Sir Lenny Henry has risen from being a cult star on children’s television to becoming one of Britain’s best-known comedians, as well as a writer, philanthropist and award-winning actor. In recent years Henry has starred in The Comedy of Errors at The National, Fences at the Duchess Theatre, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at The Donmar and most recently, August Wilson’s King Hedley II at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2019. Henry’s television credits include Broadchurch, The Syndicate, The Long Song and his biographic Danny and The Human Zoo. Henry’s production company, Douglas Road, has achieved success in partnership with Burning Bright on the recently acclaimed The Commonwealth Kid documentary and has a host of other programs in the pipeline.
As a co-founder of Comic Relief, Henry was delighted to announce this year that the British Public has donated
Sir Lenny Henry has risen from being a cult star on children’s television to becoming one of Britain’s best-known comedians, as well as a writer, philanthropist and award-winning actor. In recent years Henry has starred in The Comedy of Errors at The National, Fences at the Duchess Theatre, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at The Donmar and most recently, August Wilson’s King Hedley II at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2019. Henry’s television credits include Broadchurch, The Syndicate, The Long Song and his biographic Danny and The Human Zoo. Henry’s production company, Douglas Road, has achieved success in partnership with Burning Bright on the recently acclaimed The Commonwealth Kid documentary and has a host of other programs in the pipeline.
As a co-founder of Comic Relief, Henry was delighted to announce this year that the British Public has donated over £1billion to Comic Relief over the last 30 years. Henry is a strong advocate for diversity, taking his work on the subject to Cannes to deliver the Keynote speech launching the idea of offering tax breaks for diversity, as well as talks given in Rome to the global TV and film insider audience. Baroness Doreen Lawrence chose Henry to interview three beneficiaries of the Stephen Lawrence trust at his memorial in 2018. Henry recently released his memoir Who Am I Again? in October 2019. He has been a Trustee of the National Theatre since February 2016.
