Russell Brand

At 49 years old, Russell Brand has this physical status:

Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, radio host, and campaigner. Brand first rose to fame in 2004 as the host of Big Brother's Big Mouth, a Big Brother spin-off, after starting his career as a stand-up comedian and later becoming an MTV host.

He appeared in his first major film role in St Trinian's in 2007, and the following year, he landed a major role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a comedy starring Jonah Hill; the film culminated in him appearing in a twist off, Get Him to the Greek.

He appeared in the animated films Despicable Me in 2011, Hop in 2011, and Despicable Me 2 in 2013, and starred in the 2011 version of Arthur's romantic comedy.

He introduced the highly praised stand-up special Messiah Complex in 2013. Brand became well-known as a national activist and strategist, and has spoken on a variety of political and cultural topics, including wealth disparation, corporate capitalism, climate change, and media bias since guest editing an edition of the British political weekly New Statesman in 2013.

Brand launched The Trews, a political-comedy web series, in 2014, and began a book called Revolution, as well as a film about financial injustice with Michael Winterbottom. Brand has been consistently covered in media coverage and criticism over his careers, including his promiscuity and opioid use, his bizarre appearance at various award ceremonies, his exclusion from MTV and departure from the BBC, and his two-year marriage with singer Katy Perry.

Many of his inflammatory public antics have been incorporated into his comedic material.

In 2015, Brand: A Second Coming was released, a biographical film.

Early life

Russell Edward Brand was born in Orsett Hospital in Grays, Essex, England. He is Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and photographer Ronald Henry Brand's youngest child. When he was six months old, the brand's parents separated, and his mother raised him by his mother.

When Brand was 8, his mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer and then breast cancer one year later. Brand lived with relatives while she was under medical care. When he was 14 years old, he had bulimia nervosa. He left home when he was 16 years old because of differences with his mother's child. Since then, brands began to use illicit drugs like cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, and ecstasy. A tutor sexually assaulted a brand.

The brand claims to have a "strange friendship" with his father, whom he noticed sporadically and who took him to visit prostitutes while on a trip to Thailand when Brand was a boy. He made his theatrical debut in a school production of Bugsy Malone at the age of 15, then began acting as a film actor. Brand attended Grays School in 1991 and was accepted into the Italia Conti Academy, where Essex County Council sponsored his first year of tuition. Brand was suspended for unlawful drug use and poor attendance after his first year at Italia Conti Academy.

Personal life

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder have been identified for the brand. He suffered with bulimia, pornography use, and a bout of self-harming. Fame is portrayed in his word as "like ashes" in his mouth.

Branded as a Buddhist, speaking with The Guardian in 2017, he said he believes in a higher power as outlined by Alcoholics Anonymous. "I believe Hare Krishna as often as possible, even when I am not being filmed." Brand has expressed interest in the Hare Krishna campaign in a 2007 Guardian column: "I say Hare Krishna as often as possible, even though I am not being photographed." In addition, Brand talked about his passion for Transcendental Meditation (TM) in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2010. In a 2013 New Statesman editorial, he wrote, "I feel the fulness of the divine." "I connect to a boundless consciousness with no definite association of my thoughts, fears, or aspirations." He has also leaned toward Christian spirituality and practice by daily reciting the Lord's Prayer and seeking to have Christ consciousness.

Brand appeared as the best man at Noel Gallagher's wedding to Sara MacDonald in 2011.

Brand has been involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's martial art since 2016 and has gained a purple belt in the field. In several ways, the art has influenced his life.

Brand Henley-on-Thames lives. He has been a lifelong fan of the West Ham United football team. He is a vegan as of 2019; he is a vegetarian.

Katy Perry, an American singer, first appeared in mid-2009 when she filmed a cameo for his film Get Him to the Greek, but the cameo was removed from the film. Since meeting again at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, the two people began dating. On New Year's Eve 2009, the two became engaged during a holiday in India and married there on October 23rd, 2010, near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan.

After watching the documentary Forks Over Knives, which explores how plant-based diets can minimize cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses, Brand and Perry reported via Twitter in October 2011. Brand applied for divorce on December 30, 2011, citing irreconcilable inconsistencies that were not resolved in July 2012. Katy Perry: Part of Me, Perry's 2012 autobiographical film, revealed that conflicting work schedules and Perry's inability to have children resulted in their marriage's termination. In a video interview, Perry said in a letter that Brand did not like the theory of her "being the boss" of things, and that the last time she heard from him was on December 31, 2011, when he text-messaged that he was divorcing her.

Brand said in a Howard Stern interview that he was absolutely in love with Perry, but after marrying her, he realized "this isn't really working out." I was deeply in love with her, but finding each other was intimidating... it mostly didn't work for practical reasons." Although Stern pressed for specifics, Brand denied, saying, "I don't want anything to hurt her." She's younger than me, she's beautiful, she's sensitive, and she cares deeply about her." Brand, who married Perry without a prenuptial deal, was eligible to recover half of the $44 million she earned during their marriage but declined.

Brand was in a relationship with Jemima Goldsmith from 2013 to 2014 (f.k.a. Khan, a writer for the New Statesman and a granddaughter of financier James Goldsmith, is a fan of financier James Goldsmith. Brand received libel from The Sun in May 2014 after the newspaper published a story claiming that he had been unfaithful to Khan in November 2013. According to the brand, he would be donating the unspecified damages to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign. In September 2014, Brand and Khan's relationship came to an end.

Brand defended his allegations of misogyny against him in the October 2014 issue of Vanity Fair: "I have lived a life and had a series of cultural references that made that charge sound" However, misogyny is not part of my new list of habits as a person who is trying to lead a healthy, spiritual life. In a way, redemption is a significant piece of my tale. I'm talking about ending up with previous lives, old habits, and previous behaviours.

Since 2015, the brand has been in a partnership with Scottish blogger and restaurateur Laura Gallacher, with whom he has worked on and off since 2007. Gallacher is the niece of television host Kirsty Gallacher. Mabel was born in November 2016. On August 26, 2017, Gallacher married Gallacher in Henley-on-Thames. Peggy, Brand and Gallacher's second daughter, was born in July 2018.

During his drug use period, the media published articles on Brand, mainly in connection with events, and his public profile has since been linked to this period. Brand was arrested on twelve occasions on suspicion of being drug-related. Following a subsequent exhibition in Edinburgh in 2004, a reviewer said, "You'd rather hug him than strike him" as he had begun to recover by this time. Brand revealed during his stand-up performances that he introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time at MTV and masturbated a stranger in a public toilet for a television show. Brand described his first encounter with heroin in January 2014 as "blissful."

Since December 2002, the brand has stopped using drugs. Since his own use of the service, he became a patron of the Focus 12 drug therapy program and rehabilitation charity; the charity closed in 2018. After Brand was apprehended using heroin in a bathtub at a Christmas party, his rep, John Noel, was able to ignite the brand's sobriety. The brand cites transcendental meditation as a major contributing factor in his drug-free life. In 2009, the brand produced three fundraisers for Focus 12 in London, Dublin, and Belfast, as well as serving as a "sponsor" for several people in the post-care phase of their recovery process.

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Career

In 2000, the brand competed at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final. Despite finishing fourth, Bound and Gagged Comedy Ltd agent Nigel Klarfeld's performance piqued the attention of Bound and Gagged Comedy Ltd agent Nigel Klarfeld. He made his Edinburgh debut as one-third of Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych last year, as well as ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comedian Shappi Khorsandi. He presented the confessional Better Now, his first one-man performance at the Edinburgh Festival in 2004, giving what he felt was an honest account of his heroin use. He returned with Erotic Humour the following year. In 2006, Shame began his first national tour, and he toured the country. Brand drew on tragic experiences in his own life and tabloid press coverage of him. Russell Brand: Live on DVD. In 2006 and again at the 2012 edition of Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball, the brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up.

