Richard Ayoade is a multifaceted Brit entertainer. In addition to being an actor, he is also a comedian, film and music video director, and television presenter. He earned his big break playing the role of Maurice Moss on the Channel 4 sitcom, The IT Crowd, for which he won the 2014 British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance.
Ayoade directed and wrote in equal measure. His best known work is the 2010 film, Submarine, for which he earned a BAFTA nod for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer and a handful of other awards including the British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay. Ayoade’s other successful film as a director and writer is the black comedy thriller Der Doppelganger Some of the shows Richard Ayoade has presented include Gadget Man, Journey Man, and The Crystal Maze
Age, early life and rise to fame
Richard Ellef Ayoade was born on May 23, 1977. His interest in show business was sparked by the sci-fi films, Beyond Star Wars and Back to the Future He attended St Joseph’s College, Ipswich, an independent school, and later studied law at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
During his law studies, Ayoade stuck to his theater side and won the Martin Steele Prize for theater production at school. In his senior year he became president of the amateur theater club Footlights. He graduated in 1998.
After graduating, Richard Ayoade continued to write, direct and act in stage shows and television series, spawning a successful show business career.
His parents
Richard Ayoade is of mixed race. His parents are Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade and Dagny Amalie (Baassuik). Ayoade’s father, Layide, is Nigerian and his mother is from Norway. His father once worked as an electrical engineer. Although Ayoade’s parents had him in Hammersmith, west London, they later raised him in Ipswich, Suffolk, where they had moved when Richard was a child.
His parents never imagined that he would study theater at school. While studying law, it was ultimately his theater side that won him over.
