Group	Australian people ''Australians''
Population	23,400,000
Popplace	000}}

|region1 = |pop1 = 135,000+ |region2 = |pop2 = 96,900 |region3 = |pop3 = 89,210 |region4 = |pop4 = 78,927 |region5 = |pop5 = 62,700 |region6 = |pop6 = 51,900 |region7 = |pop7 = 42,000 |region8 = |pop8 = 30,000 |region9 = |pop9 = 25,000 |region10 = |pop10 = 23,305 |region11 = |pop11 = 18,000 |region12 = |pop12 = 11,369 |region13 = |pop13 = 9,376 |region14 = |pop14 = 7,491 |region15 = |pop15 = 6,322 |region16 = |pop16 = 5,706|langs }} Australian people, or simply Australians, are the citizens of Australia. Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, and therefore the term "Australian" is not a racial identifier. Aside from the Indigenous Australian population, nearly all Australians or their ancestors immigrated within the past 230 years. Colloquial names used to refer to Australians include Aussies, and Antipodeans.

The mainstream Australian culture (occasionally defined as the Anglo-Celtic culture), is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Western European migrants beginning with the early settlers from England, Scotland, and Ireland. The populations of Sydney, Melbourne and the other major cities are different from the demographics of rural Australia as a result of the differing migration patterns.

Australian people can refer to:

The citizens of Australia, as defined by Australian nationality law

People whose ancestors lived in Australia

Indigenous Australians

Australian diaspora

There is an estimated 1 million Australians (approximately 5% of the population) residing outside Australia. Hundreds of thousands of young Australians traditionally spend time living in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, but most return to Australia. The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement facilitates open migration to and from New Zealand. Key factors affecting the Australian Diaspora are rise of a global labour market, more accessible and economical international transport, and increasingly sophisticated communication technologies along with a growing interest in broader global community.

Population

The current Australian population is estimated at 000}} ( ). This does not include an estimated 1 million Australians living overseas (see above), but it includes the estimated 24% of Australians born overseas (in various nations, but predominantly the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, China, Vietnam, India, the Philippines, and Greece).

Historical

The data in the table is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Note that population estimates in the table below do not include the Aboriginal population before 1961. Estimates of Aboriginal population prior to European settlement range from 300,000 to one million, with archaeological finds indicating a sustainable population of around 750,000.

style="width:50px;" colspan="4" align="center" Pre-Federation style="width:50px;" Year Population >style="width:90px;"| Population 859 332,328 4,588 1,050,828 10,263 1,539,552 25,859 2,092,164 58,197 2,981,677 151,868 3,664,715

style="width:90px;" style="width:50px;" Year Population || % change Year Population % change Year Population % change 3,788,123 - 7,109,898 4.9 14,923,260 6.3 4,059,083 7.2 7,465,157 5.0 16,018,350 7.3 4,489,545 10.6 8,421,775 12.8 17,284,036 12.8 4,943,173 10.1 9,425,563 11.9 18,310,714 5.9 5,455,136 10.4 10,548,267 11.9 19,413,240 6.0 6,056,360 11.0 11,599,498 10.0 20,848,760 7.4 6,526,485 7.8 13,067,265 12.7 6,778,372 3.4 14,033,083 7.4

Ancestry

For generations, the vast majority of both colonial-era settlers and post-Federation immigrants came from the United Kingdom and Ireland, although the gold rushes also drew migrants from other countries. Since the end of World War II, Australia's population more than doubled, spurred by large-scale European immigration during the immediate post-war decades. At this time, the White Australia Policy discouraged non-European immigration.

Abolition of the White Australia Policy in the mid-1970s led to a significant increase in non-European immigration, mostly from Asia and the Middle East. About 90% of Australia's population is of European descent. Over 8% of the population is of Asian descent (predominantly Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino and Indian). The total indigenous population is estimated to be about 520,000 individuals, including people of mixed descent. The population of Queensland also includes descendants of South Sea Islanders brought over for indentured servitude in the 19th century.