With Noel Fielding, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs in March 2007. In December 2007, Brand appeared as an act for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Exhibition. Russell Brand: Only Joking, and Doin' Life, his second national tour, was released on DVD. Russell Brand, a brand, began to perform in the United States and produced a special for Comedy Central called Russell Brand in New York in March 2009. Russell Brand: Scandalous, a brand, began touring the United Kingdom, America, and Australia from January to April 2009. A further four dates were added to raise funds for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand was a patron until it was closed in October.

In 2013, Brand presented and toured Messiah Complex, which explored advertising, drug abuse, and the representation of his heroes, including Gandhi, Guevara, Malcolm X, and Jesus, as well as how he is in comically contrived ways, which are very similar to them.

Brand unveiled his new tour Re:Birth, which debuted in April 2017 and was supposed to run until November 2018. However, on the 30th of April 2018, he was forced to cancel the remaining dates after his mother was critically wounded in a hit-and-run tragedy. Russell Brand: Re:Birth, a London-based comedy film that was shot in April 2018, was released on Netflix on December 4th as a stand-up comedy film.

Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Peter Cook, Lenny Bruce, Lenny Bruce, Jack Kerouac, Stewart Lee, Tenacious D, Eddie Murphy, and Monty Python have all been among his comedic influences over the years. Monty Python's Life of Brian was one of his five favorite films he selected. Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut) appeared in the television series Monty Python's in 2009.

On MTV, he hosted Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the tea-time request show Select. After arriving at work dressed as Osama bin Laden on the 11th September 2001 attacks and bringing his drug store to the MTV studios, the brand was fired several days later. Brand appeared on RE:Brand, a documentary and comedy television series that sought to provide a fresh look at cultural taboote, after leaving MTV. With the support of Matt Morgan, his comic partner on many projects, it was planned, wrote, and hosted by Brand. In 2002, the series was broadcast on the now defunct digital satellite channel UK Play, which was also on display in the UK Play series.

In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister station to Big Brother 5. Celebrity guests and the public had the opportunity to have their say on the Big Brother household's goings-on. The show's name for Big Brother 6 has been changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following celebrity Big Brother 5's emergence, Brand announced that he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth. Brand thanked all the vendors for "taking the risk of using an ex-junkie twerp" to front the parade, according to a tweet. "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an incredible pleasure," he said about his time hosting the show. Big Brother was a one-off special on Russell Brand, in which Brand took a shocking, sideways glance at Big Brother throughout the ages. In the E4 show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house.

In the spring of 2006, Brand 1 Leicester Square, the presenter of the chat show, was back to MTV, with the show's schedule adjusted to reflect a more adult-oriented theme. On MTV, guests included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George, and Boy George. Brand's Got Questions After Big Brother 7 finished, Russell Brand's Got Issues On E4 was a discussion show. Despite a huge publicity and advertising campaign for the show, the first episode's viewership for the first episode were seen as disappointing, with virtually all of E4's top multi-channel rivals losing almost all of them. Due to poor ratings, the network had to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4. On Channel 4, the first episode was broadcast on October 24th, and it lasted for five weeks.

The 2006 NME Awards were presented by a brand. "Russell Brand – what a cunt," Brand President Bob Geldof, who was presenting an award from Brand, said at the event, "it's no surprise [Geldof]'s such a famine specialist [Geldof] is not surprised." He has been eating out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years." The 2007 BRIT Awards were held at Oasis, where the company presented Oasis with a "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award was given at the event. He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On July 7, 2007, he spoke at Wembley Stadium, London, at the UK leg of Live Earth.

Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary released by Brand and Matt Morgan about Jack Kerouac and his book On the Road, aired on December 12, 2007. In an interview with Russell Brand's Ponderland, the brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he addressed topics such as childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show premiered on October 22, 2007 and lasted for the next five nights. On October 30, 2008, a new series debuted. The show ran for 12 episodes in a row between the two series. Brand was later revealed to be the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), a trend in American media as he was relatively unknown to the American public. For several reasons, the brand's presence caused controversies. "The launch of a new Britney Spears period," he said, referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]"" in the evening. "If there is a female Christ, it's Britney," he said. The audience encouraged Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to be elected by the end, and then called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a decommissioned cowboy fella" who, "could not be trusted with scissors," the English author says. He made several references to the Jonas Brothers' purity rings, but later apologized for the remarks made later in the program.

