Eddie Izzard. Comedian.
Actor. Wearer of groovy shoes.
This is his story.
Eddie was born in the Year of the Tiger, February 7th in Yemen, the youngest
son of John and Ella Izzard. In 1963, shortly before Britain abandoned the
capital of Aden (apparently overstaying their welcome by about a hundred years),
the Izzards shuffled off to Bangor in Northern Ireland. By 1967, troubles
started brewing there as well, so the Izzards gathered their two boys (older brother
Mark and lil' Eddie) and headed for Skewen, in South Wales. Unfortunately, troubles
could not be dodged a third time and in 1968, Eddie's mum died of cancer.
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Eddie With Child
No, Eddie didn't become a father. The mother (pictured) went into labor
during one of Eddie's shows in Scotland. The proud papa stands behind Eddie.
Well done!
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"So at the age of six I went off to St John's boarding
school in Porthcawl, Wales. It was run by a very pleasant man called Mr. Crump
who we nicknamed 'the man from hell who we all hate'. Seeing as my Mum had just
died I decided to cry relentlessly for about a year. Mr. Crump would help me along
with beatings when he could fit them in." (from 'Live at the Ambassadors')
Eddie's early years are a bit of a haze comprising mostly of 10
years of trying and failing to get into school plays. As revenge on the teacher
who always made him play the clarinet instead of Romeo, Eddie decided he would
be famous and chose comedy as his path.
His own brand of "talking bollocks with more bollocks on top" was
honed first as a sketch comedian at the Edinburgh Festival, a street performer
in Covent Garden and then indoors at the London Comedy Clubs. Sticking up two
fingers to the one-eyed god television, Eddie then toured relentlessly around
the country making people laugh and becoming a cult so that people would don paccamacs
and worship his name.
All of this paid off and he began to win a string of awards to decorate his
bathroom: a Perrier Award nomination at the Edinburgh Festival and a Time Out
Award in 1991. Eddie decided that he wanted to play in the West End and really
make that teacher feel sorry.
In 1993 he took his show to the Ambassadors Theatre for a 4 week run which
he had to extend twice to 13 weeks to accommodate everyone and was nominated for
an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement. The Montreal Festival beckoned where
Eddie was selected as the 1993 showcase artist, the first comedian outside North
America to talk about fish to gain that honour. He ran for a week and sold out
a 400 seat theatre.
He then undertook a nation-wide tour of Britain followed by another run in
the West End, selling out the Albert Theatre within a week for its 7 week run,
a total of 34,000 seats. Still he had snubbed the TV so everyone agreed that this
was pretty amazing (or stupid), and LWT thought they should give him the 
award
for Top Live Stand-up Comedian at the British Comedy Awards. The video of his
show at the Ambassadors Theatre was released in December 1993.
1994 saw Eddie return to the Ambassadors Theatre to perform the male lead in
the world premiere of David Mamet's play 'The Cryptogram'. As a result of The
Cryptogram, Eddie was offered one of the lead parts in the play '900 Oneonta',
for which he received excellent notices. Then, in May 1995, Eddie played Edward
II at the Leicester Haymarket for a limited run. Here he split the critics, The
Guardian saying, "Great," The Observer saying, "Die."
In the spring of 1995 he compered a 56 date tour of the UK and Eire, which
coincided with the release of his new video from the Albery Theatre show called
'Unrepeatable'. Eddie also recorded a series for Radio 4 entitled 'Missed Demeanors'
which he devised and in which is a panellist. It was transmitted last May and
repeated in January.
A live improvisational show, 'One Word Improv', with Neil Mullarkey, Stephen
Frost and Suki Webster, was spawned from this radio show and played for two weeks
to packed houses at the Royal Court and again at the Edinburgh Festival. 'One
Word Improv' took to the road on May I this year, selling out dates throughout
England, Ireland, Holland and France.
Following Eddie's record breaking stand-up show, 'Definite Article',
at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the winter of 1995, he will be performing a 4 month
world tour of the show this Autumn to promote the release of the video of 'Definite
Article'. This tour will include a month in New York and shows in Paris (in French),
Koln, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Copenhagen, starting in Bexhill-on-Sea
on I September.
With film acting roles in 'Aristophanes' (Channel 4), 'The Secret Agent?' (with
Bob Hoskins and Gerard Depardieu) and Damien Hirst's 'Hanging Around', Eddie still
found time to write his sitcom 'Cows', which has been commissioned for Channel
4. A 1 hour special of 'Cows' which will be screened in the Autumn, goes into
production in the Summer.
Apart from that he is looking for work.
Portions of the above section
from the Sheffield Electronic Press 1996
And apparently, he's found it.
'Cows' didn't quite work out in the summer of 1995, but Eddie plowed along
with various movie and TV roles in The Secret Agent, The Unseen Frank Skinner
TV Show, Lust for Glorious, Inspector Derrick, Velvet Goldmine, The Avengers,
Mystery Men and the upcoming The Criminal, Circus and Shadow of the Vampire.
Sprinkled in between these roles, Eddie found time to squeeze in a few more
stand up acts.
In 1997,
he took the East Village by storm a second time with his appearance in New York
City following a sold out run at P.S. 122 last fall.
Eddie followed that up with the EMMY AWARD WINNING Dress
to Kill, which he also brought to the US in 1998 and was taped for HBO. This
has proven to be a pivotal show for Eddie which brought his particular brand of
stand up to a wider audience in the US and to this day, continues to do so.
The new millennium brought Eddie to thousands around the world with his new
show Circle.
Eddie was also Broadway bound with the 2003 revival of "A Day in the
Death of Joe Egg" which garnered him nominations for a Tony Award, Drama
Desk Award, Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award (Received Outer
Critics Circle Award for "Outstanding Actor in a Play").
Eddie Izzard continued his stand up in 2004 with Sexie,
once again taking him around the world. Between stand up tours, he squeezed
in a few character roles in Shadow of the Vampire, All the Queen's Men, The
Criminal, Circus, The Cat's Meow, Revengers Tragedy, Blueberry and hosting
Mongrel Nation for the Discovery Channel as well as Amnesty International's
We Know Where You Live, Live!
Eddie continued adding cameos from Romance and Cigarettes,
Oceans 12 (and 13), The
Aristocrats, Across the Universe, and a co-starring
role in Super Ex to his growing list of acting credits.
2007 found Eddie starring in Channel 5's Kitchen
and the critically acclaimed The Riches.
Eddie continues pursuing his acting career.
MORE INFO:
career/biographical
timeline
eddie filmography courtesy of imdb.com
another
eddie bio