In the 2006 Australian Census residents were asked to describe their ancestry, in which up to two could be nominated. Proportionate to the Australian resident population, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:

Australian (31.13%)

English (29.65%)

Irish (9.08%)

Scottish (7.16%)

Italian (4.29%)

German (4.09%)

Chinese (3.37%)

Greek (1.84%)

Dutch (1.56%)

Indian (1.17%)

Lebanese (0.92%)

Armenian (0.82%)

New Zealand (0.81%)

Filipino (0.81%)

Maltese (0.77%)

Croatian (0.59%)

Australian Aboriginal (0.58%)

Welsh (0.57%)

Serbian (0.48%)

Indonesian (0.47%)

Spanish (0.42%)

Macedonian (0.42%)

Sinhalese (0.37%)

American (0.28%)

French (0.5%)

South African (0.4%)

Hungarian (0.3%)

Russian (0.3%)

Turkish (0.3%)

At the 2006 Census 455,026 people (or 2.3% of the total Australian population) reported they were of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.

Languages

English, a West Germanic language, is the ''de facto'' national language of Australia and is spoken by the majority of the population, regardless of other languages spoken. Most Australians speak Australian English, however Australian Aboriginal English and Torres Strait English, along with various creoles and pidgins, are spoken by some Indigenous Australians. Australia is home to a great number of unique but endangered Indigenous Australian languages, as well as Australian Aboriginal sign languages. Australia's hearing-impaired community primarily uses Auslan, a member of the BANZSL language family.

The diverse backgrounds of Australians lead to a great number of community languages being spoken: {|class="wikitable" width="100%" |- !width="30%"|Language||width="50px"|Speakers||width="30%"|Language||width="50px"|Speakers||width="30%"|Language||width="50px"|Speakers |- |English only||15,581,333||Korean||54,623||Assyrian||23,526 |- |Italian||316,895||Turkish||53,857||Indonesian||23,164 |- |Greek||252,226||Serbian||52,534||Persian||22,841 |- |Arabic||243,662||French||43,216||Hungarian||21,565 |- |Mandarin||220,600|||Danish||42,036||Hindi||20,223 |- |Vietnamese||194,863||Maltese||36,514||Urdu||19,288 |- |Spanish||98,001||Russian||36,502||Bengali||15,743 |- |Filipino (Tagalog)||92,331||Dutch||36,183||Punjabi||13,164 |-} |German||75,634||Japanese||35,111 |- |Cantonese||70,011||Tamil||32,700 |- |Hebrew||67,835||Romanian||29,055 |- |Croatian||63,612||Portuguese||25,779 |- |Polish||53,389||Khmer||24,715 |- |}

Religion

{|class="wikitable" align="left" |- |Christianity||63.9%||Islam||1.7% |- |''No religion''||18.7%||Judaism||0.4% |- |''No response''||11.2%||Other||2% |- |Buddhism||2.1%||colspan="2"|Source: ABS |} {|class="wikitable" align="right" |- |colspan="2"|Christianity (as % of total) |- |Roman Catholicism||25.8% |- |Anglicanism||18.7% |- |''Other denomination''||19.4% |- |colspan="2"|Source: ABS |} Australians have various religions and spiritual beliefs. The Australian Bureau of Statistics gathers information on religious belief in the national census. As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is lower than would be indicated by the proportion of the population identifying themselves as Christian; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, or about 7.5% of the population.

Nationality

Australians share Australian nationality, which is governed by Australian nationality law. Since there is no national identification card, commonly accepted proofs of Australian citizenship are the Australian passport, an Australian birth certificate (prior to 1986, when jus soli was abolished), or an Australian citizenship certificate. Australia permits dual citizenship with no restriction, but a more restricted qualification is imposed on people wishing to enter Parliament (see ''Sue v Hill'').

References

See also

Category:Ethnic groups in Oceania

cy:Awstraliaid ko:오스트레일리아인 pl:Australijczycy pt:Australianos uk:Австралійці zh:澳大利亚公民

name	Hamish & Andy
medium	Television, radio
nationality	Australian
active	2003–present
genre	talk radio
notable work	''The Hamish & Andy Show'', ''Rove', ''Afternoons with Hamish & Andrew''
footnotes	}}

Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. They currently host the radio program ''The Hamish & Andy Show'' which airs in Australia on the Today Network.

Most well known for their work on television as correspondents on ''Rove'' from 2007 to 2009, they also created the sketch comedy series ''Radio Karate'' in 2003 and ''Real Stories'' in 2006, and hosted the variety show ''The Hamish and Andy Show'' in 2004. They were signed by the Nine Network in 2011.

In addition, they have made numerous appearances hosting events, and competing on game shows and in celebrity sporting events.

Background

The two met while studying commerce at the University of Melbourne, and entered comedy competitions.

