Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
.
Izzard's stand-up comedy tours have included ''
Live at the Ambassadors'' (1993), ''
Definite Article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...
'' (1996), ''
Glorious'' (1997), ''
Dress to Kill'' (1998), ''
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
'' (2000), ''
Stripped
Stripped may refer to:
Music
* "Stripped" (song), by Depeche Mode, 1986
* ''Stripped'' (Christina Aguilera album) or the title song, 2002
* ''Stripped'' (Daniel Ash album), 2014
* ''Stripped'' (Macy Gray album), 2016
* ''Stripped'' (Pretty Ma ...
'' (2009), ''
Force Majeure'' (2013) and, most recently, ''Wunderbar'' (2022). She starred in the 2007 television series ''
The Riches'', and has appeared in numerous films, including ''
Ocean's Twelve
''Ocean's Twelve'' is a 2004 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by George Nolfi. The second installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy franchise and the sequel to ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001), the film features a ...
'' and ''
Ocean's Thirteen
''Ocean's Thirteen'' (stylized as ''Ocean's 13'') is a 2007 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. It is the final installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy and the sequel ...
'', ''
Shadow of the Vampire
''Shadow of the Vampire'' is a 2000 independent
meta period horror comedy film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classi ...
'', ''
The Cat's Meow
''The Cat's Meow'' is a 2001 historical drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and starring Kirsten Dunst, Eddie Izzard, Edward Herrmann, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley, and Jennifer Tilly. The screenplay by Steven Peros is based on his 1997 play ...
'' and ''
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997: ...
''.
Izzard has also worked as a voice actor on films such as ''
Five Children and It
''Five Children and It'' is a children's novel by English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the '' Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing each month from April ...
'', ''
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'', ''
Abominable'' and the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
original series
''Green Eggs and Ham''. Among various accolades, she won two
Primetime Emmys
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
for ''Dress to Kill'' and was nominated for a
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
for her Broadway performance in ''
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
''.
In 2009, Izzard completed 43 marathons in 51 days for
Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...
, despite having no history of long-distance running. In 2016, she ran 27 marathons in 27 days in South Africa in honour of
Nelson Mandela, raising £1.35 million. In addition to her native English, she regularly performs stand-up in Arabic, French, German, Russian, and Spanish, and is an active supporter of
Europeanism
European values are the norms and values that Europeans are said to have in common, and which transcend national or state identity. In addition to helping promote European integration, this doctrine also provides the basis for analyses that charac ...
and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
A dedicated
Labour Party activist, she twice ran unsuccessfully for the party's
National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties:
* National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa
* Australian Labor Party National Executive
* Nationa ...
but temporarily joined as runner-up after
Christine Shawcroft
Christine Linda Shawcroft (born April 1955) is a British Labour Party activist and former politician.
Shawcroft is a director of Momentum and was elected as the chair of the Labour Party's Disputes Sub-Committee in January 2018. In March 2018, s ...
resigned in March 2018. In 2022, Izzard attempted to become the party's
prospective parliamentary candidate for
Sheffield Central
Sheffield Central is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Paul Blomfield, a member of the Labour Party.
Boundaries
;First creation
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Sheffield wards of S ...
, but was not selected in the members' ballot.
Early life
Edward John Izzard was born in
Aden (then in
Aden Colony
Aden Colony ( ar, مستعمرة عدن, ), also the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ).
Prio ...
and now in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
) on 7 February 1962,
to English parents Dorothy Ella Izzard (1927–1968) and Harold John Michael Izzard (1928–2018). Her surname is of
French Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...
origin. Her mother was a midwife and nurse, while her father was an accountant who was working in Aden for
British Petroleum at the time of her birth.
She has a brother named Mark, who is two years older.
When Izzard was a year old, the family moved to Northern Ireland and settled in
Bangor, where they lived until Izzard was five.
The family then moved to Wales, where they lived in
Skewen
Skewen ( cy, Sgiwen) is a village within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in Wales. The village is served by Skewen railway station and has its own rugby club.
History
Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of col ...
.
Izzard was six when her mother died of cancer.
