40 Facts About Stephen Merchant

Stephen James Merchant was born on 24 November 1974 and is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.

Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office, and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras and Life's Too Short.

Stephen Merchant provided the voice of the robotic "Intelligence Dampening Sphere" Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2.

Stephen Merchant co-developed the Sky One travel documentary series An Idiot Abroad and co-created Lip Sync Battle.

Stephen Merchant has performed as a stand-up comedian, which led to him writing and starring in the HBO series Hello Ladies, based on his stand-up material.

Stephen Merchant starred in his first play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, at London's Wyndham's Theatre in 2015.

Stephen Merchant wrote and directed the films Cemetery Junction in 2010 and Fighting with My Family in 2019, and starred in, co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the comedy crime series The Outlaws.

Stephen Merchant appeared as the mutant Caliban in the superhero film Logan, and as serial killer Stephen Port in the 2022 television drama Four Lives.

Stephen Merchant has received numerous accolades, including a Peabody Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four British Comedy Awards.

Stephen James Merchant was born in the Hanham suburb of Bristol on 24 November 1974, the son of nursery nurse Jane Elaine and plumber and builder Ronald John Merchant.

Stephen Merchant attended Hanham Secondary School and later the University of Warwick in Coventry from 1993 to 1996, where he received a 2:1 for his BA in Film and Literature.

Stephen Merchant worked as a film reviewer on the student radio station Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career.

Stephen Merchant was inspired to get into comedy by John Cleese.

Stephen Merchant met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997 when Gervais, hired Stephen Merchant as his assistant.

Stephen Merchant's father appeared in multiple episodes as an office handyman named Gordon.

Stephen Merchant directed a sitcom pilot called The Last Chancers, which aired on Comedy Lab in November 2002 and became a five-part series broadcast in December on E4.

Stephen Merchant won a 2006 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance as Lamb.

In January 2007, Stephen Merchant began hosting his own radio show on BBC 6 Music, airing weekly on Sunday afternoons.

Stephen Merchant began performing stand-up comedy in the late 1990s to critical success, though he decided to focus more on his work with writing partner Ricky Gervais after the success of The Office.

Stephen Merchant returned to stand-up with a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom in September 2011, under the title Hello Ladies.

Stephen Merchant performed his first-ever stand-up tour of Scandinavia in October 2014, performing in 11 different cities as part of a European festival circuit.

Stephen Merchant has played small roles in the films Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run, and The Invention of Lying.

Stephen Merchant has a supporting role in the 2010 film Tooth Fairy.

On television, Stephen Merchant made a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role on the sixth-season premiere of 24; he starred as a sports commentator in the unaired pilot No Skillz.

Later in 2010, Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote, and had cameo roles in, Life's Too Short, a television show starring Warwick Davis.

In January 2011, Stephen Merchant appeared alongside many other comedians at the 'Free Fringe Benefit' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London, in a show of stand-up to benefit the Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.

Stephen Merchant is the voice of Wheatley in Valve's 2011 video game Portal 2, a role which earned him widespread acclaim among reviewers.

Stephen Merchant has provided the voice-over since 2009 of advertisements for Barclays and Waterstones.

Stephen Merchant is an executive producer for the Spike show Lip Sync Battle and, in July 2015, Merchant opened his first play, The Mentalists by Richard Bean, alongside Steffan Rhodri in London's West End.

Stephen Merchant appeared in three episodes of The Big Bang Theory as Dave Gibbs, a guy Amy dates after she breaks up with Sheldon.

Stephen Merchant has portrayed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on the Comedy Central series Drunk History.

Stephen Merchant hosted a special celebrity edition of the cult UK game show The Crystal Maze, on Channel 4 on 16 October 2016, in aid of the network's Stand Up to Cancer campaign in partnership with Cancer Research UK.

In 2017, Stephen Merchant played Caliban in The Wolverine sequel Logan.

Stephen Merchant appeared as Nazi Gestapo leader Captain Deertz in director Taika Waititi's Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit.

In 2019, Stephen Merchant wrote and directed Fighting with My Family, a biographical sports comedy-drama film, based on the 2012 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family by Max Fisher.

In 2021, Stephen Merchant starred in The Outlaws, a 12-part comedy drama set in Bristol, which he co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed.

In December 2018, it was reported that Stephen Merchant was in a relationship with American actress Mircea Monroe.

Stephen Merchant has said that he prefers to liken himself to footballer Peter Crouch, who is the same height, and once impersonated Crouch in a BBC sketch broadcast as part of the pre-match build-up to England's opening game at the 2006 World Cup.

In December 2019, Stephen Merchant was the guest for an episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Stephen Merchant's book choice was Roger's Profanisaurus by Roger Mellie from Viz, his luxury item was a piano, and his chosen record was "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen.