Chris Addison was born in Cardiff and spent his formative years in Manchester, where he attended the prestigious Manchester Grammar School before furthering his education at the University of Birmingham.
Following his graduation in 1994, Addison initially shelved his ambitions to direct theatre and instead drifted into stand-up comedy, a career path that eventually became his full-time occupation in 1996.
Throughout his stand-up career, Addison wrote and performed eight one-man shows at the Edinburgh Festival, garnering two Perrier Award nominations and later adapting two of these shows, 'The Ape That Got Lucky' and 'Civilization', into series for BBC Radio.
In 2005, Addison transitioned into acting, landing the role of Ollie Reeder in Armando Iannucci's BBC sitcom The Thick of It, a part that would launch his successful television career.
Subsequent roles have included David Blood, a Cameron-esque evil headmaster, in three series of Skins, as well as appearances in Doctor Who and the film The Look of Love, in which he played the character of Tony Power, a hard-living porn Svengali.
In 2016, Addison took on the spoken role of Smith in Emanuel Chabrier's opera 'L'Étoile' at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
As a director, Addison made his debut during the final series of The Thick of It in 2005 and went on to direct numerous episodes of HBO's Veep, earning the Directors Guild of America Award in 2016 and an Emmy nomination.
In addition to his work in television, Addison has co-created two sitcoms, Lab Rats and Trying Again, both of which he starred in.
As a published author, Addison has written two books, 'Cautionary Tales for Grown-Ups', a collection of comic verse, and 'It Wasn't Me', a book of grumpy complaint.
