Izzard, Eddie

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Izzard, Eddie

Actor and comedian

B orn Edward John Izzard, February 7, 1962, in Aden, South Yemen, Africa; son of Harold John (a chief auditor for British Petroleum) and Dorothy Ella (a nurse) Izzard. Education: Attended University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Addresses: Agent—Karon Maskill, 33 Cranwich Road, London, N16 5HZ. Web site—http://www.eddieizzard.com

Career

S tand-up comedy performances include: Live at the Ambassadors, 1993; Unrepeatable, 1994; Definite Article, 1996; Glorious, 1997; Dress to Kill, 1998; Circle, 2002; Sexie, 2003. Stage appearances include: The Cryptogram, 1994; 900 Oneonta, 1994; Edward II, 1995; Lenny, 1999; A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Comedy Theatre, England, 2001, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, 2003; Trumbo, 2003. Television appearances include: Aristophanes: The Gods are Laughing, 1995; Tales from the Crypt, 1996; Rex the Runt, 1998; Pythonland, 1999; 40, 2003; The Riches, 2007. Film appearances include: The Secret Agent, 1996; Velvet Goldmine, 1998; The Avengers, 1998; Mystery Men, 1999; Circus, 2000; Shadow of the Vampire, 2000; The Cat’s Meow, 2001; All the Queen’s Men, 2001; Revenger’s Tragedy, 2002; Blueberry, 2004; Five Children and It, 2004; Ocean’s Twelve, 2004; Romance & Cigarettes, 2005, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006; Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007; Across the Universe, 2007.

Awards: British Comedy Award for best stand-up comedian, 1993 and 1996; Emmy Award for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program,Academy of TelevisionArts & Sciences, for Dress to Kill, 2000; Emmy Award for outstanding writing for a variety, music, or comedy program, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, for Dress to Kill, 2000; Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding actor in a play, for A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, 2003.

Sidelights

W hat does it take to be compared to the quirky comic geniuses in the troupe known as Monty Python? For stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, wearing women’s clothes and theorizing on the thought processes of squirrels has helped him garner an international reputation equal to the cross-dressing British comedians who were popular in the 1970s. Izzard’s talents are not only apparent in his wide-ranging stand-up performances. He has also proven himself as an actor on stage, in film, and on television. He has been nominated for a Tony award and won Emmy awards. His prolific output belies the fact that many of his performances are extemporaneous ramblings based on a loose outline. Sheryl Garratt of the Guardian described Izzard’s eccentric lure: “He’s an action transvestite, an executive trans-vestite, a male tomboy . Having established where he fits into the real world, he then proceeds to make it irrelevant by pulling the audience into a parallel universe of his own creating, taking an infectious, almost childlike joy in making strange leaps of logic and absurd connections.”

Born Edward John Izzard on February 7, 1962, in Aden, South Yemen, Africa, Izzard is the younger of two sons of Harold and Dorothy Izzard. Izzard’s father spent his life working for British Petroleum, beginning his career as a filing clerk and working his way up to become chief auditor for the international company. A transfer took Izzard’s father to South Yemen, where he met Dorothy, a nurse, and the two were married. In 1963, the family moved to Bangor, Ireland, where they lived for four years until tensions in Northern Ireland led the family to move to Skewen, South Wales. Izzard remembers his early years in Ireland as happy ones. Unfortunately, soon after the family moved to South Wales, tragedy struck.

In 1967, the same year as their move, Izzard’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and died soon afterward. At the age of six, Izzard lost his mother and was subsequently sent to boarding school. The loss of his mother was a devastating blow, one that he continues to mourn. He told the Guardian’s Gar-ratt, “Hitler died at a later age than my mother. It proves that there is no God.” Boarding school provided little comfort in the face of his loss. Izzard claims to have cried until he was eleven years old. The first school he attended was known for being tough and Izzard claims to have been physically disciplined most of his time there. When his father moved again, Izzard was placed in a more liberal school. While dealing with his pain, he managed to discover a love of acting. He was also an avid soccer player, a member of the Boy Scouts, and an army cadet.

At age seven, Izzard decided he wanted to become an actor. Not long after deciding this, he was exposed to the comedy of Peter Cook, Peter Sellers, and Monty Python, all of whom had shows on television. In high school he made valiant attempts to pursue his dream, but he was never chosen for starring roles. His passion drove him to audition for the National Youth Theatre, for which he was turned down. He even attempted to sneak onto the grounds of Elstree Studios, a prominent film studio, in the hopes of being discovered. He was discovered, but it was by security, and he was kicked off the lot.

Izzard ended up attending the boarding school East-bourne College to finish out his pre-college years. It was here that he began to come into his own as an actor. He began landing better roles, which included turns in plays such as Comedy of Errors, Cabaret, and The Proposal. Andrew Boxer, who produced most of the plays at Eastbourne, told Garratt in the Guardian article of Izzard’s desire to be in The Proposal, “It really mattered to him to do that play. Kids at that age aren’t usually that good at bringing their own ideas to it, they want to be told. Eddie was one of the few people who could. He was very determined.”