Some offended viewers sent Brand death warnings as a result of his appearance at the 2008 MTV VMAs. After the 2008 show's ratings were 20 percent higher than the previous year, MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards. Russell Brand and Friends, a one-off stand-up comedy series that premiered on Channel 4 on January 25, 2008. On September 13, 2009, MTV VMAs host Brand Rewind returned to host the 2009 MTV VMAs at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The 2009 show had the highest ratings since the 2004 VMAs. On Tuesday Night Live, Brand guest star Paul Ryan hosted an episode of the hit American sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. Russell Brand and Meghma Brand hosted the MTV Movie Awards and Brand X in 2012, a late-night talk show on FX that attracted lukewarm reviews and middling ratings. After being on the show for two seasons, it was cancelled in 2013.

Brand first appeared in episodes of The Bill and the children's adventure series Mud in 1994, when she was still a teenager. In 2002, Brande and White Teeth appeared on the television shows Cruise of the Gods and White Teeth. He appeared Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed, written and directed by Young Ones co-writer Ben Elton in 2005. Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans on Channel 4's Peep Show; the role was eventually given to Matt King. Brand appeared in Cold Blood for ITV in 2007, portraying an ex-conservative named Ally. Terry, a recovering crack addict, appeared in the pilot for Morwenna Banks' ITV comedy The Abbey. In Robbie the Reindeer's Close Encounters of the Herd Kind, he identified himself as an Earth Guardian. In the 2006 film Penelope, the brand appeared in a small role, but Flash Harry was his first major film role, according to the 2007 film St Trinian's.

Brand came to fame in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played rock star Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). The brand received raves for his role as Snow, and he revealed that the character was changed from an author to a rock star due to his audition. In the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on December 25, 2008, the brand appeared alongside Adam Sandler. He reprised his role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy called Get Him to the Greek, starring Jonah Hill. For the film, he reunited with Forgetting Sarah Marshall producer Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow.

As Trinculo, Brand appeared in Julie Taymor's 2010 version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Brand voiced Dr. Nefario in the Universal film Despicable Me in 2010 and reprised the role in the 2013 sequel. Brand also appeared in The Simpsons episode "Angry Dad: The Movie" as himself. In addition, the brand appeared in the live action/CGI animated film Hop in April 2011 starring James Marsden, voicing the film's protagonist E.B. Hop debuted at number one at the Friday box office in the United States, earning $11.4 million. He starred in a Shakespeare based on Arthur's name in the same month, which was a box office disappointment. In a film version of the 1980s-set musical Rock Of Ages, Lonny appeared in a film adaptation that was released in theaters in June 2012.

Brand went on hiatus from acting after appearing as William Carr in the Diablo Cody film Paradise (2013). In the comedy Army of One (2016) with Nicolas Cage, his return role was as Creek in the DreamWorks animated film Trolls (2016). Lance Klians, the founder of Sports X Network, was portrayed in a recurring arc in the last two seasons of HBO's Ballers. In 2020's fantasy film Four Kids and It, Tristan Trent appeared as Tristan Trent, and Linus Windlesham appeared in Kenneth Branagh's remake of Death on the Nile in 2022.

Other projects the brand has been linked to include a remake of Drop Dead Fred, an Adam Sandler-produced film about a con-man posing as a priest, and a film adaptation of Rentaghost, a project that was picked up by Fox Studio in 2011 with Ben Stiller attached.

Vanity Projects, the brand's own production firm, as of October 2008. Russell Brand Doing Life, the company's most recent development, was released in 2009.

In 2011, Brand Nik Linnen, a friend, formed his own production company. The company, which is referred to as 'Branded Films,' operates from the Warner Bros. Burbank, California, United States. The company's primary goal is to produce films starring Brand Ambassadors.

