Louis Theroux

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Louis Sebastian Theroux
[[Image:|150px]]
Born May 20, 1970 (1970-05-20) (age 38)
Singapore
Residence Harlesden, United Kingdom
Nationality Anglo-American
Known for Documentaries
Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends
When Louis Met…
Spouse Nancy (girlfriend)
Children 2

Louis Sebastian Theroux (born 20 May 1970) is a British broadcaster holding both British and US citizenship, best known for his television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met…

Contents

[edit] Biography

Theroux was born in Singapore,[1] the younger son of the American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux and his British first wife Anne Castle. His elder brother is the writer and television presenter Marcel Theroux. He is the cousin of American actor Justin Theroux. Brought up in the UK, he holds dual US-British nationality. His surname is of French-Canadian provenance and originates from the region around Sarthe and Yonne in France. Theroux was educated at Westminster School (where he was a friend and contemporary of the comedians Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish). He then went to Magdalen College, Oxford where he gained a first class degree in modern history.

His first journalism job was at Metro Silicon Valley, an alternative weekly newspaper in San Jose, California. In 1992 he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine. He got his break in television working as a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series,[2] for which he provided segments on off-beat cultural subjects, including Avon ladies in the Amazon, the Jerusalem syndrome, and the attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand itself as a civil rights group for white people. When TV Nation ended he was signed to a development deal by the BBC, out of which came Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. He has guest-written for a number of publications including Hip-Hop Connection and he continues to write for The Idler. On 13 May 2001 Theroux won the Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) at the British Academy Television Awards for Weird Weekends. He won it again on 21 April 2002, for his series When Louis Met….

His first book, The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures, was published in Britain in 2005. In this book, Theroux returns to America to find out what has happened in the lives of some of the people he featured in his television programmes since he last saw them.

He lives in the London district of Harlesden with his girlfriend, Nancy, with whom he has 2 sons, Albert and Fred.[3]

[edit] Documentaries

[edit] Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends

In Weird Weekends (1998–2000), Louis followed marginal, mostly American subcultures like survivalists, gangsta rappers, Nazi skinheads and porn stars, often by living among or close to the people involved. Often, Theroux's documentary method subtly exposes the contradictions or farcical elements of some seriously-held beliefs. Theroux himself describes the aim of the series as

“ Setting out to discover the genuinely odd in the most ordinary setting. To me, it's almost a privilege to be welcomed into these communities and to shine a light on them and, maybe, through my enthusiasm, to get people to reveal more of themselves than they may have intended. The show is laughing at me, adrift in their world, as much as at them. I don't have to play up that stuff. I'm not a matinee idol disguised as a nerd. ”

[edit] When Louis Met...

In When Louis Met… (2000–2002), Theroux accompanied a different British celebrity in each programme as they went about their day-to-day business, interviewing them about their lives and experiences as he did so. His episode about the DJ and charity fundraiser Sir Jimmy Savile "When Louis Met Jimmy" was voted one of the top fifty documentaries of all time in a survey by Britain's Channel 4. In "When Louis Met the Hamiltons", the disgraced Tory MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine were arrested following false allegations of indecent assault during the course of filming. In "When Louis Met Max Clifford", Max Clifford tried to set Louis up. However, it backfired when Max Clifford was caught lying, as the crew was still recording his live microphone during a conversation. After this celebrity series concluded, a retrospective was aired, called "Life with Louis".

[edit] Special episodes

In his most recent programmes (2003 onwards), Theroux returned to American themes, working at feature-length, this time with a more natural tone. One, Louis and the Brothel, takes a sympathetic look at the prostitutes working at a legal brothel in Nevada. Other programmes include Louis and the Nazis, and Louis and Michael, which was notable for Louis offending Michael Jackson's father Joe with a question that implied that Michael Jackson may be a homosexual. In March 2006, he had signed a new deal with the BBC to make ten films over the course of three years.[4]

[edit] Series three (untitled)

The first programme in his new series was titled Gambling in Las Vegas and followed Louis investigating the high rollers and those who manage casinos in Vegas. Dr Martha Ogman was one of the main characters of the show and as the interviews with her took place it became evident that she was clearly addicted to gambling. Near the end of the programme it was revealed that in her entire gambling career she had lost in excess of $4 million. All in all Louis was $4,590 up from $3000 at the end of the show.

In the second show, The Most Hated Family in America, which aired on April 1, 2007, he followed members of the highly controversial Westboro Baptist Church, a small family community infamous for strong anti-homosexual beliefs and the picketing of funerals of US soldiers. The third programme (aired on October 7, 2007), Louis Theroux: Under The Knife, saw Theroux follow patients having cosmetic surgery in California before receiving liposuction himself.

The fourth programme, Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (aired on January 13, 2008), saw Louis immerse himself in San Quentin Prison by exploring the relationships between prisoners and their guards. [5]

The fifth in the series called "Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday", and aired on April 6. In this episode, Louis visits South African game, where near-extinct and other African species are bred to be hunted by western tourists.

[edit] Awards and nominations

1996 Emmy Awards:

  • Nominated: Outstanding Informational Series for TV Nation

British Academy Television Awards 2001:

  • Won: Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for Weird Weekends

2002 Royal Television Society:

British Academy Television Awards 2002:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Louis Theroux - Biography. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
  2. ^ Louis Theroux guide. thecustard.tv (2004). Retrieved on 2006-10-12.
  3. ^ Times Online
  4. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Theroux promises to raise stakes
  5. ^ Rachel Cooke interviews broadcaster and documentary maker Louis Theroux | From the Observer | The Observer

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Theroux, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theroux, Louis Sebastian
SHORT DESCRIPTION English and American television presenter for the BBC.
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Singapore
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH