Russell Peters
File:RP OUTFIT 3 0397 clean - medium.jpg Russell Peters in 2009
Birth name	Russell Dominic Peters
Born	(1970-09-29) September 29, 1970 (age 53) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Medium	stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	Canadian
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Satire, Improvisational comedy, Observational comedy
Subject(s)	racism, race relations, stereotypes, multiculturalism, Indian culture
Spouse	Monica Diaz (2010–present) 1 child
Signature
Website	RussellPeters.com

Russell Dominic Peters^[3] (born September 29, 1970)^[4] is a Canadian comedian and actor. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and has been nominated for four Gemini Awards.

Early life

Russell Peters was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada to Eric and Maureen Peters. His family is of Anglo-Indian ancestry and is Catholic.^[5] His father was born in Bombay, India and worked as a federal meat inspector and his mother was born in Calcutta, India. He has an older brother named Clayton who was born in Calcutta.^[6]

He went to Georges Vanier Catholic Elementary School from kindergarten to grade 8, Chinguacousy Secondary School for grades 9–10, and Bramalea Secondary School for grades 11–12 in Brampton.^[7][8][9]

Career

Peters began performing in Toronto in 1989.^[3]Kboobsong]], Singapore, Denmark, South Africa, the Caribbean, Vietnam, New Zealand, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Sweden, India, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Norway , Lebanon, London, Pakistan and Trinidad among other places.

He hosted the Canada Day Comedy Festival 2006. His comedy special Russell Peters: Outsourced, aired on Comedy Central on August 16, 2006. The DVD version features his uncensored performance. The DVD has been popular, especially in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies. Outsourced remained on the National DVD Chart over one and a half years after release.

In September 2008, it was confirmed that Peters made a deal with Fox to develop a new sitcom, based on his experience in Canada. Peters says, "It's really a snapshot of where my family maybe was ten years ago" and he ensures that the sitcom is "Something that will be funny and honest."^[10][11] Peters participated in a USO tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Africa and Greenland in November 2007 with Wilmer Valderrama and Mayra Veronica.^[12] Peters' latest DVD/CD combo Russell Peters: Red, White, and Brown was recorded on February 2, 2008, at The WAMU Theatre at Madison Square Garden. Peters and his brother, Clayton Peters, who is also his manager, self-produced and financed Red, White and Brown. It was released in Canada in September 2008 and in the US on January 27, 2009. Peters also currently produces and stars on the radio situation comedy series, Monsoon House, on CBC Radio One.

Peters was the host of the 2008 Juno Awards televised ceremonies in Calgary on April 6, 2008,^[13] for which he won a Gemini Award for "Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series". The 2008 awards broadcast received the second-highest ratings ever for the program. He was asked to host the Juno Awards for a second year in a row. The 2009 Juno Awards took place in Vancouver on March 29, 2009.

Between June 2008 and June 2009, Peters earned $10 million, making him one of the highest-paid comedians during that twelve-month period.^[14]

Between June 2009 and June 2010, Peters earned $15 million, continuing his run as one of the highest-paid comedians.^[15]

On October 26, 2010, Peters released his autobiography, Call me Russell, co - written with his brother Clayton and Dannis Koromilas.

Popularity

Peters' popularity extends to several countries. In Canada, Peters became the first comedian to sell out Toronto's Air Canada Centre,^[16] with more than 15,000 tickets in two days for the single show. He ended up selling over 30,000 tickets nationally over the two-day sales period. A total of over 60,000 tickets were sold across six cities.^{[citation needed]} In Sydney, Peters had a record breaking audience of 13,880, making the event the largest stand-up comedy show in Australian history^{[citation needed]} Peters attributes his sudden widespread popularity to a stand-up performance he did on the Canadian TV comedy series Comedy Now! that was uploaded onto YouTube and became viral.^[17] While the initial video upload featured his performance in its 45 minute entirety, subsequent videos uploaded by other YouTube users were snippets of that performance, chopped into each of the cultural groups he targeted. According to Peters, those snippets made their way to those specified cultural groups, and were well received by them.^[18]

