Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer.

Jonathan Stephen Ross was born on 17 November 1960 in St Pancras, north London and raised in Leytonstone, east London.

The son of John and actress Martha Ross, he has four brothers and one sister.

He is the younger brother of journalist, television editor, and media personality Paul Ross.

Their mother put all of her children forward for roles in television advertisements.

Ross first appeared in a television advertisement for the breakfast cereal Kellogg's Rice Krispies in 1970, when he was 10 years old.

He also appeared in an ad for the laundry detergent Persil.

Ross was educated at the comprehensive schools Norlington School for Boys and Leyton County High School for Boys.

He then studied at the Southampton College of Art and took a degree in Modern European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) in London, which today forms part of University College London.

Ross began his adult career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show Loose Talk.

After leaving this, he worked on various other shows before beginning another research job on Soul Train, which became Solid Soul.

It is believed his first appearance on television was as an extra in the 1981 It Ain't Half Hot, Mum episode The Last Roll Call.

Ross began his television career as a TV researcher, before débuting as a presenter for The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross on Channel 4 in 1987.

Whilst on Solid Soul, he met fellow researcher Alan Marke, and the two devised what would prove to be a breakthrough hit for Ross in 1987, The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross.

The two men based their concept on the successful American show Late Night with David Letterman, and formed a new production company called Channel X, to produce a pilot.

Ross had not planned to be the show's host, but he presented the show from its debut in January 1987.

While the series was initially a co-production with Colin Callender, ownership transferred to Marke and Ross, meaning that the latter retained a great deal of control as well as being presenter.

The show was successful for both Ross and for Channel 4, making him one of the major personalities on the channel.

A year later, his documentary series The Incredibly Strange Film Show introduced many to the works of cult filmmakers like Sam Raimi and Jackie Chan.

Ross and Raimi appeared together in a British television advertisement for Raimi's 1987 film Evil Dead II.

In 1989, he co-presented the biennial BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, the same year he launched One Hour with Jonathan Ross a short lived chat show on Channel 4.

Its game show segment, "Knock down ginger", introduced comedians such as Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson to television.

In December 1989, Ross appeared on Cilla's Goodbye to the 80s and presented all four members of Queen with the "Top Band of the Eighties" prize in a broadcast for ITV which would turn out to be Freddie Mercury's penultimate public appearance before his death from AIDS in 1991.

In 1990 and 1991, his television documentary series Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only profiled and interviewed directors including Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Aki Kaurismäki and in 2014, the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.

Ross has appeared in numerous television entertainment programmes on several channels throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

He was a regular panellist on the sports quiz They Think It's All Over, and hosted the panel game It's Only TV...But I Like It.

Other projects include the BBC joke-quiz Gagtag, the Channel 4 variety show Saturday Zoo, new-acts showcase The Big Big Talent Show, and the ITV programme Fantastic Facts.

Ross presented the annual British Comedy Awards each year from 1991 to 2014 with the exception of 2008 following his suspension from the BBC.

In 1992 he presented an interview with Madonna about her Erotica album and Sex Book promotion.

Over the next decade, he presented numerous radio and television programmes, many through his own production company, Channel X. In 1995, he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC in 1997.

In 1995, he left Channel X, despite its profitable nature.

He was quoted in a 1998 article as stating:

In 1999, Ross took over presenting the Film programme from Barry Norman, and also began presenting his own radio show, while two years later he began hosting Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

He presented the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross during the 2000s and early 2010s, hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2 from 1999 to 2010, and served as film critic and presenter of the Film programme.

For the chat show, Ross won three BAFTA awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting.

Ross has been involved in controversies throughout his broadcasting career.

As a result, in 2008, he wrote a semi-autobiographical work titled Why Do I Say These Things?, detailing some of his life experiences.

He has also written his own comic books, Turf and America's Got Powers.

After leaving the BBC in 2010, Ross began hosting his comedy chat show The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV. Other regular roles have included being a panellist on the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over (1999–2005), being a presenter of the British Comedy Awards (1991–2007, 2009–2014), and being a judge on the musical competition show The Masked Singer (2020–present) and its spin-off series The Masked Dancer (2021–present).