Richard Curtis

Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE (born 8 November 1956) is a British screenwriter, producer and film director, who was born in New Zealand to Australian parents. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, and Love Actually, as well as the hit sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. He is also the co-founder of the British charity Comic Relief along with Sir Lenny Henry. In 2007, Curtis received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest award the British Film Academy can give a filmmaker. He received the BAFTA Humanitarian Award at the 2008 Britannia Awards, for co-creating Comic Relief and contributions to other charitable causes. In 2008 he was ranked number 12 in The Telegraph's list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". In 2012, Curtis was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. 2Early life and education Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Australian parents Glyness S. and Anthony J. Curtis, who was an executive at Unileve