After a troubled childhood and adolescence, during which he was expelled from two schools and spent three months in prison for credit card fraud, Stephen Fry secured a place at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature. While at university, Fry became involved with the Cambridge Footlights, where he met his long-time collaborator Hugh Laurie. As half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in "A Bit of Fry & Laurie", and took the role of Jeeves (with Laurie playing Wooster) in "Jeeves and Wooster".
In 1984 Fry was engaged to do the rewrite of the Noel Gay musical "Me and My Girl", which made him a millionaire before the age of 30. It also earned him a nomination for a Tony award in 1987. Throughout the 1980s Fry did a huge amount of television and radio work, as well as writing for newspapers (he had a weekly column in the "Daily Telegraph") and magazines (articles for "Arena").
Now considered a "national treasure", and well-loved for his numerous television and film roles, Fry is perhaps best known for his television roles in "Blackadder II" (1986) and the aforementioned "Jeeves and Wooster" (1990). More recently, in 2003 Fry began hosting QI (Quite Interesting), a comedy panel television quiz show. QI has the highest viewing figures for any show on BBC Four and Dave. In 2006, Fry won the Rose d'Or award for "Best Game Show Host" for his work on the series.
Outside of his regular television appearances, Fry is the president of the mental health charity "Mind", raising awareness for and alleviating the social stigma around, mental health issues, of which he has personal experience. He is also the voice of a collection of audio books, including the Harry Potter series and some of his own publications. The Liar (1991), Fry's first novel, stayed on the bestseller list for several months. Fry has since written three further novels, several non-fiction works and three volumes of autobiography.
