Biography - John Oliver

Who is John Oliver?

John Oliver has come a long way from becoming a stand-up comedian to a Television host. Here are the facts to know more about the world's favorite comedian.

John Oliver – Birth, Parents, Siblings

John Oliver was born on 23 April 1977 in Erdington, Birmingham, England, to mother Carole Oliver, a music teacher, and father Jim Oliver, a school headmaster and social worker. His birth name is John William Oliver.

He is not the only child of his parents and has a sibling, a sister, who now lives in Australia. Oliver has several famous names as family members. Stephen Oliver, the composer, was his uncle and Bishop of Ripon and court chaplain to Queen Victoria; William Boyd Carpenter was his paternal great-great-grandfather.

Education, Ethnicity

John Oliver was educated at the Mark Rutherford School, a secondary school located in Bedford. Later, after graduation, he joined Christ's College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1998 with a degree in English.

John Oliver is of mixed ethnicity- English and Irish.

John Oliver – Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Divorce

Oliver first met Kate Norley, an Iraq War veteran who had served as a United States Army medic at the 2008 Republican National Convention. He was there working for The Daily Show while Norley was campaigning with Vets for Freedom.

After about 4 years of dating, he married his longtime girlfriend in an intimate ceremony in October 2011. They have two sons together. Their older son, Hudson, was born in 2015, and his younger son, whose name is not publicized, was born in mid-2018.

Currently, he and his wife are in a blissful marriage without news of extramarital affairs or divorce.

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John Oliver – Career

Early Career

John started as a stand-up comedian. His first recognized appearance was in 2001 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He had appeared as part of The Comedy Zone. 

Back when John Oliver was in Britain, he was working as a panelist on the quiz Mock the Week.

Over the years, he gradually began to appear in several shows. In 2006, John Oliver was interviewed to work on The Daily Show, for which he moved from London to New York. British comedian Ricky Gervais, who had never personally met John but was familiar with his work, recommended The Daily Show to interview John. 

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Stand-up comedy, TV shows

Following the interview, he landed the job as the show's senior British correspondent and a Television appearance the very next day.

Next year, in 2007, he worked again with Zaltzman and began a weekly podcast, The Bugle. As his podcast became famous, he was offered his own stand-up show, John Oliver: Terrifying Times, by Comedy Central in 2008.

He is currently the host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and has been hosting the show since April 2014.

He has also landed roles in movies such as The Love Guru, The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2, and The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow.

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Co-stars

In Wonder Park, Oliver starred alongside actors Neil Patrick Harris, Demi Lovato, Frank Welker, Jonathan Winters, and Hank Azaria. 

John Oliver – Awards, Nominations

He has been awarded numerous awards for his works (2008-2018), including thirteen Primetime Emmy Awards!

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John Oliver – Philanthropy, Nationality

John Oliver’s philanthropy includes one in which he forgave over $15,000,000 of medical debt, which was owed by over 9,000 civilians. He had bought the $60,000 debt and forgave it on the show on 4^th June 2016.

Oliver has dual citizenship. Back when he first came to America in 2006, he was traveling on a visitor's visa.

Now, when he was asked if he had taken the Greed card during an interview, he had said that he had "finally got approved for [his] green card" and comically added that he can "get arrested filming bits for The Daily Show."

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John Oliver – Net Worth, Salary

His net worth has been estimated at around $50 million, while he has been paid $8 million per annum.

John Oliver – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media handles such as Twitter and Facebook, John Oliver is active with millions of followers, but is absent from Instagram.

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