Peter Serafinowicz

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Peter Serafinowicz

Born 10 July 1972 (1972-07-10) (age 35)
Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Occupation Actor
Years active 1991 – present

Peter Serafinowicz (pronounced [sɛrəˈfɪnəwiʧ]) (born 10 July 1972) is a British comic actor, voice artist and composer of Belarussian, Polish and British descent.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool, England to Szymon Serafinowicz, Jr. and Catherine (née Geary). He attended Our Lady of the Assumption RC Primary School and St Francis Xavier Secondary School.[1]

[edit] Career

[edit] Acting and writing

Serafinowicz made his broadcasting debut in 1993 on Radio 1 show The Knowledge, a spoof documentary about the music industry. From there he went on to perform in Radio 4 shows Weekending, Harry Hill's Fruit Corner, Grievous Bodily Radio and The Two Dannys. In 1998 he appeared on TV in Comedy Nation and You are Here. He also had a role in the Simon Nye-penned sitcom How Do You Want Me?.

In 1999 he made a number of appearances in Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, playing principal character Tim Bisley's (Simon Pegg) arch-nemesis, Duane Benzie. He made another appearance in the series when it returned in 2001. In 2001 Serafinowicz took the lead in BBC2 sitcom World of Pub, playing the same character as he had done in the show's run on Radio 4. He was also in The Junkies, the world's first internet sitcom. In 2002 the critically acclaimed Look Around You, a series of 10-minute 70s school science video spoofs, debuted on BBC2 in which Serafinowicz played a scientist. He co-wrote the show alongside Robert Popper, whom he met on the set of You Are Here. The show returned in 2005 as a spoof of the 1980s show Tomorrow's World, with Serafinowicz playing Peter Packard, one of the presenters.

In 2003 he appeared in another Nye-written sitcom, Hardware, in which he played the affable Kenny. He reprised this role in the second series in 2004. Also in 2004 he appeared in British rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead, playing Pete, the tidy flatmate of principal characters Shaun and Ed. He also appeared in boxing movie The Calcium Kid. In Sixty Six, the 2006 British film about a Jewish boy whose Bar Mitzvah is scheduled for the same day as the 1966 World Cup final, Serafinowicz plays Uncle Jimmy. In the week before the 2006 Academy Awards a video circulated on the Internet of a fake news item (called "O! News", a parody of E! News) about a new Oscar statue, in which Serafinowicz imitated Alan Alda, Paul McCartney and Al Pacino. A second O! News video later appeared, parodying the 2006 Apple Corps v. Apple Computer lawsuit. This attracted the interest of the BBC, and a pilot was commissioned for The Peter Serafinowicz Show. A full series was broadcast on BBC Two in 2007. For his performance, Serafinowicz was presented with the Best Entertainer prize at the 2008 Rose d'Or ceremony.[2]

Serafinowicz had also made a number of guest appearances on television, including the comedy shows Smack the Pony and Hippies (both 1999), Black Books (2000), I'm Alan Partridge (2002) and Little Britain (2003), comedy drama Murder Most Horrid (1999) and ITV Drama series Marple (2005). He has made a number of guest appearances on both television and radio panel shows. He regularly appeared on The 99p Challenge and appeared on Have I Got News For You in 2005, 2006 and 2008 8 Out of 10 Cats in 2005, and QI in 2003. He also appeared on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on 19 October 2007.

[edit] Voice artist

Serafinowicz has done many adverts and voice-overs and is a talented impressionist. His most high profile role as a voice artist was as Darth Maul in the film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. His voice overdubbed that of Ray Park, who portrayed Darth Maul in costume. This appearance was referenced during the second series of Spaced and when he provided the voice for Darth Chef in an episode of South Park in 2006.

He impersonated Terry Wogan in a 2003 Comic Relief spoof of Blankety Blank and he regularly utilises his array of impressions when performing. He also provided the voice of Captain Ardias in THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Firewarrior.

[edit] Composer

As a composer and musician, Serafinowicz produced virtually all of the music for Look Around You, under the pseudonym Gelg.[citation needed]

[edit] Personal life

He is in a relationship with Smack the Pony and Green Wing actress Sarah Alexander. Their first son was born in April 2007. Peter's brother James is a writer and director,[3] and can be seen wearing Peter's Liverpool Blue Coat School uniform at the beginning and end of each episode of the first series of Look Around You. His sister is married to the 'Black Books' and 'Big Train' writer Graham Linehan

[edit] Selected credits

[edit] Television

[edit] Radio

[edit] Film

[edit] Video games

[edit] References

  1. ^ The floor is his - Telegraph
  2. ^ Rose d'Or Winners 2008 (PDF). Rose d'Or AG (2008-05-06). Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
  3. ^ James Serafinowicz. IMDB.
  4. ^ http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=256575169

[edit] External links