Tony Slattery

Tony Slattery
Slattery (right) taking a break from playing Sidney Snell in Kingdom.
Born	Anthony Declan James Slattery (1959-11-09) 9 November 1959 (age 57) Stonebridge, London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor/comedian
Years active	1982–present

Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery (born 9 November 1959), is an English actor and comedian. He has appeared on British television regularly since the mid-1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? His serious and comedic film work has included roles in The Crying Game, Peter's Friends, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.

Slattery was born in Stonebridge, London, into a working-class background, the fifth and last child of Irish immigrants, Michael and Margaret Slattery. He was much younger than his sister, Marlene, and his triplet brothers, Christopher, Michael and Stephen, and he tended to be a loner.

In his youth, Slattery represented England in under-15 judo, achieving a black belt before he was 16. He was educated at Gunnersbury Boys' Grammar School in west London and won a scholarship to study Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in French literature and Spanish poetry.

At the University of Cambridge, Slattery discovered a love of the theatre, taking delight in making people laugh. He met Stephen Fry, who invited him to join the Cambridge Footlights. Other members at that time included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Sandi Toksvig and Richard Vranch.

In 1981, Slattery, Fry, Laurie, Thompson and Toksvig won the inaugural Perrier Award for their revue The Cellar Tapes. The following year, Slattery was made President of the Footlights. During his tenure, the touring annual revue was Premises Premises.