Simon Bird

Simon Bird is one of the most recognizable faces on British television, making people laugh since his days as an undergrad at the University of Cambridge. It was his role as the sardonic Will McKenzie on "The Inbetweeners" (E4 2008-10) that really launched him into the national spotlight. The show ran for three successful seasons, with Bird reprising his role as McKenzie in a film version called "The Inbetweeners Movie" (2011). Once "The Inbetweeners" ended its three-season run, Bird continued to appear in various British sitcoms like "Friday Night Dinner" (Channel 4 2011- ) and "Chickens" (Sky1 2013- ), thus underscoring his already growing status as one of Britain's most prolific comedic actors.

Born into a family of academics (his parents both taught economics at the University of Surrey in England), Bird embarked on a career in comedy while studying English at Queen's College at the University of Cambridge. It was there that he became the president of Footlights, the University's famed sketch comedy troupe. Bird honed his comedy writing chops during his time spent with Footlights, and in 2005 decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy. He went on to win Chortle's prestigious national comedy awards three years in a row, beginning in 2005, but by the late 2000s had grown restless and decided to turn his attention to acting. His big break came less than a year later in 2008 when he was cast as the lead in "The Inbetweeners." As Will McKenzie, a sophisticated high school student with a wry sense of humor, Bird was nominated for a BAFTA Award and quickly rose to become one of the most popular characters on British television. When the show ended in 2011, Bird reprised his role in the highly admired film version, "The Inbetweeners Movie," before nabbing the part of a twentysomething dealing with his irritating family on the sitcom "Friday Night Dinner." Then in 2013 Bird's WWI comedy, "Chickens," which he co-created, came to British TV screens, with Bird starring as one of three British outcasts that refuse to fight in the Great War. Although the show was originally commissioned as a TV pilot for Channel 4 in 2011, Sky1 debuted "Chickens" in August of 2013.