Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, CBE is an English comedian, actor and writer best known for the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. He has received BAFTA Awards for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1981 for Not the Nine O'Clock News and again in 1990 for Blackadder Goes Forth, as well as the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1981 for Rowan Atkinson in Revue.
He is the father of a son, Benjamin Alexander Sebastian Atkinson and a daughter, Lily Grace Atkinson (aka Lily Atkinson ) (born 1995), with his wife Sunetra Sastry.
He rides go-karts round his tennis courts and, according to Stephen Fry (his best man), "hasnt got an ounce of showbiz in him".
He has an HGV license (Heavy Goods Vehicle - the old legal term in the United Kingdom for goods vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight).
He owns various fast cars (Aston Martin Vantages, etc.).
He writes articles for CAR (a British car magazine).
His education: Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK (electrical engineering); Oxford University, Oxford, UK (electrical engineering).
He races (and also crashes) his Aston Martins in the Aston Martins Owners club series.
He attended Cathedral Chorister School, Durham. So did British Prime Minister Tony Blair , who was two years above him.
He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1982 for the 1981 season.
He once crashed his McLaren F1, a supercar valued at more than $1,000,000, into the back of a stationary Mini Metro, valued at around $600. The damage was not severe.
He was one of the guests at Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles wedding.
He publicly opposed the British Labour governments plans in 2004 to introduce new legislation on incitement to religious hatred, arguing that it would undermine free speech and thought (even citing the possible development of mind-reading technology), and that such measures would make political satire - which he considers seminal in a democracy - unworkable.
Along with Tony Robinson and Tim McInnerny , he is one of only three actors to appear in all four "Blackadder" series: "The Black Adder" , "Black-Adder II" , "Black Adder the Third" and "Blackadder Goes Forth" .
He had to pull out of his role in a West End production of Oliver in April 2009 due to hernia surgery.
He owns a Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, which he used in the film Johnny English .
He is the only actor to appear in every episode of Blackadder, Tony Robinson did not appear in the pilot.
On August 4, 2011 he was admitted to Peterborough City Hospital after crashing his McLaren Formula1 sports car. He suffered a light injury on his shoulder.
He has suffered with a stammer for many years, hence does not like giving interviews.
He attended Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William s wedding.
He was awarded the CBE in the 2013 Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to Drama and to charity.
His grandparents were all born in Durham. His paternal grandparents were Edward Atkinson, of Spennymoor, and Edith Gertrude Browell, of Crookhall. His maternal grandparents were Frank Bainbridge, of Hartlepool, and Ella Schofield, of Grosmont.
He has trouble pronouncing words that begin with the letter B and followed by a vowel. He has to pause slightly to say them.
He disliked "The Black Adder" . So did Michael Grade , who became Controller of BBC One in 1984 and nearly cancelled further series.
He is a big car fan, some of the cars he has owned include: McLaren F1 GTR, Audi A8, Mercedes-Benz 500E, Bentley mulsanne, Honda civic hybrid, Lancia delta intergrale, Aston Martin V8 zagato, Aston Martin DB2, Honda Acura NSX, BMW 328, Ford falcon.
A law which attempts to say you can criticize and ridicule ideas as,long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed.
Mr. Bean is essentially a child trapped in the body of a man. All,cultures identify with children in a similar way, so he has this,bizarre global outreach. And 10-year-old boys from different cultures,have more in common than 30-year-olds. As we grow up, we acquire this,sensibility that divides us.
The casual ease which some people move from finding something offensive,to wishing to declare it criminal - and are then able to find factions,within government to aid their ambitions - is truly depressing.
To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticize ideas, any ideas - even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. A law which attempts to say you can criticize and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed. It all points to the promotion of the idea that there should be a right not to be offended. But in my view the right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended. The right to ridicule is far more important to society than any right not to be ridiculed because one in my view represents openness - and the other represents oppression,I love walking in the rain because no one can see me crying,As hatred is defined as intense dislike, what is wrong with inciting intense dislike of a religion, if the activities or teachings of that religion are so outrageous, irrational or abusive of human rights that they deserve to be intensely disliked?,No, no, I was only funny on stage, really. I, I, think I was funny as a person toward my classmates when I was very young. You know, when I was a child, up to about the age of 12.
To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom.
Mr. Bean is at his best when he is not using words, but I am equally at home in both verbal and nonverbal expression. .
