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Graham Norton
Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), known professionally as Graham Norton, is an Irish comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer. He is best known as a chat show host, having presented The Graham Norton Show since 2007. Norton has won the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance a record six times and has an additional BAFTA win for producing. He has been noted for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style.
In addition to hosting his chat show, since 2009, Norton has served as the BBC's television commentator for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and co-hosted the final of the 2023 edition of the event. From 2010 to 2020, he presented the Saturday-morning slot on BBC Radio 2, and from 2021 to 2024, he presented a weekend show for Virgin Radio UK. In 2019, Norton became a judge on the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
In 2012, he sold his production company So Television to ITV for around £17 million.
Norton was born Graham William Walker on 4 April 1963, at 48 St Brigid's Road, in Clondalkin, County Dublin, Ireland, to William "Billy" (died 2000), a sales representative for Guinness, and Rhoda Walker. He has an older sister, Paula (born 1959). Because of his father's job, he and his family moved around Ireland throughout his early childhood; they lived in Tramore, then Waterford, then Kilkenny, before settling in the town of Bandon, County Cork, where he grew up. He was raised in a Church of Ireland family, and has said that he felt somewhat isolated growing up as a Protestant in the predominantly Catholic south of Ireland. His father's family were from County Wicklow, while his mother is a native of Belfast. He discovered during a 2007 episode of the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? that his father's direct ancestors were English, having originated in Yorkshire before emigrating to Ireland in 1713.
Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School in County Cork and then University College Cork, where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s. He did not complete his studies after having a breakdown and refusing to leave his flat. He later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2013.
In 1981, Norton featured in an episode of RTÉ's Youngline, participating in an audience debate about underage teens attending discos. In 1983, Norton travelled to San Francisco where he lived for one year, in the "Stardance" hippie commune house, on Fulton Street and worked as a waiter. In the late 1980s he moved to London to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama. He again found work as a waiter during that period. Upon joining the actors' union Equity, he chose Norton (his great-grandmother's maiden name) as his new surname, as there was already a comic-actor called Graham Walker (died 2013), represented by the union.
In 1992, Norton's stand-up comedy drag act as a tea-towel-clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa. His first appearances in broadcasting were in the UK, where he had a spot as a regular comedian and panellist on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends in the early 1990s, when the show ran on Saturday mornings.
He was one of the early successes of Channel 5, winning an award as stand-in host of a late-night TV talk show usually presented by Jack Docherty. This was followed by a comic quiz show on Channel 5 called Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment, which was not well received as a programme but enhanced Norton's reputation as a comic and host. In 1996, he co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane.
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Graham Norton
Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), known professionally as Graham Norton, is an Irish comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer. He is best known as a chat show host, having presented The Graham Norton Show since 2007. Norton has won the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance a record six times and has an additional BAFTA win for producing. He has been noted for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style.
In addition to hosting his chat show, since 2009, Norton has served as the BBC's television commentator for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and co-hosted the final of the 2023 edition of the event. From 2010 to 2020, he presented the Saturday-morning slot on BBC Radio 2, and from 2021 to 2024, he presented a weekend show for Virgin Radio UK. In 2019, Norton became a judge on the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
In 2012, he sold his production company So Television to ITV for around £17 million.
Norton was born Graham William Walker on 4 April 1963, at 48 St Brigid's Road, in Clondalkin, County Dublin, Ireland, to William "Billy" (died 2000), a sales representative for Guinness, and Rhoda Walker. He has an older sister, Paula (born 1959). Because of his father's job, he and his family moved around Ireland throughout his early childhood; they lived in Tramore, then Waterford, then Kilkenny, before settling in the town of Bandon, County Cork, where he grew up. He was raised in a Church of Ireland family, and has said that he felt somewhat isolated growing up as a Protestant in the predominantly Catholic south of Ireland. His father's family were from County Wicklow, while his mother is a native of Belfast. He discovered during a 2007 episode of the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? that his father's direct ancestors were English, having originated in Yorkshire before emigrating to Ireland in 1713.
Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School in County Cork and then University College Cork, where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s. He did not complete his studies after having a breakdown and refusing to leave his flat. He later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2013.
In 1981, Norton featured in an episode of RTÉ's Youngline, participating in an audience debate about underage teens attending discos. In 1983, Norton travelled to San Francisco where he lived for one year, in the "Stardance" hippie commune house, on Fulton Street and worked as a waiter. In the late 1980s he moved to London to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama. He again found work as a waiter during that period. Upon joining the actors' union Equity, he chose Norton (his great-grandmother's maiden name) as his new surname, as there was already a comic-actor called Graham Walker (died 2013), represented by the union.
In 1992, Norton's stand-up comedy drag act as a tea-towel-clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa. His first appearances in broadcasting were in the UK, where he had a spot as a regular comedian and panellist on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends in the early 1990s, when the show ran on Saturday mornings.
He was one of the early successes of Channel 5, winning an award as stand-in host of a late-night TV talk show usually presented by Jack Docherty. This was followed by a comic quiz show on Channel 5 called Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment, which was not well received as a programme but enhanced Norton's reputation as a comic and host. In 1996, he co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane.