Russell Brand

Russell Brand (born 4.6.1975) is an English comedian, as well as a television and radio presenter, and self-styled activist.

Net Worth: According to Celebrity Net Worth in 2014, Russell Brand has a net worth of 15 million USD.

Childhood: Russell Brand is an only child, born to Barbara and Ronald Brand, in Grays, Essex. Russell's parents separated when he was six months old.

At school, Brand's first acting performance was as Fat Sam in 'Bugsy Malone', when he was 15. His theatre performances led to a scholarship at the Italia Conti Academy, a renowned acting school. He also earned a three-year scholarship at the Drama Centre, in Chalk Farm, London.

Career: In 1994, Russell Brand made his first serious TV appearance in 'The Bill'. By 2000, Brand received his first presenting job was working as a VJ (video jockey) on MTV. He presented Dance Floor Chart as well as working on MTV Select. In the same year, Brand performed at the final of the New Act of the Year, at the Hackney Empire. He attracted the attention of agent John Noel and his first major stand up tour, Shame, was a major success.

On September 12th, 2001, the day after the New York terrorist attacks, Brand turned up to work at MTV dressed as Osama Bin laden. He was promptly fired. Following this hasty departure, Brand filmed 'RE:Brand', a documentary focusing on cultural taboos. Brand wrote the documentary with the help of his writing partner, Matt Morgan. In 2002, Brand and Morgan hosted a Sunday afternoon show on London's 'Xfm'.

Russell was fired from the job when he read pornographic material live on air. 'The Russell Brand Show' started out on BBC 6Music in April 2006 and moved to Radio 2 seven months later, with a regular listener base of around 2 million. In 2004, Brand was selected to host Big Brother's 'Eforum', a partner show to Big Brother 5. He carried on these presenting duties for Big Brother 6 and 7, when the show's name was changed to 'Big Brother's Big Mouth'. Russell was also one of the celebrities to take over the Big Brother role on 2008's 'Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack'.

Brand continued working for E4 on 'Russell Brand's Got Issues', but the viewing figures were disappointing. In 2006, Brand hosted his own chat show, the 'Russell Brand Show', on Channel 4. The show ran for five weeks. Returning to Channel 4, Brand hosted 'Russell Brand's Ponderland', in which he discussed a variety of topics via his stand-up comedy. Brand returned to MTV in the same year, hosting '1 Leicester Square', a chat show that featured guests such as Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman and Boy George.

In November 2006, Brand organized a secret stand up show for people in his MySpace network. He then hosted the NME Awards in the same year. He was insulted by Bob Geldof at the awards show, and was quick to retaliate. The BBC broadcast a documentary in 2007 entitled 'Russell Brand On the Road', in which he and Matt Morgan traveled across the USA and explored the classic Jack Kerouac novel, 'On the Road'. Brand has been involved in a number of high-profile collaborations, including a Comic Relief sketch with Matt Lucas and David Walliams' 'Little Britain' characters, in which he plays a cross-dressing plumber. In 2007, Brand performed at a charity show alongside Noel Fielding of 'The Mighty Boosh', which centred around their 'Goth Detectives' characters. 'My Booky Wooky', Brand's autobiography was released in 2007. It was notable for his honest depiction of life as a heroin addict. In 2007, Brand appeared in his first major film role, playing Flash Harry in 'St. Trinian's'.

In 2008, he earned his first lead role, in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', gaining good reviews for his performance. In July 2008, Brand courted controversy when he made a hoax phone call to the police whilst onstage in Northampton, claiming to have spotted a man that had carried out a series of serious assaults. In 2008, Brand hosted the MTV Video Music Awards, launching Britney Spears' comeback. Again, he courted controversy by insulting George W. Bush and mocking the Jonas Brothers for their 'virginity rings'.

In 2010, Brand made a vocal appearance in the film 'Despicable Me', reprising the role in the film's 2013 sequel. In 2011, Brand founded his own production company called 'Branded Films', with the express purpose of producing projects that he featured in. That year, Brand hosted an episode of 'Saturday Night Live' before hosting 'MTV Movie Awards' in the following year. In October 2014, Brand published 'Revolution', his proposed manifesto on social revolution. Critics were divided, with some seeing it as endearing and funny, and others seeing it as smug and ill-informed, commenting that Brand had no knowledge of social revolution and failed to address the fallout of such upheavals.

In November 2014, Brand published his first children's novel 'Russell Brand's Trickster Tales: The Pied Piper of Hamelin'. The book was critically savaged, with critics expecting that (if the series were to continue) children' literature would reach a "new low".

Personal Life: Russell Brand met singer Katy Perry in 2009. The couple began dating in September of that year, and they were engaged on 31st December 2009. Brand and Perry were married on 23rd October 2010, yet Brand filed for divorce on 30th December 2011 after revealing his desires to Perry via text message.

While Brand stated that the divorce came from conflicting work schedules, Perry later revealed in her book that the split came because she was not ready to have children. In 2013, Perry continued to say in an interview that she believed Brand was unable to deal with her being her own boss in life.