Eddie Izzard

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Eddie Izzard at the 2013 British Comedy Awards

Edward "Eddie" John Izzard (born February 7, 1962 in Aden , South Yemen ) is a British comedian and actor .

Life

Izzard was born in South Yemen as the second son of a BP employee and a nurse. A few years before the British withdrew from the region (1967), his family left the country. He lived in Bangor (Northern Ireland) until 1967 , then in Wales and East Sussex . His mother died when he was six years old. After school he worked as a street comedian in various places in Europe and the United States .

Izzard also began to play female roles at an early age and to appear as a transvestite and cross-dresser ; In 2001 he was named "Britain's Best Loved Transvestite". Already at that time he identified himself as transgender (" transgender "), although his sexual orientation was still related to women, i.e. heterosexual . On the occasion of an appearance in Los Angeles in 2011 , Izzard affirmed that he was transgender; In 2016 he explained in more detail that he neither clearly felt himself to be a man nor a woman, but rather as both, as non-binary . In an interview with the taz 2019, Izzard said in German: “I identify as trans and gender fluid. And I have boy fashion and girl fashion. The terms man and woman seem too loaded to me. ”He allows himself to be addressed as“ Mr. Izzard ”and agrees with male pronouns .

Career

Eddie Izzard at the Lyric Theater in London (2008)
Eddie Izzard at a Labor Party election rally (2015)

After having been on programs in the UK in the 1980s, Izzard first appeared on a comedy program in London's West End in 1993 . Right away, he received a lot of praise from critics and was nominated for various prizes; among other things he received the British Comedy Award . In the following years Izzard remained loyal to the theater, on the one hand with new comedy programs, on the other hand as a serious actor, for example in the world premiere of David Mamet's The Cryptogram or as Edward II in Christopher Marlowe 's drama of the same name.

In 1996 he first appeared in a movie: alongside Bob Hoskins , Patricia Arquette and Christian Bale , he starred in the thriller The Secret Agent (Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent) .

Shortly thereafter, he went on tour for the first time with a program outside the UK. His international breakthrough was his 1998 program Dress to Kill , for which he later published a book of the same name, a CD and a DVD. After airing on American television on HBO , it received two Emmy Awards in 2000 . In 2003 he was for his role in the Broadway -Stück A Day in the Death of Joe Egg for a Tony Award nomination.

In 2001 he played the role of Charlie Chaplin on the side of Kirsten Dunst in Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow . Izzard got the role of grandfather in the 2012 remake of The Munster's "Mockingbird Lane".

In 2007 and 2008 he was the lead actor with Minnie Driver and one of the producers of the American drama series The Riches , which was discontinued after the writers' strike . In 2008 he appeared in the historical film Operation Walküre - The Stauffenberg Assassination at the side of Tom Cruise in the role of the German general and resistance fighter Erich Fellgiebel .

Izzard mainly plays in the English-speaking world, but he has also been to France several times, where he gave his show in the local language. His first appearance in Germany was on April 5, 2013 in the Admiralspalast Berlin, where he also learned the German language especially for this .

Voice acting

Since he is a bad voice imitator in his opinion, he usually limits himself on stage to imitating either James Mason or Sean Connery , regardless of whether he is playing Henry VIII or God . Nevertheless, he worked as a voice actor on films such as The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian of Narnia , Igor , The Simpsons , Cars 2 and others.

Social activities

In July 2009, Izzard started a seven-week marathon across the UK to raise funds for the Sport Relief Foundation . With the respective national flag in hand, he ran from London to Cardiff , on to Belfast and Edinburgh and back to London, 43 marathons in 51 days. In September 2009 he finished the last marathon and was awarded the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009” prize. In 2016 he ran 27 marathons in 27 days.

Party politics

Before the UK general election in May 2010 , Izzard campaigned for the Labor Socialist Party . On March 31, 2018, he was appointed to the Labor Party's National Executive Committee after his predecessor Christine Shawcroft resigned on allegations of anti-Semitism .

additional

In his stand-up stage programs, Izzard regularly makes fun of religious ideas and makes his basic atheistic attitude clear. 2013 Izzard received from the humanistic American Humanist Association awarded "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award for Cultural Humanism" (Outstanding lifetime achievement for cultural humanism). In the same year, some excerpts from Izzard's appearance at the Reason Rally , a demonstration by atheists , were used for the atheist documentary The Unbelievers with Richard Dawkins .

Works

Comedy programs

  • 1993: Live at the Ambassadors
  • 1994: Unrepeatable
  • 1996: Definite Article
  • 1997: Glorious
  • 1999: Dress to Kill
  • 2002: Circle
  • 2003: Sexie
  • 2008: Stripped
  • 2009: Live At Wembley
  • 2011: Live At Madison Square Garden
  • 2013: Force Majeure

Filmography (selection)

TV series (selection)

Web links

Commons : Eddie Izzard  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Eddie Izzard  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eddie Izzard: The Childhood. In: EddieIzzard.com. 2019, accessed on December 8, 2019 (German; autobiographical representation).
  2. ↑ Eddie Izzard, interviewed by Simon Garfield: Eddie Izzard: Frock tactics. In: TheGuardian.com . May 27, 2001, accessed December 8, 2019; Quote: “Eddie Izzard is Britain's best-loved transvestite. [...] He is not gay, and [...] reluctantly admits to having a female partner. [… Izzard:] 'during this period of getting this transgender profile together […] With transgender you have to be proactive, […]'. "
  3. ^ Gustavo Turner: Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl. In: LAweekly.com. July 14, 2011, accessed December 8, 2019; Quote: "'Being a transvestite or being transgender is a very positive thing,' he says."
  4. ↑ Video, published by BBC : Eddie on coming out as transgender - Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man - BBC Three (from 0:02:23) on YouTube, March 14, 2016, accessed on December 8, 2019 (English; 3'12 Minutes). Quote: “I identify somewhat boyish, somewhat girlish; I identify both. "(I identify as something boyish and something girlish; I identify with both.)
  5. ↑ Eddie Izzard, interviewed by Nicholas Potter: Eddie Izzard on language and identity: "I'm touring as a girl right now". In: taz.de . April 16, 2019, accessed December 8.
  6. ↑ Steve Barton: Meet Grandpa! Eddie Izzard First to Move into Mockingbird Lane. ( Memento of December 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: DreadCentral.com. March 20, 2012, accessed December 8, 2019.
  7. ^ Claire Heald: Run, Izzard, run and run again. In: News.BBC.co.uk . September 15, 2009, accessed December 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Message: Eddie Izzard completes Sport Relief marathons challenge. In: BBC.com/news . March 20, 2016, accessed December 8, 2019.
  9. ↑ Video, edited by Labor Party : Eddie Izzard - Brilliant Britain on YouTube, April 15, 2010, accessed December 8, 2019 (English; 2'44 minutes).
  10. ↑ Editor's note : Christine Shawcroft quits Labor's NEC as Eddie Izzard steps up. In: TheGuardian.com . March 31, 2018, accessed December 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ Eddie Izzard, interviewed by Becky Garrison: Eddie Izzard on Atheism, Transgender, and “The Invisible Bloke Upstairs”. In: ReligionDispatches.org. March 8, 2013, accessed on December 8, 2019 (English; Religion Dispatches is a humanist - atheistically oriented non-profit online magazine).
personal data
SURNAME Izzard, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Izzard, Edward John (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British comedian and actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Aden , South Yemen