When he hosted a Sunday afternoon show with Matt Morgan on London's Indie Rock station Xfm, Brand's radio career began in early 2002. After seeing pornographic content live on-air, the brand was dismissed from the job. Brand co-hosted three one-off shows on BBC Radio 6 Music with Karl Pilkington in 2005. Beginning in April 2006 on BBC Radio 6 Music, the Russell Brand Show was co-hosted by the brand. The show moved to BBC Radio 2 in November 2006 and aired on Saturdays from 9-11 p.m. About 400,000 viewers per week, according to the show. Jonathan Ross, a brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ, made a series of phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs, in which Brand accused him of having sex with Sachs' granddaughter on air. The Mail on Sunday broke the news and regarded phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC as a result of the incident, and Brand resigned from his show. Ofcom, Britain's broadcast regulator, later fined the BBC £150,000 for airing the calls.

On 19 April 2009, Brand and Noel Gallagher hosted a one-off football talk show for Talksport. On October 9, 2010, the brand returned to Talksport for a 20-week Saturday night show. Clips and back-stage recordings from his Booky Wook 2 promotional tour were included on the show. A number of people had attended, including Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.

Brand introduced The Russell Brand Podcast, a twice-weekly podcast, on February 25, 2015, via audioBoom. The podcast brought Brand and poet Mr Gee together, as did his radio presenting team. After 24 episodes, the podcast came to an end. Russell Brand's Under the Skin podcast, released in 2017, in which he interviews guests from topics including academia, popular culture, and the performing arts.

Brand X with Russell Brand, a late-night talk show on FX that attracted lukewarm reviews and middling ratings, launched in 2012. After two seasons, the show was cancelled in 2013.

Brand wrote a column for The Guardian's sports section from 2006 to 2009, focusing on West Ham United and the England national football team. In his book Irons in the Fire, a collection of the columns from 2006 to 2007 was published.

My Booky Wook, the brand's first autobiography, was published on November 15, 2007 and received rave feedback. "Russell Brand's enthralling tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame," Andrew Anthony of The Observer said.

In June 2008, the brand signed a £1.8 million two-book contract with HarperCollins. Articles of Faith, Brand's first book, delves into Brand's philosophy and was based on a series of his columns from The Guardian that appeared in 2007 and 2008. Brand interviewed Noel Gallagher, James Corden, and David Baddiel about football in the book, which was released on October 16, 2008. This Time It's Personal, HarperCollins' second book, Booky Wook 2: This Is Personal, was the brand's second autobiography and was released on September 30, 2010.

Brand has written for The Guardian which offers his take on current affairs and pop culture, including the deaths of Amy Winehouse and Robin Williams. Following the 2011 London riots, Brand wrote a column in which he criticized the government's response to the 2011 London riots as a failure to investigate the root causes.

Russell Brand's Trickster Tales: The Pied Piper of Hamelin made his children's debut in November 2014, which was followed by a book by the author. It's the first instalment of an envisioned series starring Chris Riddell's illustrations. "The on-Brand must be noted is on every page, his refusal to get out of the way of the story tripping the reader up at every turn," Lucy Mangan said, adding that Chris Riddell's illustrations "give the book a beauty it does not deserve and a coherence that the text does not possess." Nicholas Tucker, a writer for The Independent, was even less impressed, noting the book's "wearingly offensive" words and writing:

Random House published his book Revolution, in which Brand recalls his earlier work, in October 2014, gaining a lot of attention. Brand's writing, according to Nick Cohen of The Observer, was "atrocious: long-winded, confused, and smug; full of references to books Brand has half read and assumes he has half understood." On the other hand, Steve Richards of The Independent wrote and spoke with verve, words flowing effortlessly and musically." The comparison is made between elected politicians' tame wooden prose.

Brand's Book Recovering: Our Addictions was published in September 2017. In January 2019, his next book, Mentors: How To Help and Be Helped, was published. It's about people who have had a positive influence on his life, and it encourages us to be more compassionate individuals.

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