Lenworth George Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry CBE is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. He is known for cofounding the charity Comic Relief and for appearing in TV programmes, including children’s entertainment show Tiswas, sitcom Chef! and The Magicians for BBC One
1958
Dudley, UK
British Jamaican
1999 – Henry was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours
2003 – He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards
2015 – He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity. 2016 – Henry became the Chancellor of Birmingham City University, citing his passion to give life changing opportunities to young people from a wide range of backgrounds
2016 – Henry has also been listed in the Powerlist of the 100 most influential Black Britons, including ranking fourth
2016 – Henry was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society
2016 – Henry was awarded the BAFTA Television: Special Award, the Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to TV
2016 – Henry was awarded an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of his significant contribution to British comedy and drama, along with his achievements in international charity work.
He was the fifth of seven children and the first child of the family to be born in the United Kingdom. When Henry was ten years old, he began spending time with the man who was later revealed to be his biological father, Albert Augustus `Bertie’ Green (1927–2004), another Jamaican immigrant with whom his mother had a brief relationship when she first arrived in England from their native Jamaica. Henry was named after the doctor who delivered him.
Henry attended St John’s Primary School and later The Blue Coat School in Dudley, before completing his schooling at W R Tuson College in Preston, Lancashire.
The first series of The Lenny Henry Show appeared on the BBC in 1984. The show featured stand up, spoofs like his send-up of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, and many of the characters he had developed during Summer Season, including Theophilus P Wildebeeste and Delbert Wilkins. A principal scriptwriter for his television and stage shows during the 1990s was Jon Canter. The Lenny Henry Show ran periodically for a further 19 years in various incarnations. He performed impressions such as Tina Turner, Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Run DMC, among others.
It was in 1985 that Henry co-founded the British Comic Relief charity organisation, and 1988 when the first ever Red Nose Day was celebrated. Over 150 celebrities and comedians, including Lenny Henry, took part in an evening- long BBC broadcast, which was watched by 30 million viewers and raised over £15 million.
In the early 1990s Henry starred in the Hollywood film True Identity, in which his character pretended to be a white person (using makeup, prostheses, and a wig) to avoid the mob. The film was not commercially successful. In 1991 he starred in a BBC drama alongside Robbie Coltrane called Alive and Kicking, in which he played a heroin addict. This was based on a true story.
For a BBC documentary in June 2000, , he sailed a trimaran from Plymouth to Antigua with yachtsman Tony Bullimore. In 2005, he appeared in Birmingham, as an act for Jasper Carrott’s Rock with Laughter. He appeared alongside performers such as Bill Bailey, Jasper Carrott, Bonnie Tyler, Bobby Davro and the Lord of the Dance troupe. In 2006 Henry starred in the BBC programme Berry’s Way. He did the voice of Dark Nebula in Kirby: Squeak Squad. On 16 March 2007, Henry made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate, who appeared in the guise of her character Geordie Georgie from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day fundraising programme of 2007.
In December 2020, Henry was announced as a cast member of Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, to premiere in September 2022..
In 2021, Henry appeared as a contestant on the second series of The Masked Singer, masked as The Blob. He finished in 6th place.
On Saturday 6 November 2021, The Guardian published Black British culture matters, curated by Henry & Marcus Ryder for The Guardian Saturday Culture Issue No7.
Parents – Winifred Henry, Albert Green, Winston Jarvis Henry
Spouse – Dawn French (1984 – 2010)
Children – Billie Henry
Sibling – Paul Henry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Henry accessed 22/03/2022
https://lennyhenry.net/ accessed 22/03/2022
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377901/ accessed 22/03/2022
https://quotefancy.com/lenny-henry-quotes accessed 22/03/2022
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