Johnny Vegas

Born: 1971
Where: Oldham, Lancashire, UK

The former ceramics student - his big screen debut was Mel Smith's Blackball - made his name as a comedian before branching out as an actor.

After joining and leaving a seminary school for priests in his early teens, he studied ceramics at Middlesex University before going into stand-up.

He won the Festival Critics' Award at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival and was the first newcomer to be nominated for the Perrier Award as well as the Golden Rose of Montreux.

He expanded his repertoire to TV, appearing in Attention Scum, Paul Whitehouse's Happiness and the BBC adaptation of Sarah Water's Tipping The Velvet.

He made his big screen debut as Paul Kaye's sidekick in Mel Smith's lacklustre lawn bowls comedy Blackball.

He most recently starred in Andy Humphries' Sex Lives of the Potato Men opposite Mackenzie Crook and Mark Gatiss.