Peter Serafinowicz

Peter Serafinowicz
Serafinowicz at the Guardians of the Galaxy premiere in July 2014
Born	Peter Szymon Serafinowicz (1972-07-10) 10 July 1972 Liverpool, England, UK
Nationality	American and British
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, singer, musician, director
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Sarah Alexander
Children	Sam and Phoebe

Peter Szymon Serafinowicz (/sɛrəˈfɪnəvɪtʃ/; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer, voice artist, singer and director. He is best known for playing Pete in Shaun of the Dead, dubbing the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and for appearing in a variety of British and American comedy series.

Early life

Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool, the son of Catherine (née Geary), a post office worker, and Szymon Serafinowicz, Jr., a scaffolder. His father is of Belarusian and Polish descent. Serafinowicz was raised Roman Catholic, and attended Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School and St Francis Xavier Secondary School.

Career

Acting, directing and writing

Serafinowicz at a panel for Look Around You, 2010 San Diego Comic-Con

Serafinowicz made his broadcasting debut in 1993 on Radio 1 show The Knowledge, a spoof documentary about the music industry. From there he went on to perform in Radio 4 shows Week Ending, Harry Hill's Fruit Corner, Grievous Bodily Radio, The Two Dannys and A Whole New Ball Game.

On 1 May 1997, he appeared in The Election Night Armistice as Moz Bingham, the fictional press secretary to the then shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who verbally abuses and bullies the BBC's Nick Robinson in a spoof phone call over the politician's news coverage. In 1998 he appeared on TV in Comedy Nation and You are Here. He also had a role in the Simon Nye-penned sitcom How Do You Want Me?.

In 1999, he made a number of appearances in Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, playing principal character Tim Bisley's (Simon Pegg) nemesis, Duane Benzie. He made another appearance in the series when it returned in 2001. In 2001 Serafinowicz took the lead in BBC Two sitcom World of Pub, playing the same character as he had done in the show's run on Radio 4. He was also in The Junkies, an Internet sitcom. In 2002 the critically acclaimed Look Around You, a series of 10-minute 1970s school science video spoofs, debuted on BBC Two in which Serafinowicz played a scientist. He co-wrote the show alongside Robert Popper, whom he met on the set of Spaced. The show returned in 2005 as a spoof of the 1980s show Tomorrow's World, with Serafinowicz playing Peter Packard, one of the presenters.

In 2003, he appeared in another Nye-written sitcom, Hardware, in which he played the affable Kenny. He reprised this role in the second series in 2004. Also in 2004 he appeared in British rom-zom-com (romantic-zombie-comedy) Shaun of the Dead, playing Pete, the tidy flatmate of principal characters Shaun and Ed. He also appeared in boxing film The Calcium Kid. In Sixty Six, the 2006 British film about a Jewish boy whose Bar Mitzvah is scheduled for the same day as the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, Serafinowicz plays Uncle Jimmy. In the week before the 2006 Academy Awards a video circulated on the Internet of a fake news item (called "O! News", a parody of E! News) about a new Oscar statue, in which Serafinowicz imitated Alan Alda, Paul McCartney and Al Pacino. A second O! News video later appeared, parodying the 2006 Apple Corps v. Apple Computer lawsuit. This attracted the interest of the BBC, and a pilot was commissioned for The Peter Serafinowicz Show. A full series was broadcast on BBC Two in 2007 (with a Christmas special in 2008). For his performance, Serafinowicz was presented with the Best Entertainer prize at the 2008 Rose d'Or ceremony. The series was also nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Television Awards.

Serafinowicz had also made a number of guest appearances on television, including the comedy shows Smack the Pony and Hippies (both 1999), Black Books (2000), I'm Alan Partridge (2002) and Little Britain (2003), comedy drama Murder Most Horrid (1999) and ITV Drama series Agatha Christie's Marple (2005). He has made a number of guest appearances on both television and radio panel shows. He regularly appeared on The 99p Challenge and appeared on Have I Got News for You in 2005, 2006 and 2008 8 out of 10 Cats in 2005, and QI in 2003. He also appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 19 October 2007, Would I Lie to You? on 8 August 2008 and 30 July 2010 and Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 15 October 2009.