Radio career

The duo began presenting radio on the Student Youth Network, in the Friday afternoon drivetime slot. They hosted a Monday night late-night radio program called "Almost Tuesday" on Fox FM. The duo then hosted the Fox FM program, ''Almost Midday''. From 2006, they host the two-hour afternoon program, ''Hamish & Andy'', formerly ''The Hamish & Andy Show'', on the Today Network in all states and territories of Australia and in New Zealand. A weekly highlights package is also broadcast in Dubai.

The duo have presented two radio specials on BBC 6 Music in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2009 and 26 January 2010. On Friday 11 June it was announced on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show that Hamish & Andy would be presenting three shows in London during July 2010 to cover Christian's holiday. Hamish and Andy signed a deal to present a series of shows to air on Absolute Radio Sunday evenings.

''The Hamish & Andy Show''

The duo have hosted a two-hour weekday show, ''The Hamish & Andy Show'', since 2006. The show is broadcast in all the seven major cities of Australia, in the afternoon drivetime slot (and a compilation of the past week's best on Saturday mornings in New Zealand). The show is the highest-rated radio series in Australian history, with approximately two million listeners daily. Notable activities include the inventing of a new potato crisp, and the purchasing of a greyhound, Fred Basset. In addition, the group has made numerous trips: two domestic and two foreign caravan tours, Bass Strait sailboat trip, and trips to Afghanistan, Beijing, and India, recording live on location. The program has won 13 Australian Commercial Radio Awards.

The duo released a compilation album of segments from their radio show, ''Unessential Listening'', in 2008. The album peaked at on the Australian Top 100 Albums Chart, received platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association and went on to win Best Comedy Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 2009. They released a second compilation album ''Celebrating 50 Glorious Years'' in 2010. The album debuted at number six and received gold certification.

Blake and Lee announced in August 2010 that they would be cutting down their show to a single program each week from 2011 onward. The final daily program aired on 3 December 2010.

Television career

Blake united with Lee in 2003 when they developed a Channel 31 sketch show, ''Radio Karate''. Blake reunited with Lee in 2004 when they were named hosts of a new Seven Network variety program, ''The Hamish and Andy Show'', a show described as a successor to ''Big Bite''. It premiered in 2004, and steadily built a moderate cult audience. However, due in part to poor programming, the show did not rate well and was cancelled after its initial run of six episodes.

In 2005, they were recruited by comedian Rove McManus, to develop the satirical television comedy series, ''Real Stories'', which aired on Network Ten in 2006 and 2007. From 2007 to 2009, the duo appeared fortnightly on ''Rove'' in pre-recorded segments. They hosted the Logie awards in 2007 and 2008, and the ARIA awards in 2008. They appeared on ''Joker Poker'' and ''Australia's Brainiest Comedian'' in 2005, ''Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?'' in 2009 and ''Good News Week'' in 2010. The group appeared on ''The Jay Leno Show'' twice in 2009, and on ''The 7PM Project'' numerous times from 2009, in a similar manner as they did on ''Rove''. They appeared on UKs ''The Graham Norton Show'' in June 2010.

Network Ten Specials

The duo have presented numerous televised clip show specials on Network Ten: ''Hamish and Andy: Re-Gifted'' on 19 November 2008 that was viewed by 1.136 million, ''Hamish & Andy's American Caravan of Courage'' on 10 September 2009 that was viewed by 1.307 million, ''Hamish & Andy: Re-Gifted, Another Very Early Christmas Special'' on 23 November 2009 that was viewed by 1.052 million and ''Hamish & Andy's Caravan of Courage: Great Britain and Ireland'' on 17 June 2010 that was viewed by 1.749 million. The ''Re-Gifted'' specials consisted primarily of excerpts from the duo appearances on previous episodes of ''Rove''. The pair presented a special for Network Ten for the 2010 Commonwealth Games entitled ''Learn India with Hamish and Andy''.

Nine Network

Following a series of media reports, the pair confirmed in February 2011 that they had joined the Nine Network on a two-year contract, to produce ''Hamish and Andy's Gap Year''. The show first aired on 28 July 2011.

Other projects

On 7 July 2007 they presented the Australian leg of Live Earth. They played in the 2008 and 2009 E. J. Whitten Legends Game. They also made a mockumentary short film ''The Greystone 2800'', that won the 2005 Melbourne Comedy Festival Short Film competition. They also hosted FHM's ''Search for Australia's Funniest Man''.

