Eddie Izzard Biography

What do Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, Bob Newhart, Barbara Sinatra, Elvis Costello, Harry Dean Stanton, Dick Martin, Rebecca DeMornay, Larry Gelbart and Angie Dickinson all have in common? They were all backstage on the same night after seeing British comedian, actor and executive transvestite EDDIE IZZARD perform in Los Angeles on his last tour. They are all a part of Eddie's eclectic fan base.

IZZARD's surreal gift for "talking crap," as he describes his one-man shows, appeals to humans from vast parts of the globe and all walks of life. One only had to be lucky enough to be exposed to his unique brand of humor, it seemed, before becoming an instant convert. With the debut of his double Emmy Award-winning special "DRESS TO KILL" on HBO in the summer of 1999, many North Americans were introduced to IZZARD for the first time. Others were lucky enough to witness his one-man shows "GLORIOUS" and "DEFINITE ARTICLE" live in NYC in 1997 and 1996, respectively, while more individuals caught his "DRESS TO KILL" mini tour in 1998, which played to sold-out audiences in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 2000, IZZARD returned to North America with a new show-"CIRCLE"-which took him to packed houses in NY, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. IZZARD's profile was raised yet again later that same year when he received three Emmy nominations, going on to win two--"Outstanding Writing In A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program" and "Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program" at the 52nd Annual Emmy Awards. Now with the DVD release of "DRESS TO KILL"--with bonus features "DRESS TO CIRCLE" (Eddie performs in French in Paris), "America 1998" (photo documentary), subtitles in Spanish, French and English and show commentaries--on Anti/Epitaph in North America, those with a player can finally watch IZZARD at their convenience.

Back in his native England, IZZARD--"the greatest British stand-up comedian...of his generation," according to a London Sunday Times magazine cover story-first made an impression in 1993 after debuting his first one-man show LIVE AT THE AMBASSADORS in London's West End. He hasn't looked back since. UNREPEATABLE followed in 1994, DEFINITE ARTICLE in 1996, GLORIOUS in 1997, DRESS TO KILL in 1998 (playing to over 11,000 in one gig at Wembley Arena) and CIRCLE in 1999/2000. The first five have all been released on video in the UK, with each charting in the Top 15, while his latest show CIRCLE which was filmed at NYC's Town Hall in the summer of 2000, will be released soon in the UK on DVD. In addition to the UK and North America, IZZARD's shows have taken him to Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Sweden, Denmark and France, where he performs his shows en Francais.

Since 1994, IZZARD has also maintained a presence in the world of theatre and film. On stage, he has tackled serious drama beginning with the lead role in the world premiere of David Mamet's "THE CRYPTOGRAM," followed by "ONEONTA," Marlowe's "EDWARD II," a Sir Peter Hall production of "LENNY," and most recently Peter Nichols' "A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG"-"starring Eddie Izzard in a role he was born to play," according to the New York Times.

1996 was the year IZZARD began to work in films, beginning with THE SECRET AGENT starring Robin Williams and Bob Hoskins, he's continued to make films ever since, including VELVET GOLDMINE with Ewan McGregor; the Academy Award-nominated SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE with Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich; THE CAT'S MEOW where Eddie plays Charlie Chaplin ("Izzard brings a sly sexuality to the role," Associated Press) opposite Kirsten Dunst as Marion Davies in his most critically acclaimed film role to date; and ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN co-starring Matt LeBlanc. Future films to be released next year are THE REVENGERS TRAGEDY directed by Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy) and MURAYA-EXPANDED REALITY co-starring Vincent Cassel, Michael Madsen and Juliette Lewis.

THE EVOLUTION OF EDDIE

EDDIE IZZARD was born on 7th February 1962 to English parents in Aden, Yemen. His mother and father worked for BP (British Petroleum) at the refinery there, his father as an accountant and his mother as a nurse and midwife at the refinery hospital. The family moved to Bangor, near Belfast, in Northern Ireland for four years (the happiest part of his childhood) and then in 1967 to Skewen in South Wales. Sadly, the following year, his mother died of cancer. He was six years old. His parents, prior to his mum's passing, had decided that the best way for the family to survive, was for IZZARD and his older brother to go to boarding school.

