Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on the 6th January, 1955 in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, to Ella May and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm where he grew up with his two older brothers, Rupert & Rodney. He attended Newcastle University and Oxford university where he earned degrees in electrical engineering. During that time, he met screenwriter Richard Curtis, with whom he wrote and performed comedy revues.

Later, he co-wrote and appeared in Not the Nine O'Clock News, which was a huge success and spawned several best-selling books. It won an International Emmy Award and the British Academy Award for "Best Light Entertainment Programme of 1980". He won the "British Academy Award" and was named "BBC Personality of the Year" for his performing on Not the Nine O'Clock News.

Atkinson also appeared in several movies, including Dead on Time, Pleasure at Her Majesty's (aka "Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe"), Never Say Never Again and The Tall Guy. He played "Mr. Bean" in the TV series, Mr. Bean but, apart from that and Not the Nine O'Clock News, he also appeared in several other series like The Black Adder and Funny Business, etc.

Atkinson enjoys nothing better than fast cars. He has been married to Sunetra Sastry since 1990 and they have two children, named Benjamin and Lily.
Has two children with Sunetra Sastry: Lily and Benjamin. Rides go-karts round his tennis courts and, according to Stephen Fry (his best man), "hasn't got an ounce of showbiz in him". Has an HGV license. Owns various fast cars (Aston Martin Vantages, etc.). Writes articles for CAR (a British car magazine). Education: Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK (electrical engineering); Oxford University, Oxford, UK (electrical engineering) Races (and also crashes) his Aston Martins in the Aston Martins Owners club series. His wife, Sunetra Sastry, is a make-up artist. Attended Cathedral Chorister School, Durham with Tony Blair. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1982 for the 1981 season. Once crashed his MacLaren F1, a supercar valued at more than $1,000,000, into the back of a stationary Mini Metro, valued at around $600. The damage was not severe. He was one of the guests at Prince Charles's and Camilla Parker-Bowles' wedding. Has publicly opposed the British Labour government's plans to introduce new legislation on incitement to racial hatred, arguing that it would undermine free speech and thought (even citing the possible development of mind-reading technology), and that such measures would make political satire - which he considers seminal in a democracy - unworkable.