Stephen Merchant

Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. Merchant is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office (2001–2003), co-writer and co-star of Extras (2005–2007) and co-host of The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He is also known for his voice role as Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. Merchant appeared as himself in the BBC series Life's Too Short (2011–2013), which he co-wrote and co-directed. He also voiced the computer program ConRad on The Simpsons in the 2016 episode "The Girl Code", co-developed the Sky1 travel series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2011) and performs as a stand-up comedian. He starred in his first play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, at London's Wyndham's Theatre from July to August 2015. His varied endeavors have earned him three BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Merchant had his first dramatic role in a film when he was cast as Caliban in the superhero film Logan (2017). 2Early life Merchant was born in Hanham, Avon, the son of Jane Elaine (née Hibbs), a nursery nurse, and Ronald John Merchant, an insurance representative. He attended Hanham High School and later the University of Warwick in Coventry from 1993 to 1996, where he received a 2:1 Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Literatur