Stephen Merchant Net Worth and Biography

Stephen Merchant  is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer, with an estimated net worth of $40 Million. He is the the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001–2003). Following the success of The Office, he has written and acted in numerous other sitcoms, establishing himself as one of the greatest filmmakers and comedians to come out of the United Kingdom.

Bio Data

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Biography

Stephen  Merchant was born in Bristol on 24 November 1974. Heis the son of  nurse Jane Elaine and plumber and builder Ronald John Merchant.He attended Hanham Secondary School  and later the University of Warwick in Coventry from 1993 to 1996, where he received a 2:1 for his BA in Film and Literature.

He worked as a film reviewer on the student radio station Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career. His group there included film critic James King. A number of tapes of The Steve Show have been rediscovered and distributed on various Merchant fan sites.

Merchant was inspired to get into comedy by John Cleese. In 2019, he claimed that he had never met Cleese, but that his parents had recently met Cleese on a cruise ship and asked him to sign a book for Merchant; they also recorded a voicemail message on the phone in their cabin, where Cleese noted that he is a big fan of The Office.

Career

Merchant began his career performing stand-up comedy at Bristol’s Comedy Box. He also appeared as a contestant on a 1997 episode of the TV game show Blockbusters and worked for a short time as a DJ for Radio Caroline. He  met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997 when Gervais (in the position Head of Speech at the radio station XFM London), hired him as his assistant.

They both  hosted a Saturday afternoon radio show together from January through to August 1998, when both of them left XFM as it was bought by the Capital Radio Group. After leaving XFM, Merchant began a production course at the BBC. As part of his coursework, he enlisted Gervais to perform in a 30-minute short film, “Seedy Boss”, which became the earliest inspiration for their mock documentary The Office.

They collaborated on a sitcom pilot called Golden Years featuring a manager suffering a mid-life crisis. It aired on Channel 4’s Comedy Lab series in September 1998, but the show failed to find further success. In mid-2001, BBC Two aired the first series of The Office, co-written and co-directed by Stephen and Gervais. The show initially received low ratings, but attained critical and commercial success, after airing in the U.S. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.

Following the success of the office, the duo has written and acted in numerous TV comedy series such as Extras (2005–2007) and Life’s Too Short (2011–2013). Merchant performance  as a stand-up comedian, led him writing and starring in the HBO series Hello Ladies (2013–2014). He also starred in numerous films and drama.

Honours and Accolades

Stephen Merchant is a recipients of numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Globe BAFTA Awards,  Primetime Emmy  and British Comedy Awards. He won the British Academy Television Awards in 2002, 2003, and 2004 for The Office. In 2001, Stephen and Gervais  won British Comedy Award for the Best Television Comedy. They won the same award in 2002 and  the Writer of the Year in 2003. Stephen won the Best TV Comedy Actor in 2006 for his role in Extras.

After The Office aired in the United states It won the  Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy  in 2003. The duo also won the same award in 2007 for their TV comedy series Extras (2005–2007). Aside Winning the globe, The Office also won a Prime Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006.Other awards in Stephen’s shelfs include Broadcasting Press Guild, Writers Guild of America Award, Peabody Awards and Television Critics Association, among others.

Stephen Merchant Net Worth

Stephen merchant is one the richest comedians in the United Kingdom, with an estimated net worth of $40 Million. He accumulated the majority of his wealth from stand-up comedy shows, sitcoms, books,  and Video games apperance.