At seven, now at school in Eastbourne, IZZARD saw a boy in a play getting a great reaction from the audience. It was there and then he (and his ego) decided that acting was his future. He auditioned for many roles, in many school plays and got cast in few. Aged 12, in a class show, IZZARD got his first laughs in a mimed sketch. Still he couldn't get into school plays. Then, at 15, he landed a role in Shakespeare's "COMEDY OF ERRORS," as 'the jailer.' Whilst it was a bit part, the plot demanded that he was handcuffed to the lead role. As a result, he got noticed by becoming a fast student in the art of upstaging. The teacher who directed the show (Andrew Boxer) gave him two more good roles and his career finally started.

In 1980, IZZARD began staging shows at Sheffield University, although he only lasted a year in his degree of 'Accounting and Financial Management with Mathematics.' Instead he began writing, producing and acting in comedy shows at the University, and in 1981 he took his first show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He staged shows in Sheffield and Edinburgh again in 1982 and 83 (sleeping on people's floors because he was no longer at the University), but professionally he still couldn't get arrested. In 1984 he moved to London and did absolutely nothing, but watch television for a year. He couldn't work out how to go professional--how to get started. In the beginning of the next year, he came out as being a Transvestite.

IZZARD knew he was different from a very young age, but he didn't have a word for it at the time. He first remembers being interested in wearing a dress when he was four, but he also felt this predilection wasn't something to be told to the other kids. At 15 he was caught stealing make-up, but lied and said it was for a girlfriend in France. In 1985, aged 23, he came out for the first time. That went okay, but it took him until 1989 to tell his father, after worrying about his reaction. His dad was very relaxed about it, so IZZARD started talking about being TV on stage, two days later. In 1992 he performed his first gig in a dress. But this is not drag. He will wear a dress or trousers onstage, offstage or anywhere he wants to--just like women. It is his sexuality--not a costume.

"Transgender is a difficult area to explain and understand and even the actual members of the transgender community will come up with different definitions and interpretations. But," according to IZZARD, "these are the loose facts. There are straight, bi-sexual and gay transvestites (and transsexuals). They are probably of both sexes (thought female transvestites are kind of invisible in western society). The proportions of straight to bi to gay are difficult to work out but you may as well work with one third of each until more people in the transgender community come out."

'Coming out' for IZZARD, was a good and a difficult thing to do. IZZARD knew he didn't want to perform in a dress (at this stage) and at the end of 1985 he started street performing in London's Covent Garden (in trousers with no make-up) with a fellow mate from Sheffield. They started doing a comedy stunts double act (escaping from a woolly jumper etc), which wasn't very good. In 1986 they got better when they started a sword-fighting act. The next year saw IZZARD going solo, doing an escapology act whilst on a 5ft unicycle. The act itself was not really important (although it was insane enough to hold a street audience in bad weather), but it was the start of IZZARD developing the solo improvising and audience skills that would become the foundations of his stand up.

In 1988, IZZARD began performing stand up comedy in the London clubs (of which there are about 80). Two years later, all this experience in sketch comedy and street performing merged with his new stand up skills and things began to take off. In Christmas 1991 he did his final performances at the Comedy Store in London, after which he played larger and larger theatres around London. In February 1993 he took his stand up show into The Ambassadors theatre in the London's West End.

And IZZARD continues to evolve as an actor and comedian. In his native England, he has been called, "the greatest British stand-up comedian...of his generation," by Bryan Appleyard in the cover story of the London Sunday Times, while Darryl H. Miller noted in The Los Angeles Times in his review of "CIRCLE" at the Henry Fonda Theater: "He walks onstage to the roaring tumult usually reserved for rock stars and soon has the audience busting a gut about the Spanish Inquisition and chaos theory. Such is the phenomenon of Eddie Izzard, funniest man, in, well, pretty much all of the known universe."