Peter Serafinowicz

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Peter Serafinowicz
birthdate = birth date and age|1972|7|10|df=yes
location = Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
yearsactive = 1991 – present
occupation = Actor
partner = Sarah Alexander|

Peter Serafinowicz (pronounced|sɛrəˈfɪnəwiʧ) (born 10 July 1972) is a British comic actor, voice artist and composer of Belarussian, Polish and British descent.

Early life

Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool, England to Szymon Serafinowicz, Jr. and Catherine (née Geary). Serafinowicz has Belarusian, Polish, and British heritage. He attended Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Primary School and St Francis Xavier Secondary School. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/arts/2007/09/30/sv_peterserafinowicz.xml The floor is his - Telegraph ] ]

Career

Acting and writing

Serafinowicz made his broadcasting debut in 1993 on Radio 1 show "The Knowledge", a spoof documentary about the music industry. From there he went on to perform in Radio 4 shows "Weekending", "Harry Hill's Fruit Corner", "Grievous Bodily Radio" and "The Two Dannys". In 1998 he appeared on TV in "Comedy Nation" and "You are Here". He also had a role in the Simon Nye-penned sitcom "How Do You Want Me?".

In 1999 he made a number of appearances in Channel 4 sitcom "Spaced", playing principal character Tim Bisley's (Simon Pegg) arch-nemesis, Duane Benzie. He made another appearance in the series when it returned in 2001. In 2001 Serafinowicz took the lead in BBC2 sitcom "World of Pub", playing the same character as he had done in the show's run on Radio 4. He was also in "The Junkies", the world's first internet sitcom. In 2002 the critically acclaimed "Look Around You", a series of 10-minute 70s school science video spoofs, debuted on BBC2 in which Serafinowicz played a scientist. He co-wrote the show alongside Robert Popper, whom he met on the set of "You Are Here". The show returned in 2005 as a spoof of the 1980s show "Tomorrow's World", with Serafinowicz playing Peter Packard, one of the presenters.

In 2003 he appeared in another Nye-written sitcom, "Hardware", in which he played the affable Kenny. He reprised this role in the second series in 2004. Also in 2004 he appeared in British rom-zom-com "Shaun of the Dead", playing Pete, the tidy flatmate of principal characters Shaun and Ed. He also appeared in boxing movie "The Calcium Kid". In "Sixty Six", the 2006 British film about a Jewish boy whose Bar Mitzvah is scheduled for the same day as the 1966 World Cup final, Serafinowicz plays Uncle Jimmy. In the week before the 2006 Academy Awards a video circulated on the Internet of a fake news item (called "O! News", a parody of E! News) about a new Oscar statue, in which Serafinowicz imitated Alan Alda, Paul McCartney and Al Pacino. A second O! News video later appeared, parodying the 2006 Apple Corps v. Apple Computer lawsuit. This attracted the interest of the BBC, and a pilot was commissioned for "The Peter Serafinowicz Show". A full series was broadcast on BBC Two in 2007. For his performance, Serafinowicz was presented with the Best Entertainer prize at the 2008 Rose d'Or ceremony. [cite web|title= Rose d'Or Winners 2008|url= http://www.rosedor.com/downloads/RdO_Winners_2008.pdf|publisher= Rose d'Or AG|date= 2008-05-06|accessdate= 2008-05-07|format= PDF]

Serafinowicz had also made a number of guest appearances on television, including the comedy shows "Smack the Pony" and "Hippies" (both 1999), "Black Books" (2000), "I'm Alan Partridge" (2002) and "Little Britain" (2003), comedy drama "Murder Most Horrid" (1999) and ITV Drama series "Marple" (2005). He has made a number of guest appearances on both television and radio panel shows. He regularly appeared on "The 99p Challenge" and appeared on "Have I Got News For You" in 2005, 2006 and 2008 "8 Out of 10 Cats" in 2005, and "QI" in 2003. He also appeared on "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" on 19 October, 2007, and "Would I Lie To You?" on 8 August, 2008.

Voice artist

Serafinowicz has done many adverts and voice-overs and is a talented impressionist. His most high profile role as a voice artist was as Darth Maul in the film "". His voice overdubbed that of Ray Park, who portrayed Darth Maul in costume. This appearance was referred to during the second series of "Spaced" and when he provided the voice for Darth Chef in an episode of "South Park" in 2006.Fact|date=September 2008

He impersonated Terry Wogan in a 2003 Comic Relief spoof of "Blankety Blank" and he regularly utilises his array of impressions when performing. He also provided the voice of Captain Ardias in THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Firewarrior.

On the BBC quiz show Would I Lie To You?, he revealed that he overdubbed the voice of Pelé in his adverts to promote Viagra and raise the awareness of impotency. [cite web| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Love-is-the-drug/2005/02/07/1107625131844.html |title=Pelé signs deal...to raise the profile of viagra! |publisher=The Age |date=February 8, 2005]

Composer

As a composer and musician, Serafinowicz produced virtually all of the music for "Look Around You", under the pseudonym Gelg. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784818/#composer IMDb Composer credits]

Personal life

He is married to "Smack the Pony", "Coupling" and "Green Wing" actress Sarah Alexander. Their first son was born in April 2007. Peter's brother James is a writer and director, [cite web|title=James Serafinowicz|publisher=IMDB|url=http://imdb.com/name/nm1618804/] and can be seen wearing Peter's Liverpool Blue Coat School uniform at the beginning and end of each episode of the first series of "Look Around You". His sister is married to the 'Father Ted', 'Black Books' and 'Big Train' writer Graham Linehan.

elected credits

Television

*"Spaced"
*"Look Around You" (co-writer and producer)
*"World of Pub"
*"Hippies
*"Ted and Alice"
*"Black Books"
*"I'm Alan Partridge"
*"Hardware"
*"South Park" (voicing "Darth Chef")
*"The Magical Legend Of The Leprechauns" (voice of "Dunlang, the Dullahan", also playing George Fitzpatrick)
*"The Peter Serafinowicz Show" (creator)

Radio

*"The 99p Challenge"
*"Lee and Herring"
*"Harry Hill's Fruit Corner"
*"The Two Dannys"
*Danny Baker's "All Day Breakfast Show" [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=256575169]
*"The Sofa of Time", as the voice of Reamen Bod

Film

*"", voice of Darth Maul
*"Shaun of the Dead", where he played Shaun and Ed's flatmate, Pete.
*"The Calcium Kid", Dave King
*"Sixty Six" in which he plays "Uncle Jimmy"
*"Rush Hour 3"Fact|date=December 2007
*"Run, Fat Boy, Run", TV Commentator
*"Tales of the Riverbank", Multi Characters

Video games

*"", (voicing "Darth Maul" without credit)Fact|date=December 2007
*"", Captain Ardias

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0784818|name=Peter Serafinowicz
* [http://www.funnyordie.co.uk/videos/cd2462fae2 Peter Serafiowicz does 50 Impressions in 2 Mins]