When Izzard was 18, he attended Sheffield University. His studies were focused on accounting and math but he also continued to spend time acting. In 1981, his first show was staged in Edinburgh and was titled Fringe Flung Lunch. Four years later he formed a small theater company with his friend, Rob Ballard. As the company grew, Izzard and Ballard were drawn to expand their horizons and headed to London. There the two formed a comedy duo called the Official Touring Company of Alpha Centauri. They would call themselves the Officials for short and performed on the street. Izzard described the experience to Garratt of the Guardian, “It was awful, humiliating . People treat you like beggars.” He was discovered, but the offers were for spots on children’s shows. Izzard was leery of getting typecast as a children’s performer and turned down the offers.

In 1987, Ballard went on to do other work, so Iz-zard performed solo. The previous year he had also begun performing in clubs. For his street performances, Izzard learned to ride a unicycle. He would ride and just talk, telling stories until he ran out of breath or his voice gave out. He explained to Gar-ratt of the Guardian, “I learned to go on and on without stopping just to keep the energy high and stop them walking away. I’d point at people and impose scenarios on them.” The combination of solo street performance and stand-up in the clubs gave Izzard the experience he needed to gain confidence and find his own rhythm and style, one that peers described as responsive and free.

Having honed his performance style, Izzard was ready to move on. In 1991, he was invited to perform live for the AIDS benefit titled Hysteria 3. The show was televised and eventually released on video. He gained recognition from the performance and found the confidence to move out of the club circuit. What he did was untested: He booked theaters for multi-night runs. In 1992, he performed a two-week run at the Shaw Theatre in London. A year later he performed a 13week run of shows at the Ambassador Theater in New York City. The run ended up being a huge success with audiences. Previous hits had only been attained with the help of the comedian having a television show, so Izzard had beaten the odds.

Spurred on by his successful run at the Ambassador and another hit with Definite Article in 1996, Izzard decided to take his act across the pond again and see how American audiences responded. Despite positive reviews and reactions to his New York shows, Izzard found that he was not gaining footing in the United States. In fact, it took until 1999 when HBO began airing his Dress to Kill performances from the year before that he made his breakthrough. Dress to Kill earned him two Emmy Awards, one for best writing and one for best performance. The live performances brought him to the attention of comedian Robin Williams, who helped produce his shows on the West Coast. While not a fan of performing for television, Izzard has made a concerted effort to make all of his tours available on video. Other popular shows of his include 1997’s Glorious, 2002’s Circle, and 2003’s Sexie.

Izzard claims that comedy is secondary to his desire to be a respected actor. With the recognition he had gained with his stand-up, he was able to garner stage roles. In 1994, he starred in the world pre-miere of playwright David Mamet’s The Cryptogram as well as the black comedy 900 Oneonta. Other stage roles included the lead role in 1995’s Edward II and 2003’s Trumbo. In 1999, he took on the role of the controversial 1960s-era comedian Lenny Bruce in the play about him titled Lenny. In 2001, he played the male lead in the revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the Comedy Theatre in London, England. Two years later the play opened with the same cast in New York at the Roundabout Theater Company. His performances in New York earned him a Tony nomination.

Not long after he began touring in the United States, he secured a film agent and began campaigning for roles. In 1996, he secured a small role in The Secret Agent, a film starring Bob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette. Two years later he appeared in both Velvet Goldmine and The Avengers. Throughout the 1990s, Izzard continued to make regular appearances in films, if only in small roles. In 2001, he took on the role of silent movie actor Charlie Chaplin in the film The Cat’s Meow, which retells the true, though contested, story of a death on the yacht of William Randolph Hearst, a prominent publisher in the early part of the 20th century. That was quickly followed by a lead role in the film All the Queen’s Men, co-starring television star Matt LeBlanc.

In the spring of 2007, Izzard made his television de-but in a new series for the FX channel. The show, titled The Riches, follows an itinerant family of con artists who take on the identity of a suburban family that they find dead in a car crash. Izzard stars as the father who fakes his way into a position at a law firm. Co-starring British actress Minnie Driver, the show was met with enthusiasm by audiences and critics.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Izzard has a grand desire to perform around the world in the native languages of the places he visits. In 1997, he achieved the first level of that goal by performing for six nights in Paris, France, speaking almost entirely in French. He also likes to interject Latin and German into his regular performances. Other languages he hopes to perform in are German, Russian, Arabic, and Spanish.

Izzard has continually tested his limits and exhibited a personal braveness that he is very proud of in himself. One of his most daring moves was coming out to the public that he is a transvestite, a man who likes to wear women’s clothes. This revelation was closely followed by his first performance in a dress. Although it has been suggested that his cross-dressing is a gamble to gain attention, Izzard denies it thoroughly. In many statements he has made it clear that his desire to wear women’s clothes is something that is innate. He claims that transvestit-ism is genetic, as much a part of his being as the color of his eyes. Izzard makes no apologies for who he is. He wears what he feels like wearing, when he feels like wearing it. Some days he is inspired to wear makeup and skirts. Other days he wears jeans, a T-shirt, and no makeup.

The hardest part of being transvestite was coming out to his father. The two men share a love for soccer and it was after having attended a game that Iz-zard told his father. Izzard was surprised to find that his father was so accepting. He explained to Garratt in the Guardian interview, “That was very hard. Worrying about it. I didn’t want to give him a hard time. But he was very cool about it, which wasn’t what I was expecting.”

With a seemingly endless list of goals, Izzard works hard to check off one item after another on that list. His popularity as a stand-up comedian grows while he looks forward to even better roles in film and television. It seems clear that Izzard is ready, willing, and able to conquer the entertainment world.