Rowan Atkinson is a British icon so it’s easy to understand why fans want to know all there is about the 70-year-old actor. Man Vs Baby dropped on Thursday, December 11, on Netflix, a four-part comedy about Trevor Bingley (played by Rowan Atkinson) as he finds himself looking after a lost baby in London. The sitcom may have just landed on the streamer but already it’s reached Netflix’s number one most-watched spot, proving that fans still can’t get enough of the Mr Bean legend.
As fans continue to binge-watch Man Vs Baby this weekend, here’s all there is to know about the legendary Rowan Atkinson.
While everyone best knows Atkinson for his comedy career, it wasn’t always his intention to get into acting.
He initially studied electrical engineering while attending Newcastle University and began a PhD at Oxford University when he discovered he had a passion for acting.
It was during his days at Oxford that he met Four Weddings And A Funeral which Atkinson made a cameo in, as well as co-wrote the iconic Blackadder.
The Man Vs Baby star has lived with a stammer for most of his life but has reportedly found that he doesn’t suffer as much when he’s performing.
Atkinson tends to stay out of the spotlight anyway but he also doesn’t do many interviews because of his stutter.
He shared with Time magazine: “It comes and goes. It depends on my nerves, but it can be a problem.
“I find that when I play a character other than myself, the stammering disappears. That may have been some of my inspiration for pursuing the career that I did.”
Apart from starring in the unforgettable Blackadder series, Atkinson’s early career revolved around the silently chaotic character of Mr Bean.
It’s believed that Mr Bean is based on nine-year-old Atkinson as he was bullied at school by children who thought he looked like an alien and given nicknames like Doople and Greenman.
According to The Independent, he said: “There’s a lot of Mr Bean in me. He’s socially inept, selfish and has no manners – yet he can be sweet, innocent and well-meaning.”
Atkinson was married to make-up artist Sunetra Sastry who he met in the 1980s while he was shooting the second season of Blackadder.
Sastry was his co-star Stephen Fry’s make-up artist but it didn’t take too long before Atkinson hit it off with her and tied the knot in 1990.
They were married for 24 years and had children Benjamin and Lily before their divorce in November 2015.
At the time of the divorce proceedings, the pair were in the middle of constructing an £11 million home in Oxfordshire.
It was in 2013 that the star met his now girlfriend Louise Ford – who was in a relationship with comedian James Acaster at the time – while working on the West End play Quartermaine’s Terms.
Ford, who is around 30 years his junior, has featured in Horrible Histories, The Windsors and Crashing.
They welcomed their one and only daughter Isla in December 2017 and have so far kept her out of the public eye.
Man Vs Baby is available to watch on Netflix.