She and Mark built a model railway to occupy their time while their mother was ill, which was later donated to
Bexhill Museum in 2016. Following the death, Izzard attended the
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
St John's School in
Newton,
St Bede's Prep School in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
, and
Eastbourne College
Eastbourne College is a co-educational independent school in the British public school tradition, for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. The College's headmaster is Tom Lawson.
Over ...
.
She has said that she knew she was
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
at the age of four, after watching a boy being forced to wear a dress by his sisters,
and knew she wanted to be an actor at the age of seven. She studied drama at the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
.
Career
Comedy
Izzard began to toy with comedy while at university with her friend Rob Ballard.
The two took their act to the streets,
often in the
Covent Garden district of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
After splitting with Ballard, she spent a great deal of the early 1980s working as a street performer in Europe and the United States. She says that she developed her comedic voice by talking to the audience while doing solo escape acts. She then moved her act to the stand-up comedy venues of Britain, performing her routine for the first time at the Banana Cabaret in London's
Balham area.
In 1987, Izzard made her first stage appearance at the
Comedy Store
The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
History
The Comedy S ...
in London.
She refined her comedy material throughout the 1980s began earning recognition through improvisation in the early 1990s, in part at her own club, Raging Bull in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develo ...
.
Her breakthrough came in 1991 after she performed her "raised by wolves" routine on the televised ''Hysteria 3''
AIDS benefit.
In 2000, for her comedy special ''
Dress to Kill'', Izzard won two
Primetime Emmy Awards:
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program and
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program, while the special was nominated for
Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special.
Izzard is fluent in French and has performed stand-up shows in the language; since 2014, she has started to perform in Arabic, German, Russian, and Spanish,
languages that she did not previously speak.
Acting
In 1994, Izzard made her
West End drama debut as the lead in the world premiere of
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...
's ''
The Cryptogram
''The Cryptogram'' is a play by American playwright David Mamet. The play concerns the moment when childhood is lost. The story is set in 1959 on the night before a young boy is to go on a camping trip with his father. The play premiered in 1994 ...
'' with
Lindsay Duncan
Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. On stage, she has won two Olivier Awards (for ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and ''Private Lives'') and a Tony Award (for ''Private Lives''). She has starred in several plays by Ha ...
, in the production at London's Comedy Theatre. The success of that role led to a second starring role, in David Beaird's black comedy ''900 Oneonta''. In 1995, she portrayed the title character in
Christopher Marlowe's ''
Edward II''.
In 1998, Izzard appeared briefly on stage with
Monty Python in ''The American Film Institute's Tribute to Monty Python'' (also referred to as ''
Monty Python Live at Aspen
''Monty Python Live at Aspen'' was a reunion show featuring the surviving members of the Monty Python team: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, appearing on stage together for the first time since their Monty Py ...
''). As part of an inside joke, she walked on stage with the five surviving Pythons and was summarily escorted off by
Eric Idle and
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
when attempting to participate in a discussion about how the group got together. In July 2014, she appeared on stage with Monty Python during their live show ''
Monty Python Live (Mostly)
''Monty Python Live (Mostly)'' (also billed as ''Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go'') was a variety show by the Monty Python comedy group at The O2 in London in July 2014. Planned as a single performance for 1 July, it was expanded ...
'' as the special guest in their "Blackmail" sketch.
She portrayed comedian
Lenny Bruce in the 1999 production of Julian Barry's 1971 play ''Lenny''. In 2001, she replaced
Clive Owen in
Peter Nichols' 1967 play ''
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
'' at the
Comedy Theatre
The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011, . Izzard and
Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Hamilton (born 5 April 1971) is an English actress.
After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Hamilton began her career in classical theatre, appearing in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the ...
repeated their lead roles when the show was brought to Broadway in 2003 in the
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres.
History
The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabet ...
production. The revival received four
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
nominations, including Best Revival of a Play, Best Leading Actor, and Best Leading Actress for its stars Izzard and Hamilton in their Broadway debuts, and Best Direction for Laurence Boswell. In June 2010, she replaced
James Spader
James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action scie ...
in the role of Jack Lawson in
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...
