Lenworth George Henry was born on August 29, 1958 in Dudley, West Midlands. He’s been a stand up comedian since 1975. He won a talent show called New Faces when he was sixteen, a show with a panel of judges, which included Arthur Askey, Ted Ray, Mickie Most, Tony Hatch, and Martin Jackson.

He got his big break when he was asked by Michael Grade to participate in a pilot of a television series called The Fosters ( UK version of American sit-com ‘Good Times). During this time he also signed up to do the club tour of the Black and White Minstrels Show. By 1979 Lenny felt the jokes with The Black and White Minstrels were wearing thin, so he quit. From a meeting with his agent at the time, he joined Cannon and Ball on their summer season. By this time he had already started a slot on ITV's Saturday morning quiz show, Tiswas, with Chris Tarrant.

He still continued with his stage work again with Cannon and Ball then later with David Copperfield (UK Comedy actor not the magician!). From this point Lenny along with Copperfield, Tracey Ullman in the show 'Three of a Kind' for three years on BBC TV. It introduced Lenny to larger television audiences and was followed by two series of the hugely successful Lenny Henry Show.

From 1991 until 1999 Lenny worked through his own production company, Crucial Films. Crucial produced shows such as The Real McCoy and Funky Black Shorts. Lenny was the first British comic to make a live stand-up comedy film in the tradition of American comedians, such as Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams. Lenny Henry Live and Unleashed was filmed in front of a live audience at the Hackney Empire and went on general release throughout the UK. Other projects included True Identity and Alive and Kicking which was awarded the Monaco Red Cross and the Golden Nymph Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

1993 the first series of Chef! was shown on BBC1 and starred Lenny as Head Chef Gareth Blackstock. (a character not dissimilar in temperament to Gordon Ramsey!).

Up to the present day Lenny has still been touring and making further series of The Lenny Henry Show. As well as being a co-founder of the Charity 'Comic Relief' and working tirelessly on raising money to help fight poverty in Africa and the UK. Once every 2 years Lenny heads the charity event which is now known as 'Red Nose Day' with a night of comedy and entertainment on BBC. Lenny is sure to host this year’s show and has become a very important figure not just in the world of comedy but also in raising millions of pounds to help the world poorest people. What an amazing guy!

Researched from various sources on the net, Local Comedy Connections accept on responsiblity for the accuracy of this article.