Stephen Fry in America

He attended Queens’ College Cambridge, gaining a degree in English literature. While there he joined the Cambridge footlights which saw him work alongside actors/comedians Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie - with whom Stephen struck up an immediate friendship. The pair went on to later star in their own BBC sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie. After working together once again on the British sitcom Blackadder, the pair later starred in a highly successful TV adaptation of the short stories of PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves & Wooster - Fry playing Jeeves to Laurie’s Bertie Wooster – a personal high point for Fry who had always been a fan of Wodehouse’s work, even writing to him as a teen and receiving a signed photograph in return! Although they haven’t worked together in some years they are still best friends – Fry being Godfather to Laurie’s three children.

In the early eighties, Stephen adapted the 1930’s Douglas Furber/Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl for a modern day audience. The show opened in London’s West End in 1984 and went on to run for eight years, winning 2 Olivier awards for star Robert Lindsay. After a tour of Britain the show opened on Broadway where it ran for a further three years!

In September 2003, Stephen became host of the hugely popular comedy panel quiz show QI (Quite Interesting). Unlike standard quiz shows, QI saw panellists awarded points for being interesting, funny...and only occasionally correct.

Stephen suffers from Cyclothymia; a form of Bipolar disorder, and has spoken openly about his depression in an attempt to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. In 2006 he took part in a documentary entitled Stephen Fry: the Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, in which he discussed his own personal experiences, and how it has affected his life and work. During the course of the film he also spoke to several ordinary people and their families who are affected by the condition, as well as figures from the entertainment industry who also suffer from bipolar disorder, including Carrie Fisher and Richard Dreyfus. The documentary was highly acclaimed, winning an Emmy for best documentary, and in 2007 Stephen worked on a further film; HIV and Me in which he explored modern society’s attitudes to HIV & AIDS, and discussed his own personal experiences of friendships with people affected by the virus.

He has also had quite a successful film career; His first major role was as Creighton in The Good Father,although he did appear in an uncredited role in Chariots of Fire several years earlier. Since then he has had an eclectic film career appearing in films such as Peter’s Friends, Spiceworld, A Fish Called Wanda, Gosford Park, V for Vendetta, Stormbreaker and St Trinians in which he played himself. He won great critical acclaim for his performance in Wilde in which he played titular role of Oscar Wilde himself  - of whom Stephen is a big fan - and he was also the voice of ‘The Book’ in the Hollywood version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

A self confessed Technophile, Stephen claims to be only the second person in the UK to own a Macintosh (the first being Hitchhikers Guide author Douglas Adams) and once joked that he has never yet encountered a Smartphone he has not bought! He is an avid supporter of the GNU software platform – an open source software system - and in 2008 took part in a film celebrating the anniversary of the platform entitled Happy Birthday to GNU. He maintains his own website; The new adventures of Stephen Fry and in February 2008 began a series of highly popular podcasts – Stephen Fry’s Podgrams. He has lent his vocal talents to several popular videogames over the years including Fable II and Little Big Planet and he also posts regularly on Twitter – in February 2009 he became the second most followed person on the site after Barack Obama!

In episode 10 of series 3 of QI, it was revealed that as well as Bumblebee stings, Stephen is allergic to Champagne!

Stephen’s voice is instantly recognisable and has led to numerous radio appearances over the years in such shows as Just a Minute, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, Saturday Night Fry and Fry’s English Delight. In 2003 he was nominated for a Sony Radio Award for his show The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music. He’s also acted in Radio plays based on the British TV series Doctor Who and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and his voice is known to children around the UK as the narrator of the audiobooks of JK Rowling’s’, Harry Potter series, the English narrator of the TV series Pocoyo and more recently the audiobooks of the new Adventures of Paddington Bear, whom Stephen regards as a ‘British Institution’. A keen teddy bear collector, Stephen - inspired by the adventures of Paddington - travelled to Peru in the footsteps of the children’s character in search of – and ultimately helping to rescue - a Peruvian Spectacled Bear.

Stephen is also a prolific author with many books - both fiction and nonfiction - under his belt, including The Liar, The Hippopotamus, Making History, Paperweight, The Star’s Tennis Balls, The Ode Less Travelled, and the QI Book of General Ignorance (based on the TV series - and Amazon’s 4th best-selling book ever!). His autobiography Moab is My Washpot has proved to be a hugely popular and inspirational read, and his companion book to the travel series Stephen Fry in America topped the 2008 best-seller charts. Mr Fry is a man of many talents indeed!