Dylan Moran

Dylan Moran is a comedian, writer, and actor best known for his starring role in the cult British comedy "Black Books." He was born in 1971 in the village of Navan, Ireland. His father was a carpenter, and growing up he attended St. Patrick's Classical School before leaving at the age of 16.

After leaving school, Moran spent a year of his life struggling to find his way before he began to pursue comedy. At the age of 17 Moran found himself unqualified for most work, but he was strongly attracted to the field of comedy, and he began performing stand-up comedy at a local club in 1992. Within a year of his debut, he entered Channel Four's comedy competition at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival and won the comedy newcomer's "So You Think You're Funny" award.

His stand-up show "Gurgling for Money" earned him the Perrier Comedy Award in 1996; at the time, he was the youngest person to ever earn the prize. This quick success led to a nationwide tour of the UK and performances at stand-up festivals across the globe.

Moran entered the television industry when he starred in the British sitcom "How do you want me?" (Channel 4 1998-99) playing Ian Lyons, an urban lad who recently eloped with a country gal (Charlotte Coleman). A year later, he played a thief in the romantic comedy smash "Notting Hill" (1999).

His breakthrough came with the Graham Linehan-penned comedy "Black Books" (Channel 4 2000-04), on which he starred as alcoholic, misanthropic bookstore owner Bernard Black. The critically-acclaimed series lasted three seasons, and its success brought him renewed acclaim as both an actor and a writer, having written six episodes of this series.

Moran returned to his stand-up comedy roots, launching a U.K. tour in 2002 entitled "Ready, Steady, Cough." This was quickly followed by another show, "Dylan Moran: Monster" (2004), which was released on DVD. Although he continued to focus on his stand-up comedy, Moran made occasional appearances in films like Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" (2005), Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead" (2004) and "Good Vibrations" (2012), a 1970s period piece about the Belfast punk scene.