Christopher Barrie Biography

CHRIS BARRIE

Birth Name: Christopher Jonathan Barrie

Date of Birth: March 28, 1960

Born in Hanover, West Germany to a military father, Barrie did not have a paved route to becoming one of Britain's most famed television personality comics in the '90s. Barrie received his education in Northern Ireland and boarded at a Methodist school in Belfast.

Although he showed promise early, by the end of his schooling, his marks fell short and instead of secondary school, he decided to work at a graveyard.

When opportunity arose, he decided to continue his education by taking a Business Studies course. Finding the course too much, he soon quit and told his parents he wanted to become an actor.

While working with a drama group and playing the lead in such plays as Dial M for Murder, he worked at various jobs to pay the rent.

While working at a sports store, he got fired for his impersonations of his superiors, and turned to his couch and cricket to pass the time.

After getting a job driving a van and making a number of delivery mistakes, he decided to start working as a stand up comic and did the comedy circuit which included The Comedy Store.

This work garnered some notice and before long he was a guest on the Dave Essex Show.

The show was a boost into gigs on such comedy shows as Spitting Image, using his talented voice for various characters, and Son of Cleche. In the late '80s, he auditioned for the spoof sci-fi series Red Dwarf for the character of Lister.

However, the casting director had different ideas and Barrie became the love-to-be-hated hologram, Rimmer.

Red Dwarf became a great success, filming for more than eight seasons and a feature film early in the new millennium.

Barrie took advantage of his new found fame and landed more starring roles on other television series like The Brittas Empire and A Prince Among Men. He continued his successful run into the new millennium with his first feature film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, playing the daring treasure hunter Lara Croft's trusty butler.

He returned to the role for the sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003).

Red Dwarf: The Movie (2002)
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)