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[[nl:Rowan Atkinson]]
'''Rowan Atkinson''' (born [[January 6]], [[1955]]) is a well-known [[United Kingdom|British]] [[comedian]] and [[actor]].

He toured with a one-man show, with [[Angus Deayton]] as the straight man.  The one-man show was filmed for television, and is still popular on video.  It characterises Atkinson's comedy style, which is tightly planned and scripted, often physically-based comedy - comedy as performance, rather than comedy as observation or discussion, observant of life as many of the routines were.  Atkinson's talent for physical comedy has seen him described as "the man with the rubber face".

Atkinson studied [[electrical engineering]] at [[University of Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle University]] then at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] ([[The Queen's College, Oxford|Queen's College]]), starting his comedy career at the [[Edinburgh]] Fringe Festival.  He is married with two children.  His major hobby is apparently fast [[automobile|car]]s, having written for the British magazine ''Car'' and owning and racing [[Aston Martin]] vehicles.  

He starred in several [[Television|TV]] comedy series, among which:

* ''[[Not the Nine O'Clock News]]'' ([[1979]] - [[1982]])
* ''[[Blackadder]]''
* ''[[Mr. Bean]]''
* ''[[Funny Business]]'' ([[1992]]), a documentary about the craft of comedy
* ''[[The Thin Blue Line]]'' ([[1995]]-[[1996]])
* the [[Comic Relief]] Red Nose Day telecasts (notably starring in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' skit in the [[1999]] telecast)

He also played in several movies: 

* ''[[Never Say Never Again]]'' ([[1983]])
* ''[[The Appointments of Dennis Jennings]]'' ([[1989]])
* ''[[The Tall Guy]]'' ([[1989]])
* ''[[The Witches]]'' ([[1990]])
* ''[[Hot Shots! Part Deux]]'' ([[1993]])
* ''[[Four Weddings and a Funeral]]'' ([[1994]])
* ''[[The Lion King]]'' ([[1994]], voice of Zazu)
* ''[[Bean (1997 movie)|Bean]]'' ([[1997]])
* ''[[Rat Race]]'' ([[2001]])
* ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'' ([[2002]])
* ''[[Johnny English]]'' ([[2003]])

==References==
* Adapted from the [[Wikipedia]] article, "Rowan Atkinson" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson January 4, 2004