Stephen Merchant

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Overview (3)

Born	November 24, 1974 in Bristol, England, UK
Nicknames	Smerch Spud
Height	6' 7" (2.01 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Stephen James Merchant is an English actor, comedian, director, presenter and writer.

Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001-2003), and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras (2005-2007) and Life's Too Short (2011-2013). With Gervais and Karl Pilkington, he hosted The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audio-book, and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He also provided the voice of the robotic "Intelligence Dampening Core" Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. Merchant co-developed the Sky1 travel series An Idiot Abroad (2010-2012) and co-created Lip Sync Battle (2015-present). In 2021 he starred in, co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the 12-part comedy crime series The Outlaws.

Merchant has also performed as a stand-up comedian, which led to him writing and starring in the HBO series Hello Ladies (2013-2014), which was based on his stand-up material. He starred in his first play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, at London's Wyndham's Theatre in 2015. He also appeared as the mutant Caliban in the superhero film Logan (2017), and as serial killer Stephen Port in the 2022 television drama Four Lives. He has received numerous accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four British Comedy Awards.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao

Family (1)

Parents	Jane Elaine Merchant Ron Merchant

Parents

Jane Elaine Merchant
Ron Merchant

Trade Mark (2)

Towering height

Large expressive eyes

Trivia (10)

Son of Ron Merchant.

Brother of art director Alexandra Merchant.

Currently hosts his own show on BBC 6 Music. [2007]

He picked his five favorite films as The Apartment (1960), After Hours (1985), Play It Again, Sam (1972), The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).

In 1997, he appeared as a contestant on the BBC Two revised version of the ITV quiz show "Blockbusters", which was hosted by Michael Aspel.

Has said that he does not like having jokes and comments made about his height.

Was on UK Game show Blockbusters before he made it big. It was incorporated into a scene in The Office (UK) with a character who had been on Blockbusters.

Is an owner of an Blue Peter badge.

Is currently filming his TV Show 'The Offenders' in his home city Bristol, United Kingdom. Feb 2020 - June 2021.

Lives with his partner, American actress Mircea Monroe. They've been together since 2017.

Personal Quotes (5)

I wouldn't mind being a divine dictator and having a stab at running China. You know the concept that if everyone in China jumps up and down at the same time it'd start a tidal wave that'd destroy America? I'd phone the U.S. President and say 'We're all on the great wall of China and we're going to jump off unless you send us the girls from The O.C. (2003)'.

[on Cemetery Junction (2010)] It's in line with the films me and Ricky like watching - Diner (1982), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Stand by Me (1986). Films about small lives but big emotions. We're not interested in zany comedy movies or doing science fiction satires. We made the kind of film we want to see. We also love a Bruce Springsteen song called Thunder Road, which has got a line about 'it's a town full of losers and we're pulling out of here to win'. We wanted to capture that emotion.

When I was a teenager I met a comedian who I admired and he was very rude to me. That's why when people come up to me I try not to be rude. I don't want to name who he is but it really put me off watching his stuff since.

My father was a plumber and I remember him coming home when I was 16 and telling me he hated his job and I shouldn't do it. I'm sure there are people who love being plumbers or working in offices and that's great - there's lots of jobs which might be considered mundane which people take great satisfaction from doing. We're presenting characters who have jobs they don't enjoy and that aren't fulfilling them and ask if they're going to do anything about it. It's not interesting to do a story about happy people in a happy place. Extras (2005) was about people in showbusiness who weren't happy doing that either.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do with a review, it's a bit late, they should have got in touch before we made it. I read reviews when The Office (2001) first happened but it doesn't matter if everyone loves it or everyone hates it, there's nothing I can do about it. If you're sitting in an edit suite trying to make the end of a film work you're not thinking: 'I wonder what the guy from The Telegraph's going to think.' You're working on instinct.