John William Oliver was born on 23 April 1977 under the sign of Taurus, in Erdington, Birmingham, England , where he was raised by his father, Jim Oliver, who was a social worker and school headmaster, and his mother, Carole Oliver, who was a music teacher.
He attended the Mark Rutherford School in Bedford, after which he went to Christ’s College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a degree in English in 1998. While there, John was a part of the university theatrical club – the Cambridge Footlights – and served as its vice president.
Career Beginnings
John Oliver started his career performing as a stand-up comedian in the show “The Comedy Zone” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001. Thereafter, he would perform solo shows making his debut in 2002, and in the double act performance and radio show “Political Animal”, along with Andy Zaltzman in 2004 and 2005. At the same time, John made regular appearance as a panelist in the BBC Two satirical celebrity news quiz “Mock The Week”.
Rise to Fame and “The Daily Show”
In 2006, John Oliver relocated to New York City to work on the late-night talk and news satire program “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”, broadcast on Comedy Central, sering as its Senior British Correspondent. He also wrote for the show, which earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in 2009, 2011 and 2012. In the following year, John guest-hosted the show, and received positive reviews. Between 2007 and 2015, he co-created and co-hosted the weekly satirical comedy podcast “The Bugle”, alongside Andy Zaltzman. He also created, wrote and produced his own stand-up comedy series “John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show”, aired on Comedy Central from 2010 to 2013.
“Last Week Tonight”
In 2014, John started working on his own late-night show, entitled “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”, which has been aired on the HBO network ever since. For his work on the show, John Oliver has won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards, five Writers Guild of America Awards, five Producers Guild Awards, three TCA Awards, and two Peabody Awards, among others. He has also received three Directors Guild of America Award nominations.
Career as an Actor
John Oliver made his television debut as a child, in the role of Felix Pardiggle in an episode of the BBC drama series “Bleak House” in 1985.
He made his film debut when he played Dick Pants in Mike Myers’ 2008 romantic comedy “The Love Guru”, starring alongside Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake. From 2009 to 2014, he was cast as Dr. Ian Duncan in the NBC comedy series “Community”, meantime in 2011 providing his voice to Vanity Smurf in the animated film “The Smurfs”, which he would later reprise in its sequel “The Smurfs 2” as well as the animated short film “The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow”, both in 2013. He did voice overs for such TV and film titles as “Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja” (2012-2013), “The Simpsons” (2014), and “Danger Mouse” (2016-2017), among many others. Most recently, John voiced Steve in the animated adventure film “Wonder Park”, and Zazu in the remake of Disney’s traditionally animated musical drama film “The Lion King”, both in 2019.
