Lenny Henry
Date of Birth: 29/08/1958
Occupation: Presenter
Biography: A British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.

Henry, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was born at Burton Road Hospital in Dudley in 1958. He was a pupil at St John's Primary School and later The Blue Coat School outside Dudley, before completing his school education at W.R. Tuson College (now Preston College).

His first manager was Robert Luff, who signed him in 1975 and gave him the opportunity to perform as part of the Luff-produced touring stage version of The Black and White Minstrel Show. In July 2009, Lenny Henry stated he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show.

His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces). He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show.

In 2003, Henry was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy.

Henry is associated with the British Comic Relief charity organisation, along with his former wife, comedienne Dawn French, and Griff Rhys Jones, and has hosted the show and also presented filmed reports from overseas on the work of the charity. He was the voice of the British speaking clock for two weeks, 10-23 March 2003, in aid of Comic Relief.

He was the voice of the "shrunken head" on the Knight Bus in the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and read the audio book version of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. He also voices a character on the children's show Little Robots.

In June 2001, for a BBC documentary, he sailed a trimaran from Plymouth to Antigua, Jamaica with yachtsman Tony Bullimore. His motive was to as he put it, "have one last adventure".

In 2005, he appeared in Birmingham, as an act for "Jasper Carrott's Rock with Laughter". He appeared alongside performers such as Bill Bailey, Jasper Carrott, Bonnie Tyler, Bobby Davro and the Lord of the Dance troupe.

Henry met Dawn French on the alternative comedy circuit. They married in 1984 in Westminster, London; they have an adopted daughter, Billie (born 1991)

On 6 April 2010, it was announced that Henry and French were to separate after 25 years of marriage. It is believed that the separation was amicable, and they decided to split in October 2009, but postponed it as they were still in discussion over the separation. They were officially divorced in October 2010.

Henry graduated in English Literature, (BA Hons), with the Open University in 2007.

Henry studied for an MA at Royal Holloway, University of London in screenwriting for television and film, where he received a distinction and where he is now studying for a PhD on the role of black people in the media.

Henry was made a CBE in the New Years Honours list in 1998 for his services to comedy drama and Comic Relief.