Early life and education
Walliams was born at St Teresa's Maternity Hospital in Wimbledon, in theTelevision career
Walliams performed in the Big Finish Productions '' Doctor Who'' audio play ''Matt Lucas
Walliams and''Britain's Got Talent''
From 2012 to 2022, Walliams was a judge on theWriting career
Children's novels
In early 2008 Walliams signed a contract withPicture books
Short story collections
Illustrated in colour by Tony Ross, Walliams' three ''The World's Worst Children'' short story collections, centered around 'five beastly boys and five gruesome girls', were published in May 2016, May 2017 and May 2018, respectively. ''The World's Worst Teachers'' was published on 27 June. In September 2021 it was announced that one of the stories in ''The World's Worst Children'' would be removed after podcaster Georgie Ma made a complaint, saying Walliams' book was "normalising jokes on minorities from a young age." The story criticised by Ma earlier in the year is "about a Chinese boy called Brian Wong" who is "never, ever wrong". Ma, who also called out the story for its "casual racism", talked in May with representatives ofOther work
Theatre
On 26 August 2008 Walliams made his stage debut at theScreenwriting
In addition to his writing credits for his sketch shows and adaptions of his novels, he co-wrote an animated film titled ''Shadows'' with filmmakerCharity work
Telethon hosting
Walliams co-hosted a segment of theSwimming the English Channel
On 4 July 2006 Walliams swam theSwimming the Strait of Gibraltar
On 7 March 2008 Walliams, along withCycling
In March 2010 Walliams and a group of celebrities cycled an end-to-end journey through the UK, raising over £1 million for Sport Relief. Walliams suffered a serious fall when tackling the''24 Hour Panel People''
In March 2011 Walliams undertook ''24 Hour Panel People'', in which he took part in back-to-back recordings of various panel show formats over the course of 24 hours to raise money forSwimming the Thames
From 5 to 12 September 2011 Walliams swam the length of thePersonal life
In 2007, Walliams' father, Peter, died of an aggressive form of liver cancer. In 2009, Walliams dated eighteen-year-old model Lauren Budd. Budd claimed Walliams had approached her agent,Controversies
Exposing teenagers' genitals and simulating sex during 'Hide the Sausage'
Walliams performed a 'Hide the Sausage' sketch numerous times during the ''Teenagers during ''Little Britain Down Under''
Footage from a 2007= Exposing Jeremy Edward's genitals and Mark Ronson's buttocks
= In 2006, Walliams performed 'Hide the Sausage' during the ''Little Britain Comic Relief Gala'' at the Hammersmith Apollo. Participants included comedian David Baddiel and English actor Jeremy Edwards whose genitals were exposed to more than 3,000 people in the live audience. Walliams also 'dry humped' Edwards and laid on top of him. Walliams said on stage, "That was not meant to happen. You were not supposed to see gonad. Arse crack, yes. Gonad, no.' An image of the incident, that includes Edwards' penis, is available to purchase on Getty Images Chortle reported that. "tellingly, Edwards - who seemed genuinely embarrassed by the incident – did not appear at the final curtain call." On 2 November 2009, Walliams performed the sketch with Mark Ronson at London's O2 Academy, Brixton, O2 Academy Brixton in front of 3,000 people at a charity event for Concert for CARE. Footage from the event shows Ronson trying to stop Walliams from pulling his trousers and underwear down. Ronson's buttocks were exposed. After the event, Walliams was reported to have said, "When I put my mind to it, I have the strength of ten men so there's no stopping me. Mark is a cool, calm character. To put him in that position was out of his comfort zone." Walliams claimed that he offered to buy Ronson a new suit.Criticism and violent reaction from theatre goers
Williams portrayal of a predatory paedophile is not funny. It's sickening and unacceptable. That sketch should not be repeated anywhere. It should be withdrawn from public viewing and filed in a film archive so that future historians have evidence of what passed for 'comedy' only 13 years ago. Some viewers will have interpreted Walliams as playing the trope of gay men as predators and paedophiles. Even though Walliams supports the LGBT+ community, his depiction plays into the hands of those who wrongly equate homosexuality with the exploitation of young people.