Comedy

Russell Peters' stand-up performances are mostly made up of observational comedy where he uses humour to poke fun at the subjects of race, class and culture, often using his own life experiences as well as impersonations of different cultural accents to illustrate his act.^[19] Russell Peters uses his minority status to allow him to poke fun at different races in his performance, but according to a interview done for The National (CBC), he does not intend to put down or offend different races and cultures, but instead tries to raise them up through humour.^[20]

Personal life

Peters proposed to girlfriend Monica Diaz on July 10, 2010 at the Los Angeles International Airport. He announced the engagement via Twitter.^[21][22] The couple married on August 20, 2010 at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The wedding was attended by about 20 guests, including an Elvis impersonator. Peters and Diaz had their first child, a girl, due February 23, 2011. When announcing the pregnancy, Peters told The Canadian Press, "Did I get married because she was knocked up? I would say that expedited it." His daughter was born two and a half months early,on December 14, 2010, but was healthy as Peters stated on his Twitter. She was given the name Crystianna Marie Peters.^[23]

Awards and recognition

He has been nominated for four Gemini Awards,^[24] the Canadian television awards. He has also been nominated for Best Male Comic at the Canadian Comedy Awards.^{[citation needed]} Peters has been featured at such shows as Montreal's Just for Laughs (Juste pour rire) Comedy Festival, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival.

• 1997 – Nomination for the Gemini Award in the category "Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series". This was for Show Me The Funny, from the TV-series Comics! (1997)^[25]
• 2004 – Nomination for a Gemini Award for his Comedy Now! special.
• 2008 – Nomination for a Gemini Award for hosting The Junos.
• 2008 – Winner of a Gemini Award for 'Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series'.

Filmography

Notable roles played

Peters has appeared in a few films, most recently Senior Skip Day also starring Larry Miller, Tara Reid, and Gary Lundy. Besides this, he has also had short appearances in the 1994 film Boozecan as Snake's Friend, the 1999 film Tiger Claws III as Detective Elliott, the 2004 film My Baby's Daddy as the obstetrician, the 2006 film Quarter Life Crisis as Dilip Kumar, the 2007 film The Take as Dr. Sharma, and the 2008 film Senior Skip Day as Uncle Todd.

Peters is scheduled to star as "Pervius" in National Lampoon's The Legend of Awesomest Maximus he is also going to appear in a CBC movie entitled 'Breakaway'. He also acted in Duncan Jones' movie Source Code as Max, an amateur comedian with a bad attitude.

Acting roles – television

• "Comics Without Borders" (2008)
• Russell Peters: Red, White and Brown (2008)
• Senior Skip Day/High School's Day Off (Australia title) (2008)- Uncle Todd

Appearances on television

• "Lopez Tonight" - Himself (February 2, 2010)
• "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" – Himself (2009)
• "The 9th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards" (2008)- Himself (Winner – Best Large Venue Stand-up)
• "CBC News: The Hour" .... Himself – Episode dated 18 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
• "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" – Himself – Episode dated 15 February 2008 (2008)
• "Def Comedy Jam" – Episode #8.4 (2008) TV episode – Himself/Comedian
• "Pulse: The Desi Beat" – Episode #1.9 (2007) TV episode – Himself
• "Video on Trial" – Episode #3.3 (2007) TV episode – Himself
• "Comics Unleashed" – Episode #1.6 (2009) TV episode- Himself
• The 4th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards (2003) – Himself
• The 5th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards (2004) – Nominee (Male Stand-up)
• MTV Cribs

Self

• Heckler (2007)
• Let's All Hate Toronto (2007)^[27]

References

External links

• Official website
• Russell Peters on Twitter
• Russell Peters at Facebook
• Template:MySpace
• Russell Peters at IMDb
• Russell Peters talks about being an MMA/UFC fan

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