John Oliver: everything you need to know about the richest comedian born in Birmingham

Comedian John Oliver, 45, has won 17 Primetime Emmys and has been nominated 23 times. Born in Birmingham, his Hollywood dream began when he auditioned for The Daily Show in 2006.

He was hired as the Senior British Correspondent for Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Oliver won his first three Emmys for his writing for The Daily Show - with which he stayed for seven years. It also led to other TV and film projects for him. For instance, he played Dr. Ian Duncan, a psychology professor at Greendale Community College, in the American sitcom Community.

Since then, he has lent his voice for several popular animated films and shows like The Smurfs, The Lion King, Rick and Morty, and more.

However, his big break came after he guest-hosted for Stewart in 2013. He was offered his own show at HBO. He became the host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in 2014 and has been winning several awards for it.

In 2022, he won two Emmy awards, Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series and Outstanding Variety Talk Series. He was competing against the likes of Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and others.

Where did John Oliver grow up?

John Oliver was born in Erdington, Birmingham but his family moved to Bedford - where he studied at the Mark Rutherford School. The comedian’s father was from Wirral and his mother was from Liverpool. He comes from a talented and creative family as his uncle was the music composer Stephen Oliver known for his operas.

Marriage and kids

Oliver is married to Kate Norley, a former actress and executive, who joined the US Army after the 9/11 attack. She is a U.S. Armed Forces veteran. They have been married since 2011 and have two sons.

They met in 2008 at the Republic National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was working Vets for Freedom and he was attending as the Senior British Correspondent from The Daily Show. According to The Daily Beast, she saved him when security tried to question him about his temporary work visa. He was saved from the being deported because of her as she and a group of veterans hid him.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Oliver’s net worth is around estimated at $30M (£25 million) - making him the richest comedian from Birmingham.