In 2008, Serafinowicz was working with Robert Popper on a new television series, as well as a website, based on a spoof religion "Tarvuism" for US network Adult Swim. In 2009, he appeared in Universal Films' Couples Retreat as Sctanley, the manager of the Eden Resort, directed by Peter Billingsley.

In 2010, Serafinowicz directed the music video for Hot Chip's song "I Feel Better", their second single from the album One Life Stand. He followed this up in 2012 when he directed the music video for the band's song "Night & Day", the first single from their album In Our Heads. The video starred Lara Stone, Terence Stamp and Reggie Watts.

In 2010, he co-starred with Will Arnett in the FOX sitcom Running Wilde, devised by Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz. It premiered on Fox on 21 September 2010, but was cancelled by the network after 13 episodes.

In June 2013, Serafinowicz provided the English language audiobook recording for the Roald Dahl novel Danny, the Champion of the World. In July 2013 Serafinowicz made his movie directing debut with the dark comedy film I See What You Did There, which he cowrote with Danny Wallace.

In 2014 it was announced that Serafinowicz would play the role Crowley in the BBC Radio 4 adaption of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's novel Good Omens.

He has also attracted considerable attention by his YouTube parodies in which he dubs the voice of Donald Trump into an English accent thereby making Donald Trump sound seemingly more sophisticated.

In 2015 it was announced that Serafinowicz is in the process of writing a television sitcom based on his Brian Butterfield character.

Personal life

Serafinowicz is married to actress Sarah Alexander. Their first child, a son named Sam, was born in March 2007. They also have a daughter named Phoebe. Peter's brother, James, is a writer and director, and can be seen wearing his Liverpool Blue Coat School uniform at the beginning and end of each episode of the first series of Look Around You and is the person who always gets choked by the robot talk-show host Michael-6 during the Michael-6: The Robot Talk Show Host sketches of The Peter Serafinowicz Show. Serafinowicz's sister Helen is married to Graham Linehan.

In October 2007, Serafinowicz dropped his attempt to use the Human Rights Act to prevent the publication of details revealing his Belarusian grandfather as the first man in Britain to go on trial for Nazi war crimes under the War Crimes Act. Szymon Serafinowicz Sr. was charged with allegedly murdering three Jews while a police chief during the Nazi occupation of his native Belarus in World War II. He was found unfit for trial on grounds of dementia in 1997, and died later that year, aged 86.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Doppelganger	Various characters	Short Reebok promo
1998	You Are Here	Dr. Phil Phillips
1999	The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns	George Fitzpatrick
1999	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace	Darth Maul Battle Droid Commander Gungan Scout	Voice
2001	Calcium	Scientist
2003	Hello Friend	Various characters	Voice; short film
2004	Shaun of the Dead	Peter
2004	The Calcium Kid	Dave King
2005	Ripley Under Ground	Nigel
2006	Sixty Six	Uncle Jimmy / Mr. Rubens, Snr. / Football Commentator
2007	Grindhouse	Screaming Man	Uncredited
2007	Run Fatboy Run	TV commentator
2008	Tales of the Riverbank	Various characters
2009	Couples Retreat	Sctanley
2010	The Best and the Brightest	Clark Janowitz
2011	Killing Bono	Hammond
2013	The World's End	Knock-a-Door Run Home Owner	Cameo
2013	The Unbeatables	Loco	Voice
2014	Muppets Most Wanted		Deleted scenes
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Denarian Saal
2014	Ibid	Michael
2015	Spy	Aldo
2016	Zootropolis	Narrator	Voice; UK version
2016	Sing

