Early Life
Born in Merton, southwest London, on 20 August 1971 to Peter, a London Transport engineer, and Kathleen Williams, a lab technician, Williams was brought up in Banstead, Surrey. His parents appeared on The Friday Night Project when he was the guest star on the show.
Williams was educated at Collingwood Boys' School in Wallington (now Collingwood School) and the independent Reigate Grammar School (where he was a contemporary of Robert Shearman). He was a member of the National Youth Theatre, where he met Matt Lucas. Walliams studied drama at the University of Bristol from 1989 to 1992, one year below Simon Pegg.
Williams changed his name to Walliams ( /ˈwæliəmz/) when he joined the actors' trade union Equity, as there was already a member named David Williams. This was spoofed in a mock interview on Rock Profile, when Robbie Williams was continuously referred to as "Robbie Walliams".
Read more about this topic: David Walliams
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“An early dew woos the half-opened flowers”
—Unknown. The Thousand and One Nights.
AWP. Anthology of World Poetry, An. Mark Van Doren, ed. (Rev. and enl. Ed., 1936)
“Being so wrong about her makes me wonder now how often I am utterly wrong about myself. And how wrong she might have been about her mother, how wrong he might have been about his father, how much of family life is a vast web of misunderstandings, a tinted and touched-up family portrait, an accurate representation of fact that leaves out only the essential truth.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)