| Simon Birdy | |
|---|---|
Bird at the BAFTAs TV Awards 2010 |
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| Born | Simon Antony Bird[1] 19 August 1984 Guildford, Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Actor, Comedian |
| Years active | 2004-present |
Simon Antony Bird (born 19 August 1984) is an actor, comedian. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in E4’s BAFTA-winning TV comedy The Inbetweeners.
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Bird was born in Guildford, Surrey, a son of Heather (née Gage) and Graham Bird, an economics professor at University of Surrey (England).[2] He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford before studying at Queens' College, Cambridge. Bird was the President of Cambridge University's sketch group, The Footlights.[3] Bird's older brother, Alan, is the current head of sixth form at Brighton College. He is also a Crystal Palace FC fan.[4]
While completing an MA in Cultural & Critical Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London, Bird set up the sketch comedy group 'The House of Windsor' with Joe Thomas (who plays Simon Cooper in The Inbetweeners) and Jonny Sweet. They performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and in 2008 with a show called The Meeting, described as a site-specific comedy installation set in an actual boardroom, which received national media attention and a clutch of five-star reviews. Bird and Thomas were also regulars on series 1 and 2 of The Weekly Show, a podcast for Channel 4 Radio (2006-7).
Bird also performs stand-up comedy and took part in Chortle's national student comedy awards in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, coming second in his final attempt. (He was a finalist in 2006, and was disqualified for deliberately breaking the rules in 2007.)[5][6]
In 2008, Bird was cast in E4's teen comedy The Inbetweeners as Will McKenzie, along with Joe Thomas.[7] He won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best Male Newcomer[8] and the 2009 British Comedy Award for Best Actor.[9] He was also nominated for Best Comedy Performance at the 2008 Royal Television Society Awards,[10] and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Awards.[8]
In 2010 Bird created a BBC Three comedy panel show The King Is Dead, in which a well-known person is hypothetically killed off and a panel of three personalities go head-to-head in a series of satirical quiz rounds and challenges in their bid to replace them. He hosted alongside Nick Mohammed and Katy Wix.
Another of Bird's projects is Friday Night Dinner, which was broadcast on Channel 4 from February to April 2011. It is a single-camera comedy, written by Robert Popper, former producer of Peep Show and co-creator of BBC2's Look Around You. It was made by Big Talk Productions, which made Spaced, and Popper Pictures. Each episode takes place over the course of a Friday night, as twenty-something brothers Adam (Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) go to their parents' house for their traditional Friday night dinner. Although his character in Friday Night Dinner is a member of a Jewish family (the Friday night dinner being a Jewish tradition), Bird himself is not Jewish.[11]
Bird has also recently co-created, co-written, and co-starred in a pilot, 'Chickens', for Channel 4, alongside Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas. It is about three men who remain in England during World War I. It was broadcast as part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase season.
Simon Bird also starred as his character Will McKenzie in The Inbetweeners Movie which was released on the 17 August 2011, alongside his fellow friends in the series.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-2010 | The Inbetweeners | Will McKenzie | British Comedy Award Best Male Comedy Newcomer British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Role |
| 2011 | Friday Night Dinner | Adam | |
| The Inbetweeners Movie | Will McKenzie | Bird's first feature film role | |
| Chickens | Cecil | Part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase |