1. Timothy David Minchin AM was born on 7 October 1975 and is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, musician, poet, composer, and songwriter.
64 Facts About Tim Minchin
1. 2.
Tim Minchin has appeared on television in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
3.
Tim Minchin's show Darkside launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
4.
Tim Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to small acting roles on Australian television.
5.
Tim Minchin is the composer and lyricist of the Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated show Matilda the Musical and the Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated show Groundhog Day The Musical.
6.
Tim Minchin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours "for significant service to the performing arts, and to the community".
7.
Timothy David Minchin was born in Northampton on 7 October 1975, the son of Australian parents Ros and David Ellison Minchin.
8.
Tim Minchin holds both Australian and British citizenship, as everyone born in the UK before 1983 was automatically a citizen of the country.
9.
Tim Minchin is descended from R E Minchin, founding director of Adelaide Zoo.
10.
Tim Minchin returned to Australia with his parents and was raised in Perth, alongside his elder brother, Dan, and two younger sisters, Katie and Nel.
11.
Tim Minchin started learning to play the piano at the age of eight, but gave it up after three years because he did not enjoy the discipline.
12.
Tim Minchin graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1996 with a BA in English and theatre, and from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1998 with an Advanced Diploma in contemporary music.
13.
Tim Minchin considers the eye makeup important because while he is playing the piano he is not able to use his arms and relies on his face for expressions and gestures; the eyeliner makes his features more distinguishable for the audience.
14.
Tim Minchin argues that, as one of the most powerful and influential forces in the world, religion should never be off-limits to satirists.
15.
Tim Minchin says that his favourite song to perform is "Peace Anthem for Palestine", which reflects his feelings about religious conflict.
16.
Tim Minchin released a CD titled Sit with his band Timmy the Dog in 2001 but achieved little success.
17.
Tim Minchin struggled initially; he could not get an agent for a year and had been unable to find any acting work.
18.
Tim Minchin decided to compile all of his humorous songs into a single live show to "get the comedy stuff off my chest" before going back to more serious music.
19.
Tim Minchin says he entered into comedy "naively", having never even attended a live comedy gig before performing one himself.
20.
Tim Minchin's break-out show Darkside achieved critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it won the inaugural Festival Directors' Award and attracted the notice of Karen Koren, the manager of the well-known Gilded Balloon venues.
21.
Koren backed the show's run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Tim Minchin received the Perrier Comedy Award for Best Newcomer.
22.
Tim Minchin's 2006 show So Rock was nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's top prize, the Barry Award, and in 2007 he was given the award for Best Alternative Comedian at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.
23.
Tim Minchin was the subject of the winning entry, by painter Sam Leach, in the 2010 Archibald Prize, Australia's most important portraiture competition.
24.
Tim Minchin stated that the aim of incorporating the orchestra into his act was to create a comedy show that would not be ruined by being performed in arenas, as stated in the special features of the DVD and Blu-ray.
25.
In March 2020 it was announced that Tim Minchin had signed a record deal with BMG and would release his debut studio album, Apart Together, in November 2020.
26.
Tim Minchin obviously has things to say about the world but he hasn't really found the right way to say them", but admitted that "There are glimmers of great humanity and honesty, small moments of beauty.
27.
On 3 December 2024, Minchin announced that he and his band will perform 5 intimate shows to celebrate the opening of the Foundry Theatre at the Sydney Lyric from 11 to 15 February 2025, titled First at the Foundry.
28.
Tim Minchin has made appearances on Australian TV shows, including the ABC's Spicks and Specks and The Sideshow.
29.
Tim Minchin appeared as a special guest on the 2009 edition of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, performing a song written for the show in reference to a question regarding Google Street View.
30.
On Saturday 13 August 2011, Tim Minchin hosted Prom 40, the first BBC Comedy Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
31.
Tim Minchin appeared on Desert Island Discs on 6 May 2012.
32.
In December 2011, Tim Minchin performed a specially written song called "Woody Allen Jesus" on The Jonathan Ross Show.
33.
