Basics

• Stephen was born on 24th August 1957, in Hampstead, London, the middle child of a physicist father (Alan) and a housewife mother (Marianne).
• His full name is Stephen John Fry.
• Stephen has an older brother, Roger, and a younger sister, Jo.
• The two brothers were usually good friends, although very different. Roger was tidy and liked everything to be in its right place; Stephen was messy.
• Stephen admits to both hating and fearing his father as he grew up, although today he says he adores him.
• Stephen's zodiac sign is Virgo and he was born under the Chinese Astrological sign of the Rooster.
• Stephen is very tall! 6'5" to be precise (that's 1m96), with blue eyes and brown hair.
• Stephen grew up in Norfolk (where his parents still reside) and attended Stout's Hill and Uppingham School.
• Though gifted with a high IQ (at prep school he was classified as "approaching genius"), he was not a model pupil and his Latin teacher at Uppingham described him in a school report as being "Feckless, fickle, flamborant and evasive. A disappointment."
• Stephen won a scholarship to attend Queens College, Cambridge in 1979, finishing with a 2:1 in English in 1981/2.
• Stephen acted in over thirty straight plays whilst at Cambridge, and he wrote and performed the lead role in Latin, or Tobacco and Boys, which was awarded the Scotsman Fringe First.
• It was at Cambridge that he met his contemporaries such as Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery.
• At the age of 24, Stephen became a millionaire virtually overnight, thanks to his rewriting of the libretto to Me And My Girl, for which he was paid 3 per cent of what turned out to be vast royalties.
• His friendship with Hugh Laurie led to a successful stand up partnership and a popular TV series – A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
• Stephen's successful television roles have included Lord Melchett in Blackadder II (1986), General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) and the gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves, in four series of Jeeves and Wooster (1990–93).
• He is a prolific author, with a string of successful novels to his name, plus an autobiography.
• Hostile reviews of his role in the 1995 West End play, Cell Mates, sparked his infamous disappearing act, when he fled to Europe on ferry, in a fit of depression and self doubt.
• After a public appeal he returned to London, where he was prescribed lithium for manic depression.
• Stephen then headed off to live, more or less anonymously, in California for a year, before coming back to the UK.
• Stephen lost a couple of stone on a diet recommended to him by Julie Andrews.
• His friend, Emma Thompson, once gave him a fishing rod, in the hope that the pastime might chill him out a bit.
• Stephen has enjoyed a long and varied film acting career.
• Stephen has recently directed his first feature film (Bright Young Things).
• Stephen owns a flat in London, SW1 and also owns an old rectory near his mother's house in Norfolk.
• He is a MAC fanatic and Internet enthusiast.
• As of August 2003, Stephen's Mac collection included: a G4 Power Mac, a G4 Cube, three iMacs (one old style and two new 800MHz iMacs with combo drives), and 800MHz and 500MHz Titanium G4 Powerbooks!
• Stephen can complete The Times' crossword, extremely quickly!
• Stephen has a passion for Scott's Porridge Oats!
• Stephen is a cricket fan, opera fan, Sherlockian and a charter member of the famous Groucho Club in London's Soho.
• He is Rector of Dundee University and holds an Hon. Doctorate from that institution (July 1995).
• Stephen flies his own classic biplane.
• Stephen admires the works of Douglas Adams.
• He supports Norwich City Football Club.
• He admits to being terrible at keeping in touch with people by telephone and "marvellously hopeless" at remembering birthdays.
• His hobbies include cooking his god-children and leaving out commas.
• In 1987, Stephen won a Drama Desk Award for Me & My Girl; in 1997 he received Special Mention at the 8th Annual Dinard British Film Festival in France for his performance in Wilde; In 1998, he won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor at the 24th annual Seattle International Film Festival; and in 1998, he won a Talkie, the Spoken Word Industry Award for his audio recording of Moab.
• Stephen likes to play chess and says the game helps to clear his mind, if not calm him down, although he reckons he has "the playing talent of a dead rat".
• After 16 years of celibacy and no hint of any romantic involvement, Stephen has a steady partner. He lives a happy, "gay bohemian existence" in London and Norfolk with partner Daniel Cohen, whom he met in 1996. Cohen is ten years younger than Stephen and not in show business. Until they met, Stephen had always said relationships weren't for him and that he never expected to find love.
• Stephen has successfully hosted the 2001, 2002 and 2003 British Academy Awards (BAFTAS).
• Stephen plays Santa for his godchildren at Christmas.
• He loves Blake 7, Sapphire and Steel and admits to loving Doctor Who with a passion bordering on insanity.
• Stephen and Hugh Laurie speak to each other almost daily. "I just can't seem to get rid of him!" Stephen says they have spent the past 16 Christmases together and Hugh's children have never had Christmas anywhere except at his house.
• Stephen is a fan of The League of Gentlemen and Chris Morris.
• He smokes Marlboros.
• Stephen is very unsuperstitious and doesn't have much time for astrology and crystals, etc.
• At one point Stephen owned no fewer than 11 cars, including an Aston Martin.
• Stephen says he finds James Cagney, Thom Yorke, Margot Fonteyn, Kathleen Ferrier, Martina Navratilova and Richard Feynman inspirational.
• Stephen is a stickler for politeness, believing kindness to be the most important human virtue.
• However, Stephen does admit to sometimes being flip, snobbish and self absorbed.
• Stephen's readings of the Harry Potter stories have been a phenomenal success since the first audio book was released on cassette in 1999, in the UK.
• Stephen is associated with many charitable causes, such as The Prince's Trust and The Terrence Higgins Trust.
• The proceeds of Stephen's 2002 diaries of the making of a documentary on the plight of the spectacled bears of Peru were published, with all proceeds going to the Bear Rescue charity.
• Breakfast for Stephen usually consists of coffee and a cigarette.
• When asked what book he would recommend everyone read, Stephen chose Ulysses.
• Mel Gibson's company Icon were one of the financial backers behind Bright Young Things.
• Stephen plays a cameo role as a chauffeur in Bright Young Things.
• He doesn't have a lot of time for the likes of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, calling them "bloody whippets."
• Stephen is a rugby fan and says Jonny Wilkinson is the best possible advert for passion, dedication and fulfilment.