ROWAN ATKINSON

MINI BIO;

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson CBE (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms Blackadder (1983–1989) and Mr. Bean (1990–1995), and in the film series Johnny English (2003–2018). Atkinson first came to prominence on the BBC sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), receiving the 1981 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.

Atkinson has appeared in various films, including the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), The Witches (1990), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Rat Race (2002), Scooby-Doo (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Wonka (2023). He played the voice role of Zazu in the Disney animated film The Lion King (1994). Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean in the film adaptations Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). He also featured on the BBC sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996) and played the titular character in ITV's Maigret (2016–2017). His work in theatre includes the role of Fagin in the 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver!.

Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy in 2003,[3] and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.[4] Throughout his career, he has collaborated with screenwriter Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, both of whom he met at the Oxford University Dramatic Society during the 1970s. In addition to his 1981 BAFTA, Atkinson received an Olivier Award for his 1981 West End theatre performance in Rowan Atkinson in Revue. Atkinson was appointed CBE in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.

Activism;

In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the United Kingdom's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner, Stephen Fry, and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which they felt would give overwhelming power to religious groups to impose censorship on the arts.[89] In 2009, he criticised homophobic speech legislation, saying that the House of Lords must vote against a government attempt to remove a free-speech clause in an anti–gay hate law.[90] Atkinson opposed the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 to outlaw inciting religious hatred, arguing that, "freedom to criticise ideas – any ideas even if they are sincerely held beliefs – is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. And the law which attempts to say you can criticise or ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed."[91][92]

In October 2012, he voiced his support for the Reform Section 5 campaign,[93] which aims to reform or repeal Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, particularly its statement that an insult can be grounds for arrest and punishment. It is a reaction to several recent high-profile arrests, which Atkinson sees as a restriction of freedom of expression.[94] In February 2014, Parliament passed a redaction of the statute which removed the word "insulting" following pressure from citizens.[95][96]

In 2018, Atkinson defended comments made by Boris Johnson over wearing the burqa, which were criticized as Islamophobic for which Johnson later apologised.[97][98][99] Atkinson wrote to The Times stating, "as a lifelong beneficiary of the freedom to make jokes about religion, I do think that Boris Johnson's joke about wearers of the burka resembling letterboxes is a pretty good one."[100][101] Atkinson's remarks were condemned by former colleagues and fans.[102][103][104]

In August 2020, Atkinson added his signature to a letter coordinated by Humanist Society Scotland along with twenty other public figures including novelist Val McDermid, playwright Alan Bissett and activist Peter Tatchell which expressed concern about the Scottish National Party's proposed Hate Crime and Public Order Bills. The letter argued the bill would "risk stifling freedom of expression."[105][106][107]

In January 2021, Atkinson criticised the rise of cancel culture. He said, "It's important that we're exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob, roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society. It becomes a case of either you're with us or against us. And if you're against us, you deserve to be 'cancelled'.

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