Tim Minchin did this because he's scared of the ranty, shit-stirring, right-wing press, and of the small minority of Brits who believe they have a right to go through life protected from anything that challenges them in any way.
34.
In 2013, Tim Minchin played rock star Atticus Fetch in Californication.
35.
In 2015, Tim Minchin guest starred in the Australian comedy television series, No Activity.
36.
In 2015, Tim Minchin played the role of Smasher in the Australian TV mini series The Secret River.
37.
In 2019, Tim Minchin starred as Lucky Flynn in the TV series Upright, alongside Milly Alcock as Meg.
38.
In 2020, Tim Minchin performed the opening and closing songs for the BAFTA awards ceremony, which took place behind closed doors.
39.
Tim Minchin was a big star in London, but no one cared about him in LA.
40.
In 2023, Tim Minchin portrayed Darius Cracksworth in the Australian series The Artful Dodger.
41.
In 2024, Tim Minchin wrote a song for the Netflix series Eric called "Good Day Sunshine", a theme song for a fictional show in the series.
42.
Tim Minchin's background is in theatre and he has appeared in various stage productions.
43.
Tim Minchin played the title role in the 2006 Perth Theatre Company production of Amadeus, a fictional play about the downfall of Mozart at the hands of the reigning court composer, a character based on and named after Antonio Salieri.
44.
Tim Minchin has acted for the Australian Shakespeare Company, the Black Swan Theatre Company, and in various other plays, short films, and television commercials.
45.
Tim Minchin has appeared playing small parts on the ABC telemovie Loot and on the show Comedy Inc.
46.
The tour extended into various other countries due to popular demand, with Tim Minchin reprising the role in the world, with a filmed version being released in Autumn 2012.
47.
The filmed version, much to Tim Minchin's annoyance, had his voice autotuned.
48.
Tim Minchin made his Sydney Theatre Company debut in 2013 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead alongside Toby Schmitz.
49.
Tim Minchin appeared as himself in the 'To be, or not to be' sketch alongside Paapa Essiedu, Benedict Cumberbatch, Harriet Walter, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench and Charles, Prince of Wales.
50.
In 2008, Tim Minchin was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to write the music and lyrics for Matilda the Musical, adapted by Dennis Kelly and based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl.
51.
In 2015, it was announced Tim Minchin had teamed up again with director Matthew Warchus and the creative team from Matilda to write the music and lyrics for the new stage musical Groundhog Day based on the 1993 film of the same name alongside Danny Rubin as book writer The musical had its premiere at The Old Vic in 2016, before transferring to the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway.
52.
Tim Minchin revealed that the musical is planned to open in Australia and will be a biographical story opposed to an original or adaptation.
53.
Tim Minchin played the role of Tom in the contemporary family drama Two Fists, One Heart, released 19 March 2009.
54.
Tim Minchin wrote the song "Drowned" for the film's soundtrack.
55.
In 2013, Tim Minchin moved with his family to Los Angeles so that he could work on Larrikins, a planned Australian-themed animated musical film for DreamWorks Animation, which he wrote the songs for and was set to co-direct with Chris Miller.
56.
Tim Minchin co-starred as Friar Tuck in the 2018 American film Robin Hood.
57.
In 2021, it was announced that a feature film adaptation of Matilda the Musical will be released for Netflix, TriStar Pictures and Working Title Films, with Tim Minchin writing additional music and songs, Dennis Kelly writing the screenplay and will be directed by Matthew Warchus.
58.
Tim Minchin states that he is an atheist as well as a sceptic, and cannot understand how someone can be a sceptic and still be religious.
59.
Tim Minchin later described it as "the most overt piece of activism I've done".
60.
The Tim Minchin video was shown on the ABC Insiders TV current affairs program.
61.
Tim Minchin was criticised by politicians Tony Abbott and Mitch Fifield.
62.
In 2019, Tim Minchin was awarded a third honorary doctorate for his contribution to the arts by the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
63.
Tim Minchin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours.
64.
Tim Minchin is patron and supporter of the charities WA Youth Theatre Company, The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.