Eddie Izzard
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British Comedian & Actor 

b. February 7, 1962

“Comedy is a great weapon of attack.”

Eddie (a.k.a. Suzy) Izzard is an award-winning British comedian, actor, and philanthropist. Hailed as the foremost comic of a generation, she is known for her surreal, meandering monologues.

Izzard was born male in Aden, Yemen, to English parents. The family moved to Northern Ireland before settling in Wales. When Izzard was 6, her mother died of cancer.

Izzard studied drama at the University of Sheffield. She knew she was gender-fluid as a youngster and identifies “broadly” as transgender. She came out at age 23 and began cross-dressing in public. Always switching personas, Izzard adopted female pronouns permanently in 2020.

After university, Izzard worked in comedy clubs and as a street performer. Her breakthrough came in 1991, performing as part of “Hysteria 3,” a televised AIDS fundraiser at the London Palladium. In 1993 she booked the Ambassadors Theatre in London for a one-person show. It earned her a British Comedy Award for Best Live Stand-up Comedian.

Izzard launched a second successful show in 1994 and staged an award-winning third show in 1995 that toured major cities outside the UK. Her U.S. break came with “Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill” (1999), which aired on HBO and earned her two Emmys. She has performed overseas in French and German, which she speaks fluently.

Izzard’s extensive body of work includes more than 30 films and numerous television and theater shows. She made her movie debut in 1995 and performed alongside Bob Hoskins and Robin Williams in the dramatic thriller “The Secret Agent” in 1996. Her subsequent films include “The Avengers,” “Oceans Twelve,” and “Victoria & Abdul,” for which she gained 26 pounds and was virtually unrecognizable as Prince Bertie of Wales. 

As a voice actor, Izzard has performed in animated films such as “Cars 2” and “The Lego Batman Movie.” Her stage credits include the title roles in “Edward II” and “Lenny.” She was nominated for a Tony for her leading role in the Broadway revival of “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.”

Izzard has raised millions of dollars for Sports Relief, a UK charity that aids vulnerable people worldwide. An endurance athlete, she ran 43 marathons in 51 days throughout the UK and 27 marathons in 27 days across South Africa. She is also a major donor to the British Labor Party. 

Among other awards, Izzard received the Annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism, presented at Harvard University. She is the subject of a documentary and the author of a New York Times best-selling memoir.