They had a minor acting role on soap opera, ''Neighbours'', portraying radio presenters Fred and Big Tommo on the episode dated 27 August 2008. The episode featured them promoting university drop-out Ty Harper's (Dean Geyer) band, and interviewing schoolgirls Rachel Kinski (Caitlin Stasey) and Donna Freedman (Margot Robbie) about their situation with Harper. They make a cameo appearance in the upcoming 2010 short film ''IA: Interview Artist''.

At the beginning of 2012 they announced they were creating a new social networking website to rival whosay.com, theirs being chumsgroup.com. The website is still in the development process and currently includes posting, Flags(to represent your feelings and activities) and a cucumber (a security measure).

See also

Hamish & Andy (radio show)

Frank Stallone

The People's Chip

References

External links

Hamish & Andy's official site

Real Stories

Category:Australian comedians Category:Comedy duos Category:Hamish & Andy Category:Australian male comedians

name	Stephen Merchant
birth name	Stephen James Merchant
birth date	November 24, 1974
birth place	Bristol, England
occupation	ActorDirectorWriterRadio presenterComedian
yearsactive	1998–present
height	}}

Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom ''The Office,'' as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of ''Extras'', and as the co-host of ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' in its radio, podcast, audiobook and television-show forms. ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' in radio form has won a bronze Sony Award.

Merchant appeared in the BBC TV series ''Life's Too Short'' in which he co-wrote and co-directs. He also voiced the character Wheatley in the popular 2011 video game ''Portal 2'', co-developed Sky TV travel series ''An Idiot Abroad'', and performs as a stand-up comedian. He has won three BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards, and an Emmy.

Early life

Merchant was born in Bristol, England, the son of Jane Elaine (née Hibbs), a nursery nurse, and Ronald John Merchant, an insurance representative. He attended Hanham High School. As he has described in Xfm London shows and podcasts, Merchant was a very shy child, tending to focus more on school work as opposed to sport. His school yearbook predicted that he would enjoy success.

Merchant is a graduate of the University of Warwick, and a former film reviewer on the student radio station, Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career. The station's 1995/96 yearbook tipped him for great things: Members of Merchant's "posse" included film critic James King, Dan Warren, Neil the Maskell and Geraint the Welshman. Recently, a number of tapes of "The Steve Show", recorded at the time, have been rediscovered and are being distributed on various Merchant fansites. He graduated with a 2:1 in Film and Literature in 1996.

Career

Pre-2001

Merchant began his career performing stand-up comedy at Bristol's Comedy Box, where, he recalls, "The first week I did really well ...The second week I died on my arse. I realised that stand-up was not that easy after all." 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.

Merchant met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997, when Gervais (then in the position of "Head of Speech" at the London radio station Xfm) hired Merchant as his assistant. (Gervais said later that he had called Merchant for an interview simply because it was the first CV handed to him.) Merchant and Gervais 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. In the same year, Merchant was a finalist at the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards.

Merchant did a total of 7 years on XFM 104.9. The Saturday show never had a large audience; Gervais says "It's a tin pot radio station... It's not even the biggest radio station in the building." Merchant created the features 'Hip Hop Hooray', 'Make Ricky Gervais laugh' and 'Song for the Ladies.'

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 sitcom ''The Office''. They collaborated on a sitcom pilot called ''Golden Years'' featuring a manager suffering a mid-life crisis; the pilot aired on Channel 4's ''Comedy Lab'' series in September 1998, but failed to find further success.

2001–03 (''The Office'' and return to XFM)

In mid-2001, BBC Two aired the first series of ''The Office'', co-written and co-directed by Merchant and Gervais and starring the latter as paper sales office manager David Brent; the show initially received low ratings. Beginning in September, Merchant and Gervais returned to Xfm as co-hosts of ''The Ricky Gervais Show'', another Saturday afternoon programme, which led to their fruitful relationship with producer Karl Pilkington.

They took a break from the radio show in mid-2002 in order to film the second series of ''The Office'', which aired that year; in addition to writing and directing the show, Merchant made a cameo performance in the episode "Charity" as a friend of Gareth Keenan's character known by the name Oggy or Oggmonster. (Merchant's father also appears in multiple episodes as an office handyman named Gordon.) Merchant also directed a sitcom pilot called ''The Last Chancers'', which aired on ''Comedy Lab'' in November 2002 and became a five-part series broadcast in December on E4.

