Peter Kay

Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. Born and raised in Farnworth, Kay studied media performance at the University of Salford and later began working part-time as a stand-up comedian. In 1997, Kay won Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny contest, and the following year, he was nominated for a Perrier Award for his show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

With his public profile raised, Kay co-wrote and starred in the Channel 4 mockumentary series That Peter Kay Thing (2000). This resulted in a spin-off sitcom, Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights (2001–2002) in turn generated another spin-off, Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere (2004). In 2005, he recorded a promotional video in which he mimed to Tony Christie's 1971 song "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo", which was reissued to raise money for Comic Relief: the song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming that year's best-selling single in the UK. In 2006, the British public ranked Kay number 12 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.

Kay co-wrote and starred in Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice (2008), a parody of several British reality television shows. As the series' fictional protagonist Geraldine McQueen, he released the single "The Winner's Song", which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart. His 2010–2011 stand-up comedy tour was recorded in the Guinness World Records as the most successful ever, selling over 1.2 million tickets. He starred in the BBC sitcoms Peter Kay's Car Share (2015–2018) and Cradle to Grave (2015). Kay provided the voice of police constable (later chief inspector) Albert Mackintosh in two feature-length films of the Wallace & Gromit franchise, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Vengeance Most Fowl (2024).

In 2016, Kay won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance, the BAFTA TV Award for Best Scripted Comedy and the National Television Award for Best Comedy for Car Share. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford.

Peter John Kay was born on 2 July 1973 in Farnworth, Lancashire, where he attended Mount Saint Joseph School, leaving with a GCSE in art.

His father, Michael, was an engineer who died just before Peter's career took off. His mother, Deirdre (née O'Neill), is an Irish Catholic originally from Coalisland, County Tyrone, and Peter was brought up in her faith.

He took several minor jobs, including working in a toilet roll factory, a Netto supermarket, a video rental shop, Manchester Arena, a cash-and-carry, a cinema, a petrol station and a bingo hall, which later inspired episodes for That Peter Kay Thing. He was sacked from each, after a few months, for "not taking things seriously".

He began a degree course at the University of Liverpool in Drama, Theatre Studies and English Literature. He had misinformed the university to accept him, telling the university that he had four GCSEs and A-levels in Psychology and English Literature. Struggling with the course, he changed to studying a Higher National Diploma (HND) in media performance (including stand-up) at the University of Salford's Adelphi Campus School of Media, Music and Performance. In recognition of his contribution to the entertainment industry, Kay received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Salford University on 19 July 2016, at Salford's Lowry Theatre.