Rowan Atkinson.

On January 6, 1955, Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in Consett, County Durham, to Ella May Bainbridge and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm, and he grew up with two older brothers, Rupert and Rodney. He attended the Chorister School in Durham, where he overlapped with future Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was two years above him. Later, he studied electrical engineering at Newcastle University and then earned a Master’s at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He met screenwriter Richard Curtis at Oxford, beginning a collaboration that shaped British comedy.

Atkinson’s breakthrough came in 1979 with Not the Nine O’Clock News, a comedy sketch show he co-wrote and performed. It won an International Emmy and a BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Programme. He won the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and was named BBC Personality of the Year. In 1983, he starred as the devious Edmund in The Black Adder, the first of four series that ran until 1989, with Atkinson the only actor to appear in every episode. The character Mr. Bean debuted on television in 1990 and became a global phenomenon, producing two feature films. He also voiced Zazu in Disney’s The Lion King 1994. On stage, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1982 for the 1981 season. He took the lead in The Nerd in 1985 and a sell-out one-man show in the West End that transferred to Broadway. His film roles include Dead on Time 1983, Never Say Never Again 1983, The Tall Guy 1989, and the Johnny English series starting in 2003. He also co-created the Mr. Bean animated series in 2002 and is a partner in production company Tiger Aspect.

Atkinson married Sunetra Sastry in 1990, and they had two children: son Benjamin Alexander Sebastian Atkinson born 1993 and daughter Lily Grace Atkinson born 1995. Their divorce was finalized in 2015. With partner Louise Ford, he had a daughter, Isla May, born in December 2017. A stammer has troubled him for many years, making him reluctant to give interviews. He is a car enthusiast who owns multiple fast cars, including a McLaren F1 crashed in 2011 and an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage used in Johnny English. In the Aston Martin Owners Club series, he races his cars. He writes articles for CAR magazine in his spare time and holds a Heavy Goods Vehicle license. In 2004, he publicly opposed the British Labour government’s plans to introduce incitement to religious hatred legislation, arguing it undermined free speech and political satire.

Rowan Atkinson’s creation of Mr. Bean and his role as Edmund Blackadder strongly influenced British comedy. Mr. Bean, with its minimal dialogue and physical humor, became a worldwide phenomenon. The Blackadder series, co-written with Richard Curtis, remains a defining British sitcom. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity. He also received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1982. In 2024, he remains the only actor to appear in every episode of Blackadder. His work has been recognized with multiple BAFTA awards and an International Emmy. He is remembered for his physical comedy and character acting, with Mr. Bean as his best-known role.