Kim Jong-un Halloween costume
In early November 2017, Walliams caused upset through his dressing as List of leaders of North Korea, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for Halloween and posting it online. He had shared the photograph on his Twitter account, in costume, wearing a black suit, wig, and artificial prosthetics that appeared to alter his eyelids and hairline. There was an immediate backlash online, many Twitter users branding the outfit "racist" and accusing Walliams of "yellow-face". Others made the point that it was insensitive for Walliams to dress as Kim Jong-un given the North Korean leader's 'appalling' Human rights in North Korea, human rights record. Walliams responded to the backlash lightly, constructing a SMS spoofing, fake text message from Kim Jong-un which he posted to Twitter, reading: "Hi Dave, Loved the Halloween outfit mate! Wet meself laughing. Don't see what all the fuss is about. Kim x. PS Can't wait to read ''Bad Dad''."Presidents Club Charitable Trust
In January 2018, Walliams attended a Presidents Club, Presidents Club Charitable Trust charity auction as a host, as well as offering the opportunity to name a character in a future book as an auction prize. The 2018 event was his third time hosting, with Walliams additionally offering that he would be "personally presenting the book to your family over afternoon tea". This event was later subject to significant controversy, after undercover reporters reported many of the hostesses were subject to groping and sexual harassment from the all-male attendees. Walliams said he attended the event in a "strictly professional capacity" as host, and "left immediately" after his set ended, stating that he was "absolutely appalled" by the reports. The controversy caused some bookshops to remove his books from sale, with the owner of Chicken and Frog noting "even if he was unaware, when the highly inappropriate suggested names were mentioned for his auction lot, or the plastic surgery to ‘add spice to your wife’, he should have walked away. He did not".Stereotypes and black face
In June 2020, Netflix, BritBox, Britbox, Now TV (Sky), NOW TV and BBC iPlayer dropped Walliams and Lucas' '' Little Britain'' and '' Come Fly With Me'', over the use of blackface and stereotypes to portray black, disabled, working class, transgender, and gay people. In Little Britain, both Walliams and Lucas use make up to portray different races, with Walliams portraying a black health-spa guest called List of Little Britain characters, Desiree Devere. Variety Magazine attributed the widespread removal of the series on streaming platforms to heightened awareness in the wake of George Floyd, George Floyd's murder and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests. After the removal, Walliams and Lucas released identical apologies on their Twitter: "[We] have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong & we are very sorry.”Children's books
In July 2020, tweets by author and activist Jack Monroe described Walliams' books as "like Little Britain for kids", with "horrific racism and classism and bodyshaming in a veneer of privileged deniability".; HarperCollins issued a response, stating "David Walliams's books have a diverse readership which is reflected in their content".Britain's Got Talent remarks
In November 2022, it emerged that Walliams had made sexually explicit and derogatory remarks towards some of the contestants on Britain's Got Talent, during a recording at the London Palladium in January 2020. He was recorded as saying of one of them, "She thinks you want to fuck her, but you don’t... I know, she’s just like: ‘Oh, fuck off!’ I was saying, she thinks you want to fuck her, but you don't. It's the last thing on your mind, but she's like: ‘Yep, I bet you do!’ ‘No I don’t!’ I had a bit of a boner, but now it's going, it's now shrivelled up inside my body." In a statement later, he said: "I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain's Got Talent in 2020. These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry."Filmography
Television
Film
Awards and honours
Walliams was given a special award in recognition of his sporting efforts for charity.Bibliography
Non-fiction
* ''Inside Little Britain'' (with Boyd Hilton andChildren's fiction
Novels
The first two novels are illustrated byShort story collections
Illustrated byPicture books
* ''The Slightly Annoying Elephant'' (2013) * ''The First Hippo on the Moon'' (2014) * ''The Queen's Orang-utan'' (2015, for Comic Relief) * ''The Bear Who Went Boo!'' (2015) * ''There's a Snake in My School!'' (2016) * ''Boogie Bear'' (2018) * ''Geronimo'' (2018)World Book Day book
* ''Blob'' (2017)References
External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walliams, David David Walliams, 1971 births Living people 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of Bristol English autobiographers English children's writers English Channel swimmers English male comedians English comedy writers English male film actors English radio writers English male soap opera actors English male stage actors English television personalities English television producers English television writers English male voice actors Labour Party (UK) people Little Britain Male long-distance swimmers People educated at Reigate Grammar School People with bipolar disorder National Youth Theatre members People from Banstead British sketch comedians Best Comedy Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners Officers of the Order of the British Empire British male comedy actors British male television writers 21st-century British screenwriters