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Film

Stephen Merchant

Writer and director, co-creator of The Office

Born 1974

Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 4.0

Stephen Merchant co-wrote and co-directed The Office with Ricky Gervais, a series remade in more than a dozen countries. He has since written and directed drama as well as comedy, and won three BAFTAs and two Emmys.

Key achievements

  • Co-created The Office, remade in more than a dozen countries
  • Three BAFTAs and two Emmy Awards

Universities

  • University of WarwickGraduate1993–1996

    Coventry, West Midlands

    Took a degree in film and literature in 1996 and ran the student radio station while there.

Facts

  • He met Ricky Gervais when he answered a job advertisement to be his assistant at a London radio station.
  • The pilot for The Office was made as a student-style short on a tiny budget and nearly went unbroadcast.
  • He is 201 centimetres tall, a fact that has become a running joke in most of his own scripts.

Photographs

Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.

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