's play ''
Race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
'' on Broadway.
Izzard has appeared in numerous films, starting with 1996's ''
The Secret Agent
''The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907.. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country (presumably Russia). ''The Secret Agent ...
'', and has appeared as several real-life individuals, including
Charlie Chaplin in ''The Cat's Meow'', actor
Gustav von Wangenheim
Gustav von Wangenheim (born Ingo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von Wangenheim; 18 February 1895 – 5 August 1975) was a German nobleman, actor, screenwriter and director.
Life
Wangenheim was born Ingo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von W ...
in ''
Shadow of the Vampire
''Shadow of the Vampire'' is a 2000 independent
meta period horror comedy film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classi ...
,'' General
Erich Fellgiebel
Fritz Erich Fellgiebel (4 October 1886 – 4 September 1944) was a German Army general of signals and resistance fighter in the 20 July plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. In 1929, Fellgiebel became head of the cipher bureau (german: C ...
in ''
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997: ...
'' and wartime pioneer of
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
Robert Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.
Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accura ...
in the BBC drama film ''
Castles in the Sky''. Other roles have included Mr Kite in ''
Across the Universe'', Lussurioso in ''
Revengers Tragedy
''Revengers Tragedy'' is a 2002 film adaptation of the 1606 play ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' (attributed to Thomas Middleton in the credits, following the scholarly consensus). It was directed by Alex Cox and adapted for the screen by Cox's fello ...
'' and criminal expert
Roman Nagel in ''Ocean's Twelve'' and ''Ocean's Thirteen''. Her voice work has included the titular "It" in ''
Five Children and It
''Five Children and It'' is a children's novel by English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the '' Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing each month from April ...
'', Nigel in ''The Wild'' and the mouse warrior
Reepicheep
Reepicheep the Mouse is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' by C. S. Lewis. He appears as a minor character in '' Prince Caspian'' and as a major character in ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', and ...
in ''
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian''. Izzard declined to reprise the role as Reepicheep, a role understudied by
Simon Pegg
Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
in ''
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. She has stated that she felt she learned to act while working on the film ''
Circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...
''.
In 2009, Izzard was the subject of
Sarah Townsend's documentary ''Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'', which addresses
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
of "recycling material from an old tour".
.
She played Dr. Hatteras, a skeptical psychology professor, in the Showtime series ''
and appeared in six episodes of the 2013–15 American psychological horror television series ''
'' as Dr. Abel Gideon. In 2021, she appeared in the television series ''
''. In 2017, she read excerpts from her autobiography ''Believe Me'' for
''.
On 27 July 2009, with only 5 weeks' training and no significant prior running experience, Izzard began seven weeks of back-to-back marathon runs (with Sundays off) across the UK to raise money for
.
and back to London, carrying the flag of the country—England, Scotland, or Wales—in which she was running. In Northern Ireland, she carried a self-designed green flag bearing a white dove. The blog ''Eddie Iz Running'' documented the 43 marathons in 51 days, covering at least 27 miles per day (totalling more than 1,100 miles), ending on 15 September 2009.
in 2009 for these achievements.
In March 2010, she took part in the Sport Relief Mile event.
On 16 February 2016, the BBC announced that Izzard would attempt to run 27 marathons in 27 days through South Africa for Sport Relief. The significance of the number 27 came from the number of years
was held in prison. In total, she would aim to run more than 700 miles in temperatures of up to 40 °C. Izzard had attempted such a project in South Africa in 2012, but withdrew due to health concerns. She completed the first marathon on 23 February 2016, completing the marathon challenge on 20 March 2016 at the statue of Mandela in front of the
. Because she had spent a day in hospital, she had to run two consecutive marathons on this last day. She raised more than £1.35M for Sport Relief. A BBC documentary detailing the feat was broadcast on 28 March.
On 8 December 2020, Izzard announced
that she would attempt to run 31 marathons, and perform 31 stand-up gigs, in the 31 days of January 2021 to raise money for a range of charities including Fareshare,
.
The series of marathons raised in excess of £275,000.
. In May 2005, she appeared on the
...