Louis Theroux
Occupation: Documentary Film Maker, Author, Presenter
Louis Theroux was born in Singapore in 1970 and brought up in Wandsworth, South London. He went to Westminster School and then gained a First Class Honours in History at Oxford University.
On graduating, Louis left Britain to spend some time in America, ending up as a reporter on a local paper in the sprawling city of San Jose, California. "I'm one of the few British people who can honestly say I know the way to San Jose," says Louis. "From Los Angeles, you just go up Highway 5 - it's easy." A year later he went to work for the New York based monthly satirical magazine Spy. In early 1994, Louis heard that filmmaker Michael Moore was looking for a British correspondent for a new TV show, "an international documentary magazine with attitude." Louis ended up doing 16 segments for TV Nation.
At the end of 1995 the BBC signed Louis up to a development deal and a critically acclaimed four-part series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends followed. Weird Weekends - in which Louis investigated subcultures in America and across the world - continued for three series. The scenes of Louis adopting the lifestyle of some of the strangest groups on the fringes of society, including meeting Boer leader Eugene Terre Blanche, becoming a porno actor and wrestling with female bodybuilders, have become some of the most talked-about television of recent years.
In April 2000 the BBC screened the first of Louis' most acclaimed programmes to date, When Louis Met Jimmy, in which he spent several weeks living with the nation's favourite eccentric, Sir Jimmy Savile. Following on from the success of this programme, in 2001 Louis spent time with magician Paul Daniels and his wife Debbie McGee in When Louis Met Paul And Debbie. May 2001 saw Louis win BAFTA’s prestigious Richard Dimbleby Award for the best presenter. Louis finished 2001 with one of the most talked about programmes of the year When Louis Met The Hamiltons in which he had unique access to Neil and Christine Hamilton in the wake of allegations, subsequently disproved, that they had been involved in a serious sexual assault. May 2002 saw him win another BAFTA in the same category, the only person ever to do so.
In early 2002 the BBC screened four more When Louis Met… documentaries; subjects included Chris Eubank, Keith Harris and Orville, Ann Widdecombe and Max Clifford. Later the same year, he was an Executive Producer of the critically lauded documentary series The Entertainers, which looked at the intimate daily lives of some of the nation’s favourite stars of yesteryear, such as Bobby Davro, Tony Blackburn and Leo Sayer.
In 2003, Louis brought out three feature-length documentaries: Louis & The Brothel, Louis & The Nazis, and Louis & Michael Jackson.
THE CALL OF THE WEIRD, based on many of Louis' experiences, was published by Macmillan in Autumn 2005.
Foreign Rights - Abi Fellows
Film & TV Rights - Georgina Capel
Television & Radio, Corporate - Joscelyn Evans