Rowan Atkinson

He married Sunetra Sastry on February 5, 1990 and they have two children. The family currently resides in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, London.

He has been actively involved in politics where he voiced his support for the ‘Reform Section 5 campaign’ and when he attempted to force a review of the controversial ‘Racial and Religious Hatred Bill’.

Apart from his acting career, he is an avid car-lover and a racer. He has written for a number of car magazines and has also appeared on the popular television shows ‘Top Gear’ and ‘Full Throttle’.

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on January 6, 1955 to Eric Atkinson and Ella May, in County Durham, England. He is the youngest of the four children born to the couple and was raised as a staunch Anglican.

He studied at Durham Choristers School, St. Bees School and finally at Newcastle University, where he majored in Electrical Engineering.

In 1975, he continued his Electrical Engineering degree at The Queen’s College, Oxford. It was during this time he was introduced to the future screenwriter, Richard Curtis, with whom he wrote and executed sketches for the Oxford Playhouse and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the following year.

He started his acting career by appearing in a series of comedy shows for BBC Radio 3 called ‘The Atkinson People’, in 1978. The next year, he did a one-of-a-kind pilot for a sitcom called, ‘Canned Laughter’.

In 1979, he starred in a television comedy sketch show titled, ‘Not the Nine O’ Clock News’ along with Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones and Chris Langham.

He earned widespread local success through his sitcom and went on to earn a role in the medieval sitcom, ‘The Black Adder’, which was aired in 1983 and continued till the next decade. Once again, he co-wrote the show with Richard Curtis.

In 1983, he made his motion picture debut with a supporting role in the James Bond film, ‘Never Say Never Again’. The same year, he was cast in a lead role for the film, ‘Dead on Time’.

From 1987 to 1989, he was called for the ‘Just for Laughs’ festival in Montreal, while shooting for the ‘Black Adder’. During this time, he was also cast in ‘The Appointments of Dennis Jennings’ and ‘The Tall Guy’.

The 1983 hit series, ‘The Black Adder’ was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson and also featured Atkinson. Voted as the ‘second-best British sitcom of all time’, this show was also ranked as the ‘20th best TV show of all time’. Rowan Atkinson, cast as Edmund Blackadder, was the series’ protagonist and established himself as one of the best actors of his time.

His role as ‘Mr. Bean’ in the ‘Mr. Bean’ series that began in 1995, is considered one of his magnum opus’ because it is believed that he created this character when he was in college and he always wanted to portray such a character. As a personality who ‘rarely spoke’ on television, he enthralled audiences with his one-of-a-kind physical humor and his relations with various people and situations. During its successful five-year run on television, Atkinson became a national celebrity for his role and the series became so popular that it spawned two film adaptations.