Rowan’s unique brand of humour first achieved notice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1976. As a child Atkinson had a slight speech impediment which lay in sounding the letter ‘b’. He overcame the affliction in his comedic roles by using body language, as did Charlie Chaplin, where most comedians in the latter part of the last century relied solely on dialogue. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face".

After university, Atkinson toured with British comedian Angus Deayton where played his ‘straight man’ in an act that was eventually filmed for a television show. The success of his act brought an offer of his own television show in 1978 but he turned it down in favour of joining the team of comedy show ‘Not the Nine O'Clock News’ which included on the panel American lawyer, turned funny girl and wife of Billy Connolly, Pamela Stephenson, and the British comedy duo Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith.

Following his success on ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ he wrote co-wrote and starred in ‘Black Adder’, ‘Black Adder goes Forth’ and ‘Black Adder II’ which also starred Hugh Laurie of ‘House MD’ fame. The ‘Black Adder’ series was met with mixed reception but eventually became a cult series in the UK and went on to be one of the most successful BBC sit- coms ever.

Rowan Atkinson’s comedy genius went from good to brilliant when he created the character of ‘Mr Bean’ a hapless comical figure who has been likened to the comedy style of Charlie Chaplin. The character was so successful that he was eventually developed into a major motion picture in 1997 with the simple title ‘Bean’.

However, Atkinson's film career had already begun in 1983 with a supporting part in the James Bond movie ‘Never Say Never Again’ which included the star studded cast of Sean Connery, Kim Basinger and Barbara Carrera.

In 1994 Atkinson, landed the role of a verbally bumbling vicar in the low budget blockbuster ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ which saw him starring alongside Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell and Kristin Scott Thomas. That same year saw him featured in Walt Disney's ‘The Lion King’ as Zazu the Hornbill, again with a Hollywood style line up of Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones.

Once again in 2003 Atkinson played a bumbling shop assistant in the Christmas blockbuster ‘Love Actually’ which had him cast again with Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley and Emma Thompson. The movie garnered Nominated for 2 Golden Globe Nominations, another 9 wins & 13 nominations for individual actors.

A sequel, ‘Mr. Bean's Holiday’, was released in August 2007 and is rumoured to be the last time he will play the character. He has also starred in the James Bond parody in 2003 ‘Johnny English’ which also starred the Australian actress Natalie Imbruglia.While starring in the series ‘Black Adder’ Rowan met his wife to be

ABB.