We all have our favourite tv star, it could be Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, or Oprah Whinfrey. Nowadays, it's very easy for someone to become famous via the internet, or social media such as Facebook or Youtube, viral videos, Instagram stories and many other ways. From the other side, 20 or 30 years ago, television was the main media where someone could be famous and have his own `fan club` as we say. One comedian figure that managed to be worldwide famous with his funny moments, was undeniably Mr Bean the creations of British actor Rowan Atkinson who is now 63 years-old.
Who is Rowan Atkinson and how did he develop his unforgettable role as Mr Bean?
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in the city Consett England on 6 January 1955. His father was a company director. Rowan is the youngest of four boys. Something that we don't really know is that one of his brothers, Paul, died as an infant. Rowan Atkinson went to Newcastle University where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering.
How has acting and television invaded Rowan`s life?
In his early twenties, Rowan wrote and performed different sketches for shows in Oxford`s University Dramatic Society. After three years, by the finish of his MSc studies, he began working for the BBC Radio 3, by performing in many comedian shows, called The Atkinson People.
Meanwhile, he began his television-acting career with the participation in Not the Nine O`Clock News for the BBC, where he was one of the main sketch writers. After that big success, he became more popular to the audience and took a leading role in the medieval sitcom Black Adder in 1983, which was one of the most successful BBC series of the 80`s and managed to have two more sequels as Blackadder II (1986) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989).
Meanwhile, Rowan began his film career with a leading role in Dead On Time (1983) and a supporting part in the 'unofficial' James Bond movie Never Say Never Again.
The international big thing, the legendary role as Mr Bean
Atkinson's biggest success was the hapless Mr Bean, who appeared on New Year`s Day in 1990 in a half-hour special for Thames Television.
Many sequels of Mr Bean appeared on New York`s television until 1995 and Rowan became famous internationally. He also released two films about Mr Bean, one in 1997 with the title Bean and one in 2007 with the title Mr Bean`s Holiday. Even though in an interview in 2012, Rowan spoke about a "retirement" of Mr Bean, he went on to appear as Mr Bean in the Chinese film Huan Le Xi Ju Ren in 2017.
What about the personal and present life of Rowan Atkinson?
In his personal life, Rowan was married in 1990 to Sunestra Sastry and had two children, Ben (23) and Lilly (21). The couple separated in 2014. Rowan is now in a relationship with actress Louise Ford who is pregnant with Rowan`s third child