Russell Edward Brand (born June 4, 1975) is an English radio and television personality, comedian, actor, and newspaper columnist. Brand 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.


Brand was born in Grays, Essex, England, as the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (Nichols) and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer. His parents separated in 1978 when Russell was three. Brand's relationship with his father has always been complicated. At the age of 17 the two travelled to the Far East, where they shared a room and slept with prostitutes. Brand made his theatrical debut aged fifteen, in Bugsy Malone as Fat Sam, and his performances earned him a council funded education at the private Italia Conti Academy, which led to a three-year scholarship at Drama Centre in Chalk Farm. Brand is a former heroin addict, alcoholic and has had numerous run-ins with the law, having been arrested eleven times he was also expelled from the Italia Conti Academy when he was younger. During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery, a notable example being his ejection from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh. He has been free from heroin addiction since 2003, and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12. His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was supposedly instigated by John Noel, Brand's manager. He did so with the help of the Hare Krishnas, to whom he feels "indebted". He hosted a forum show about drugs for Channel 4 in 2006, which had a similar format to that of Big Brother's Big Mouth, and his stand-up show Better Now drew extensively on his experiences with addiction.

Brand's first significant stand-up appearance was at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he did not finish in the top three, his performance attracted the attention of an agent, John Noel. His first big tour was his show Shame which he toured the UK and performed to sell out audiences drawing on embarrassing things that have happened and the tabloid press and how they have treated him since he became famous. In late November 2006 Russell put on a secret stand-up show for anyone who had added him as a friend on MySpace. This show featured unseen material not featured on his DVD. Brand performed a sketch with close friends Matt Lucas & David Walliams for a Little Britain live show for Comic Relief in which he played a crossdressing plumber who comes out to "fellow crossdresser", Emily Howard. Brand appeared in a sketch and did stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, Brand performed a charity show with Noel Fielding centred around the Goth Detectives. The idea for the show was inspired by Jimmy Carr, who, on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2006, suggested that Fielding could play Bob Skeleton ("Indie Detective"), which led to Brand and Fielding jokingly describing a fictional scenario in which they were "Goth Detectives."