Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand is an English radio and television
personality, comedian, actor, and newspaper columnist. He dresses in a
flamboyant bohemian fashion describing himself as looking like an "S&M Willy
Wonka". Brand's current style consists of black eyeliner, drainpipe jeans,
Beatle boots, and long, shaggy, backcombed hair.
He was born in Grays, Essex, England, A former heroin
addict, alcoholic and has had numerous run-ins with the law, having been
arrested eleven times; He has been free from heroin addiction since 2003,
He also has been confirmed to be playing himself in a film adaptation
of his autobiography My Booky Wook, to be directed by Michael Winterbottom.
He also released a book in 2007 entitled Irons in the Fire, which is a
collection of his writings for the Guardian newspaper about West Ham United's
2006/07 season
Brand recorded The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" with Grammy Award-winning
composer David Arnold for the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band. He contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 2008 film
Forgetting Sarah Marshall as part of the fictional band Infant Sorrow.
Rod Stewart publicly chided Brand at the 2006 GQ Awards for saying he'd slept
with his daughter Kimberly Stewart. Collecting an award for outstanding
achievement, Stewart challenged Brand to swear an oath that this really had
happened — and warned Brand that if he couldn't swear that it was true, he
shouldn't make such claims. During the filming of the Live stand-up DVD on the
subject of "shame" he addressed this matter, explaining that his claim was a
joke, and that he and Stewart share a common PR agent and were "messing
about".
On February 23, 2006, he hosted the 2006 NME Awards show. Upon reaching the
stage to receive his award, Bob Geldof began his speech with 'Russell Brand...
what a cunt.' Which later prompted Brand to strike back with: "Really it's no
surprise he's such an expert on famine; after all, he's been dining out on "I
Don't Like Mondays" for 30 years".
Brand currently resides in Hampstead, London. He is a big fan of The Smiths
and their ex-frontman Morrissey, and has a cat of the same name. Brand has been
a vegetarian since the age of 14 and does yoga. He is a fan of West Ham
United and has a season ticket. His love of football is a big part of his life; he
has stated on his radio show that he would like the song "Asleep" by The Smiths
played at his funeral. He is a supporter of the Free Tibet movement, exclaiming
on several occassions "China - get outta Tibet" on his radio show.