Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, podcaster, and media personality. Establishing himself as a stand-up comedian and radio and television presenter in the UK, Brand initially became well-known as the host of the television show Big Brother's Big Mouth, a spin-off from reality show Big Brother, broadcast on E4.

He had his first major film role in British comedy St Trinian's (2007), after which he starred in the Hollywood comedies Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Get Him to the Greek (2010), Arthur (2011), and Rock of Ages (2012). He has released several stand-up specials, including Scandalous (2009), Messiah Complex (2013), and Brandemic (2023). He hosted his own radio show The Russell Brand Show (2006–2008, 2010, 2013, 2017) and also hosts the podcasts Stay Free with Russell Brand and Under the Skin with Russell Brand. He has received three British Comedy Awards and a nomination for a BAFTA Award.

Over the course of his career, Brand has been the subject of frequent media coverage for issues such as his promiscuity, drug use, political views, provocative behaviour at various award ceremonies, his dismissal from MTV, and his resignation from the BBC amid a prank call controversy. Since guest-editing an edition of British political weekly New Statesman in 2013, Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change, and media bias. In 2014, he launched his political-comedy web series The Trews on YouTube, released a book entitled Revolution, and acted in the documentary The Emperor's New Clothes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brand's YouTube channel underwent an increase in activity and change in political direction, and was accused of promoting COVID denialism and conspiracy theories.

In September 2023, following a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's documentary series Dispatches, five women publicly accused Brand of sexual assault and sexual and emotional abuse. The allegations concern incidents between 2006 and 2013 and were featured in the episode Russell Brand: In Plain Sight. Later, another allegation was made to the Metropolitan Police of a sexual assault in 2003. Brand has denied all of the allegations and promoted conspiracy theories regarding them. He has since been charged with multiple counts of rape, oral rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault. Following the charges, three more allegations of sexual violence were made to the Metropolitan Police. In addition, on 7 April 2025, news outlets reported Brand to be the subject of a civil action case filed in New York state, accusing him of sexual assault whilst intoxicated during the filming of Arthur in 2010. The case also names Warner Bros. Discovery and others.

Early life

Russell Edward Brand was born in Orsett Hospital in Grays, Essex, England. He is the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and photographer Ronald Henry Brand. Brand's parents separated when he was six months old, and he was raised by his mother.

When Brand was eight, his mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer and then breast cancer one year later. While she underwent treatment, Brand lived with relatives. When he was 14, he developed bulimia nervosa. At age 16, Brand left home because of disagreements with his mother's partner. He then started to use illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, and ecstasy. Brand says he had a "strange relationship" with his father, whom he saw sporadically and who took him to visit prostitutes during a trip to Thailand when Brand was a teenager.

He made his theatrical debut at the age of 15 in a school production of Bugsy Malone, and then began work as a film extra. Brand attended Grays School and in 1991, he was accepted to the Italia Conti Academy, and had his first year of tuition funded by Essex County Council. After his first year at Italia Conti Academy, Brand was expelled for illegal drug use and poor attendance. Brand has said that he was sexually abused by a tutor.

Career

Stand-up

Brand performed stand-up at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of Bound and Gagged Comedy Ltd agent Nigel Klarfeld. That year, he also made his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shaparak Khorsandi.

In 2004, Brand took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now, to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the coverage about him in the tabloid press. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live. Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball in 2006 and again at the 2012 edition at Radio City Music Hall.

In March 2007, Brand co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance. His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life. Brand began performing in the US, and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009. Brand began touring the UK, America and Australia from January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous. In October, a further four dates that were performed in November were added to raise money for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand was a patron until it closed.

In 2013, Brand presented and toured his comedy show Messiah Complex, in which he tackled advertising, the laws on drug addiction and the portrayal of his heroes, such as Gandhi, Guevara, Malcolm X and Jesus, and how he is, in comically contrived ways, similar to them.

In January 2017, Brand announced his new tour Re:Birth, which debuted in April 2017 and was meant to go through November 2018. However, on 30 April 2018, he was forced to cancel the remaining dates after his mother was critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. Russell Brand: Re:Birth, which was filmed in London in April 2018, was released as a standup comedy film on Netflix on 4 December 2018.

Over the years, Brand has named Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Peter Cook, Lenny Bruce, Tony Hancock, Jack Kerouac, Stewart Lee, Tenacious D, Eddie Murphy, and Monty Python among his comedic influences. In choosing one comedy film among his five favourite movies he picked Monty Python's Life of Brian. In 2009, he appeared in the television documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut).

During a live show at the Royal & Derngate theatre in Northampton in 2008 Brand made a hoax call to police saying he had seen a man responsible for a number of assaults. He pretended to be a witness to assaults named Sarah. Northamptonshire Police decided not to prosecute and said they would discourage making such calls. The call was condemned by Lynda Yorke of Leicester Rape Crisis Centre, who said: "I don't think that's particularly amusing. It's in very poor taste. The issue of sexual assault is often belittled and such callous behaviour is extremely hurtful to the victims." James Donaghy of The Guardian said it showed "catastrophically poor judgment". Brand apologised for the call.

He has incorporated many of his controversial public acts into his comedic material. In March 2015, a biographical documentary was released called Brand: A Second Coming.

Presenting

Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a video journalist on MTV UK: he presented Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the tea-time request show Select. Brand was dismissed several days after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios. After leaving MTV, Brand starred in RE:Brand, a documentary and comedy television program that aimed to take a look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written, and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner on many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.