Merchant and Gervais continued to host ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' through 2003, taking another break to film the ''Office'' Christmas special, which aired that December. The radio show went off the air indefinitely in January 2004. During 2004, Merchant appeared in a recurring role as a chef on ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' and in a cameo on ''Green Wing'', and served as a script associate on the Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker sitcom ''Nathan Barley''. The same year, ''The Office'' aired in the U.S to critical acclaim. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy which both Merchant and Gervais accepted.

This was followed in 2005 by a 4th series of the radio show, consisting of six episodes.

US series of ''The Office''

In March 2005, the American version of ''The Office'' premiered, with Merchant and Gervais credited as executive producers. They would later co-write the third-season episode "The Convict", and Merchant would direct the fifth-season episode "Customer Survey".

Podcast series

In December 2005, with sponsorship by ''The Guardian'', Merchant, Gervais and Pilkington began recording a weekly podcast (also called ''The Ricky Gervais Show''). Throughout its first series (through 20 February 2006), the podcast was consistently ranked the most popular in the world, and was certified as the most-downloaded of all time by Guinness World Records. Two more series and three special instalments (the "Podfather Trilogy") were recorded in 2006, with the final episode released on Christmas Eve. In late 2008, they recorded four more podcasts and began a series of audiobooks examining Pilkington's perspective on various subjects.

''Extras''

In July 2005, following a brief return of the XFM radio show (filling in for Adam and Joe), Gervais and Merchant's new sitcom ''Extras'' premiered on BBC2. The series features Merchant in a supporting role as Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent to struggling actor Andy Millman, played by Gervais. Series 2 of ''Extras'' aired in late 2006, followed by a Christmas special in December 2007; all three instalments aired on HBO in the United States. Merchant won a 2006 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance as Lamb.

''The Steve Show''

In January 2007, Merchant began hosting his own radio show on BBC 6 Music, airing weekly on Sunday afternoons. Instead of comedy, ''The Steve Show'' focused on music and particularly "new music," defined by Merchant as "music you've not heard before." Many of the songs on the show were suggested by listeners or co-presenters. In addition to Merchant, the show featured several of his friends, including his housemate Dan, his childhood friend Harry, and actor Rufus Gerrard-Wright (who also appeared in an episode of ''Extras''). A spring search for a "she-J" resulted in the addition of former ''Byker Grove'' actor Sammy T. Dobson joining the ensemble. "The Steve Show" aired for four seasons and concluded in May 2009.

Stand-up

Merchant began performing stand-up comedy in the late 1990s to critical success, though he decided to focus more on his work with writing partner Ricky Gervais after the success of ''The Office''. Merchant returned to stand-up with a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom in September 2011, under the title ''Hello Ladies''. The tour was later released on DVD.

Other work

Merchant has played small roles in the films ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), ''Run Fatboy Run'' (2007), and ''The Invention of Lying'' (2009), the latter starring Ricky Gervais. He has a supporting role in the 2009 film ''Tooth Fairy''. On television, Merchant made a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role on the sixth season premiere of ''24''; he also starred as a sports commentator in the unaired pilot ''No Skillz''. Additionally, Merchant has provided the voice-over since 2009 of advertisements for Barclays and Waterstone's.

In 2009, Merchant and Gervais collaborated on the film ''Cemetery Junction'', set in working-class England in the 1970s. The film was released in April 2010 to generally mixed to positive reviews.

In September 2010, Merchant produced a television show alongside Ricky Gervais starring Karl Pilkington called ''An Idiot Abroad''.

In July 2010, filming finished for the pilot of ''Life's Too Short'', written by Ricky Gervais and Merchant, who will both cameo alongside the show's star, Warwick Davis. In 2011, he lent his voice to the CGI film ''Gnomeo and Juliet'', and had a role in the Farrelly brothers' comedy ''Hall Pass''.

In January 2011, Merchant appeared at the 'Free Fringe Benefit' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. A show of stand-up to benefit the Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, alongside comedians Jeremy Hardy, Michael Legge, Robin Ince, Mitch Benn, Isy Suttie, Bennett Arron, Andy Zaltzman and founder Peter Buckley Hill. He also stated on the recent free podcast ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to...Comic Relief'' that he will be touring his first solo stand up tour later in the year.

On ''Film 2011'''s Questionnaire feature, broadcast on 2 March 2011, Merchant described his favourite film as ''The Apartment'' (1960), his guilty pleasure as ''Con Air'' (1997), the film he cried at as ''The Bridges of Madison County'', and the film he didn't get as ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy.

