 2006 movie Penelope; although his first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's.

Russell Brand achieved American fame when he starred in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played rock star Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character.

Russell Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow, and he revealed the character was changed from an author to a rock star because of his audition.

Russell Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on 25 December 2008.

Russell Brand reprised the role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill.

Russell Brand reunited with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film.

Russell Brand starred in Julie Taymor's 2010 version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, as Trinculo.

In 2010, Russell Brand voiced Dr Nefario in the Universal movie Despicable Me, and reprised the role in the 2013 sequel.

Russell Brand guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Angry Dad: The Movie" as himself.

Russell Brand starred as Lonny in a film adaptation of the 1980s-set musical Rock Of Ages, released in cinemas in June 2012.

Russell Brand appeared as Tristan Trent in the 2020 fantasy film Four Kids and It, and in 2022 played Linus Windlesham in Kenneth Branagh's remake of Death on the Nile.

The company's most recent production, Russell Brand Doing Life, was released in 2009.

Russell Brand established his own production company in 2011 with friend Nik Linnen.

Russell Brand was fired from the job after reading pornographic material live on-air.

In 2005, Russell Brand co-hosted three one-off shows on BBC Radio 6 Music with Karl Pilkington.

Brand then co-hosted The Russell Brand Show beginning in on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Russell Brand returned to radio when he and Noel Gallagher hosted a one-off football talk show on 19 April 2009 for Talksport.

Russell Brand returned to Talksport on 9 October 2010, with a Saturday night show that lasted 20 weeks.

Russell Brand was joined by a host of guests, including Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.

From 2006 until 2009, Russell Brand wrote a column for The Guardian sports section that focused on West Ham United and the England national football team.

The book was published on 16 October 2008, and includes Russell Brand interviewing Noel Gallagher, James Corden, and David Baddiel about football.

Russell Brand has written articles for The Guardian that offer his perspectives on current events and pop culture, including the deaths of Amy Winehouse and Robin Williams.

Russell Brand was selected by the Dalai Lama to host the Buddhist leader's 2012 youth event in Manchester.

Russell Brand has appeared frequently as a campaigner for serious issues.

On 23 October 2013, Russell Brand was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman for the BBC's Newsnight in which he disparaged the British political system as ineffectual and encouraged the British electorate not to vote.

Russell Brand was challenged by Paxman about his call for "revolution" and whether someone who had never voted could edit a political magazine.

Russell Brand guest-edited a special issue of the New Statesman that was published on 24 October 2013 and explored the theme of Revolution, and in which he explained his objection to the destruction of Earth through greed and exploitation, and called for a change in consciousness to accompany political and economic measures to achieve a more sustainable future.

In January 2014, Russell Brand was invited by the Cambridge Union Society to participate in an interview, held in the Union's debating chamber with Leo Kirby, the Union's 2014 Speakers' Officer.

In September 2014, Russell Brand lent his support to the Fire Brigades Union, giving a speech at the union's rally against cuts in London and asking the public to support the firefighters.

Shortly afterwards, Russell Brand appeared on Newsnight again, but was interviewed by Evan Davis on this occasion.

BBC Three commissioned Russell Brand to make a documentary on the global "War on Drugs", which aired on 26 November 2014.

Russell Brand said in the documentary, "People think compassion is 'wet liberalism'; it's not, it's pragmatic".

Russell Brand worked with the Matchlight Ltd production company, director Ross Wilson and executive producer Liz Hartford.

On 2 December 2014, Russell Brand joined East London residents to protest over the increase in rents at the New Era housing estate.

Russell Brand called Farage "a pound shop Enoch Powell" on-air, and the two men continued to trade insults after the programme had ended.

In January 2015, during the television show Channel 4's Big Fat Anniversary Quiz, Russell Brand insulted politician Ed Balls.

The cafe opened on 26 March 2015 and in September the following year Russell Brand donated it to the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust.

On 29 April 2015, eight days ahead of 2015 UK general election, Russell Brand published an interview with Labour leader Ed Miliband on an episode of The Trews as part of a Trews Politics Week series.

Miliband stated that he took part to win over people like Russell Brand who do not vote, although his opponent David Cameron deemed the entire interview a "joke".

Russell Brand criticised an election "set up not to represent people's wishes".

Russell Brand was not registered to vote in the 2015 election.

Russell Brand endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election.

On 16 September 2010, Russell Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked his and then-fiancee Katy Perry's way to catch a flight at Los Angeles International Airport.

The warrant cited "simple criminal damage to property", leading Russell Brand, who offered to pay for the replacement of the window, to voluntarily appear at a police station.

Russell Brand was filming a movie in New Orleans at the time of the incident.

Russell Brand was ejected from the GQ Awards show on 3 September 2013 after receiving the "Oracle" award.

Russell Brand later wrote an article about the award night for The Guardian:.

In September 2021, Russell Brand shared information on how to avoid COVID-19 safety measures for people attending his tour.

Columnist Charlotte Lytton accused Russell Brand of pandering to the anti-vax movement as well as amplifying pro-Russian conspiracy theories with respect to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Russell Brand said in the video that "Truckers, who were previously regarded as heroes when they were delivering vital goods and working during the lockdown, are now villains as they protest vaccine mandates".

Russell Brand has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder.

Russell Brand suffered from bulimia, pornography addiction, and experienced a period of self-harming.

Russell Brand has described the concept of fame as "like ashes" in his mouth.

Russell Brand used to be a Buddhist; speaking to The Guardian in 2017 he said he believes in a higher power as described by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Russell Brand has shown interest in the Hare Krishna Movement and wrote in a 2007 Guardian column: "I say Hare Krishna as often as possible, sometimes even when I'm not being filmed".

Additionally, during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2010, Russell Brand talked about his love of Transcendental Meditation.

In 2011, Russell Brand served as best man at Noel Gallagher's wedding to Sara MacDonald.

Since 2016, Russell Brand has been training in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has earned a purple belt in the discipline.

Russell Brand is a lifelong supporter of the West Ham United football club.

Russell Brand first met American singer Katy Perry in mid-2009 when she filmed a cameo for his film Get Him to the Greek, although the cameo was cut from the film.

On 30 December 2011, Russell Brand filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, which was finalised in July 2012.

Perry later said in an interview that Russell Brand did not like the idea of her "being the boss" of things, and that the last time she had heard from him was on 31 December 2011, when he text-messaged that he was divorcing her.

In May 2014, Russell Brand received libel damages from The Sun after the paper had printed a story in November 2013 alleging that he had been unfaithful to Khan.

Russell Brand said he would be donating the unspecified damages to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

Since 2015, Russell Brand has been in a relationship with Scottish blogger and former restaurateur Laura Gallacher, whom he had dated on and off since 2007.

Russell Brand was ejected from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh and following a subsequent show in the city in 2004, a reviewer stated that "you'd rather hug him than hit him", as he had embraced recovery by this point.

In January 2014, Russell Brand described his first experience with heroin as "blissful".

Russell Brand has abstained from drug use since 13 December 2002.

Russell Brand was a patron of the Focus 12 drug treatment programme and rehabilitation charity after his own use of the service; the charity closed in 2018.

Russell Brand's sobriety was instigated by his agent, John Noel, after Russell Brand was apprehended using heroin in a bathroom during a Christmas party.

Russell Brand cites his practice of transcendental meditation as a significant factor in his recovery from drug dependence.

Russell Brand organised three fundraisers for Focus 12 in London, Dublin and Belfast in 2009, and has acted as a "sponsor" for numerous people during the rehabilitation stage of their treatment process.