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Spitting Image	Jacques Chirac	Voice; 2 episodes
1998	Jack and the Beanstalk	Second Henchman
1998	Comedy Nation	Various characters
1998	Europigeon	Terry Wogan
1998	Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round	Narrator
1998–1999	How Do You Want Me?	Dean Yardley	12 episodes
1999	Murder Most Horrid	Tony Frost	Episode: "Dinner at Tiffany's"
1999	Smack the Pony	Various characters	2 episodes
1999	Sermon from St Albion's	Alastair Campbell	Episode 2.1
1999	Hippies	Robin / Narrator	2 episodes
1999–2001	Spaced	Duane Benzie	3 episodes
2000	The Junkies	Big Al / Narrator
2000	Black Books	Howell Granger	Episode: "The Big Lock-Out"
2001	World of Pub	Garry / various characters	6 episodes
2002	Ted and Alice	Mark
2002	I'm Alan Partridge	Tex	Episode: "Never Say Alan Again"
2002	15 Storeys High	Unknown	2 episodes
2002–2005	Look Around You	Scientist / Peter Packard	15 episodes
2003	Little Britain	Interviewer	Episode: "Biggest House of Cards"
2003	Red Nose Day	Terry Wogan	Spoof Blankety Blank sketch
2003	QI	Himself	Panelist; episode: "Aviation"
2003–2004	Hardware	Kenny	12 episodes
2006	Our Thirties	Austin
2006	Agatha Christie's Marple	Walter Fane	Episode: "Sleeping Murder"
2006	The IT Crowd	Newsreader / voiceover	2 episodes
2006	South Park	Darth Chef	Voice; episode: "The Return of Chef"
2007–2008	The Peter Serafinowicz Show	Various characters	7 episodes
2008	Would I Lie to You?	Himself	Panelist
2009	Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle	Voiceover	6 episodes
2009	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Himself	Panelist
2009	Snake 'n' Bacon	Voiceover
2010	Driver Dan's Story Train	Driver Dan
2010	Running Wilde	Fa'ad Shaoulin
2010	Whitechapel	DCI Cazanove
2010	Would I Lie to You?	Himself	Panelist
2011	Funny or Die Presents	Puppet	Voice, segment: The Terrys
2011	Archer	George Spelvin	Episode: "Tragical History"
2011	NTSF:SD:SUV::	SAM	Voice
2011	This is Jinsy	Eric Dunt / The Great He	Episode: "Cupboards"
2011	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Himself	Panelist
2012	The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret	Tito the Cycling Lawyer	Episode: "Todd and his Valet Arrive in Leeds and What They Saw There"
2012	Assassin's Creed III advert	Narrator	Voice
2012	Dawson Bros. Funtime	Voiceover
2012	Bad Sugar	Rolph	Series 1
2012	Childrens Hospital	Michael Caine	Voice; episode: "British Hospital"
2012	American Dad!	Joe / Goran the Mutilator	Voice; episode: "Killer Vacation"
2013	Axe Cop	Dr. Doo Doo / Adolf Hitler
2013	Fit	Brian Butterfield
2013	Anatole's Island	Narrator	Voice
2013	Parks and Recreation	Lord Covington	2 Episodes
2013	Father Figure
2014	Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums	Himself	Episode: "Maths and Two Veg: How Maths Can Help You Eat Better"
2014	Mr. Sloane	Ross
2014	8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown	Himself
2014	Adventure Time	Lumpy Space Prince	Voice; episode: "The Prince Who Wanted Everything"
2014	@midnight	Himself
2014	Gravity Falls	Blind Ivan	Voice; episode: "Society of the Blind Eye"
2014	South Park	Match Commentator	Voice; episode: "Cock Magic"
2015	Doctor Who	Voice of the Fisher King	Voice; episode: "Before the Flood"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice
2003	Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior	Captain Ardias
2013	Lego City Undercover	Forrest Blackwell
2014	Dark Souls II	Mild-Mannered Pate, Male PC Exertion sounds
2014	LittleBigPlanet 3	Dr. Maxim, El Jeff, Papal Mache

Radio

• The 99p Challenge
• Lee and Herring
• Harry Hill's Fruit Corner
• The Two Dannys
• Danny Baker's All Day Breakfast Show
• The Sofa of Time, as the voice of Reamen Bod
• People Like Us
• It Is Rocket Science
• Peter Serafinowicz
• Ninja Tune Solid Steel Radio Show 7 June 2013
• Good Omens, starring as Crowley
• Hitchcock's The Blind Man, as the voice of Alfred Hitchcock

Other

• Hunt the Truth - AI Black-Box

External links

• Peter Serafinowicz at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Peter Serafinowicz on Twitter
• Peter Serafinowicz on Facebook