Merchant provides the voice of Wheatley in Valve's 2011 video game ''Portal 2'', a role which earned him widespread acclaim among reviewers. While he states his work on the project as "exhausting", Merchant is also "very pleased by the response people have had to it. What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they've enjoyed, or a TV show they've enjoyed."

Filmography

Film

! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
	''Hot Fuzz''	Peter Ian Staker
''Run Fatboy Run''	Man with broken leg
2009	''The Invention of Lying''	Man at the door
		Tracy
	Dougie Boden	Writer and director
''Jackboots on Whitehall''	Tom	Voice only
	Holyrood Footman
		Gary
''Gnomeo and Juliet''	Paris	Voice only
2013	''Movie 43''	Donald

Television

! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
2000	''Meet Ricky Gervais''	Studio employee
2002	''The Office''	The Ogg Monster	Writer and director
	''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace''	Chef	Episode 2
''Green Wing''	Lab technician	Episode 6
2005	''Extras''	Darren Lamb	Writer and director
2007		CTU technician
2010–present
2010	''An Idiot Abroad''	Executive producer
	''Life's Too Short''	Version of himself	Also writer and director
''Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain''
2012

Video games

! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
2011	''Portal 2''		Voice only

Awards

!Awarding Body/Event	!Awarded
! BAFTA Awards		* 2002 Situation Comedy Award ''The Office''	* 2003 Situation Comedy Award ''The Office''	* 2004 Situation Comedy Award ''The Office''
! British Comedy Award		* 2001 Best New Television Comedy The Office (UK)	* 2002 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)	* 2004 Writer of the Year Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant	* 2006 Best TV Comedy Actor ''Extras''
! Broadcasting Press Guild		* 2002 Best Writer ''The Office''	* 2003 Best Writer ''The Office''
! Emmy		* 2006 Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)
! WGA Award		* 2007 Best Comedy Series ''The Office''
! Golden Globe		* 2003 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)	* 2008 Best Television Comedy or Musical (TV) Extras
! Peabody Awards		* 2004 Peabody Award The Office (UK)
! Television Critics Association		* 2004 Individual Achievement in Comedy The Office (UK)
! Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences		* 2011 Outstanding Character Performance as Wheatley (Portal 2)
! Spike Video Game Awards		* 2011 Best Performance by a Human Male as Wheatley (Portal 2)

Personal life

Merchant dated digital advertising producer Claire Jones for two years, although their relationship reportedly ended in 2009. Merchant is an atheist. He is the cousin of Sara Dallin of Bananarama.

Appearance

Merchant's considerable height (6ft 7in; 2.01 m) has been a source of humour and teasing throughout his life. He made a cameo appearance in ''The Office'', playing a character nicknamed the Ogg-Monster, whom David Brent called "a big lanky goggle-eyed freak". His height, and also dance moves, have attracted comments from several sources. The ''Daily Mail'' newspaper described him as a "giant albatross hopping on stilts" as he danced in a London pub (although Merchant denied this during an episode of the ''Ricky Gervais Show'', stating that he did not take to the dance floor on that occasion).

While discussing what the Daily Mail had said on the show, friend and collaborator Ricky Gervais has likened him to an "upright lizard being given electro-shock treatment" and a "stick insect with glasses" or Beaker from ''The Muppet Show''. Radio producer and co-host of Merchant, Karl Pilkington, has described his moves as a "bit of weird art" in the past, while British comic and broadcaster Russell Brand has likened him to a "graceful grasshopper". Merchant has commented that he prefers to liken himself to fellow tall man and English football player, Peter Crouch who is also six foot seven inches. Merchant impersonated Crouch in a BBC sketch broadcast as part of the pre-match build-up to England's opening game at the 2006 World Cup.

References

External links

Official website

Interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live

Xfm: Biography

''Tall man, taller success story'' – interview in ''The Telegraph'' – 8 August 2005

Interview with Barbara Ellen in The Observer Magazine – 5 November 2006

An Englishman abroad

Stephen Merchant interview

Stephen Merchant interviewed by Sophie Elmhirst on ''New Statesman''.

Category:1974 births Category:Actors from Bristol Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English comedy writers Category:English podcasters Category:English radio DJs Category:English radio personalities Category:English television actors Category:English television directors Category:English television producers Category:English television writers Category:English video game actors Category:English voice actors Category:Living people Category:The Office (U.S. TV series) Category:People from Bristol Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English atheists

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