Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian,
actor, writer, presenter, and activist. With
Hugh
Laurie, he is half of the comic double act
Fry and Laurie, who starred in
A Bit of Fry & Laurie and
Jeeves and Wooster. Husband Elliott Spencer
Queer Places:
University Of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2, Regno Unito
Uppingham School, High St W, Uppingham, Oakham LE15, Regno Unito
City College Norwich, 5 Ipswich Rd, Norwich NR2 2LJ, Regno Unito
Paston College, Grammar School Rd, North Walsham NR28 9JL, Regno Unito
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian,
actor, writer, presenter, and activist. With
Hugh
Laurie, he is half of the comic double act
Fry and Laurie, who starred in
A Bit of Fry & Laurie and
Jeeves and Wooster.
Fry's acting roles include a Golden Globe Award–nominated lead performance in the film Wilde, Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, the title character in the television series Kingdom, a recurring guest role as Dr Gordon Wyatt on the crime series Bones, and as Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award–winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, which saw him explore his bipolar disorder, and the travel series Stephen Fry in America. He was also the long-time host of the BBC television quiz show QI, with his tenure lasting from 2003 to 2016.
Besides working in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines and written four novels and three volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles, and More Fool Me. He also appears frequently on BBC Radio 4, starring in the comedy series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on panel games such as Just a Minute, and acting as chairman during one series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, where he was one of a trio of possible hosts who were tried out to succeed the late Humphrey Lyttelton, Jack Dee getting the post permanently.
Fry is also known for his voice-overs, reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrating the LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel series of video games, as well as an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket,[2] and a series of animations about Humanism for Humanists UK.[3] He has also filmed commercials, including an advertisement where he explains the essence of British culture to foreigners arriving at London's Heathrow Airport.[4]
Fry struggled to keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at public school, and by his own account did not engage in sexual activity for 16 years from 1979 until 1995.[154] When asked when he first acknowledged his sexuality, Fry quipped: "I suppose it all began when I came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, 'That's the last time I'm going up one of those'."[155] Fry was in a 15-year relationship with Daniel Cohen, which ended in 2010.[156] Fry was listed number 2 in 2016 and number 12 in 2017 on the World Pride Power list.[157][158]
On 6 January 2015, The Sun reported that Fry would marry his partner, comedian Elliott Spencer. Fry wrote on Twitter: "It looks as though a certain cat is out of a certain bag. I'm very very happy of course but had hoped for a private wedding. Fat chance!"[159] Fry married Spencer on 17 January 2015 in the town of Dereham in Norfolk.[160]
Fry married comedian Elliott Spencer in January 2015.[141] Fry is on cordial terms with Prince Charles, through his work with the Prince's Trust. He attended the Prince's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005. Fry is a friend of comedian and actor (and Blackadder co-star) Rowan Atkinson and was best man at Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City. Fry was a friend of British actor John Mills.[142] His best friend is Hugh Laurie,[143] whom he met while both were at Cambridge and with whom he has collaborated many times over the years. He was best man at Laurie's wedding and is godfather to all three of his children.[144] Fry became a vegetarian in 2017,[145] having earlier expressed a desire to become so.[146]
A fan of cricket, Fry has stated that he is related to former England cricketer C.B. Fry,[147] and was interviewed for the Ashes Fever DVD, reporting on England's victory over Australia in the 2005 Ashes series. Regarding football, he is a supporter of Norwich City, and is a regular visitor to Carrow Road. He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital", claims to have bought the third Macintosh computer sold in the UK (his friend Douglas Adams bought the first two) and jokes that he has never encountered a smartphone that he has not bought.[148] He counts Wikipedia among his favourite websites "because I like to find out that I died, and that I'm currently in a ballet in China, and all the other very accurate and important things that Wikipedia brings us all."[149]
Fry has a long-standing interest in Internet production, including having his own website since 1997. His current site, The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry, has existed since 2002 and has attracted many visitors following his first blog in September 2007, which comprised a 6,500-word "blessay" on smartphones. In February 2008, Fry launched his private podcast series, Stephen Fry's Podgrams (now discontinued), and a forum, including discussions on depression and activities in which Fry is involved. The website content is created by Fry and produced by Andrew Sampson. Fry's weekly gadget column Dork Talk appeared in The Guardian from November 2007 to October 2008.[148] Fry is also a supporter of GNU and the Free Software Foundation.[150] For the 25th anniversary of the GNU operating system, Fry appeared in a video explaining some of the philosophy behind GNU by likening it to the sharing found in science.[151] When in London, he drives a dark green TX4 London cab.[152] This vehicle has been featured in Fry's production Stephen Fry in America.[153]
My published books:
