Louis C.K. was born Louis Szekely on September 12, 1967 in Washington, D.C. He is an Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, producer and director.
C.K. was born in Washington, D.C. to an economist of Mexican Catholic and Hungarian-Jewish descent, and a Harvard-educated mother of Irish Catholic descent. After four years in Mexico City, he grew up in Massachusetts—first Framingham and then, mostly, Newton. His family pronounces their surname, Hungarian-origin Szekely, roughly as , and in his grade-school years he resorted to "C.K." as an easy way to get his name pronounced almost correctly as .
His credits as a writer include Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Dana Carvey Show and the Chris Rock Show. His work for the Chris Rock Show was nominated for an Emmy Award three times, including winning "Best Writing in a Variety or Comedy Series" in 1999. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for his work writing Late Night with Conan O'Brien. However, the feature film born from the Chris Rock sketches, Pootie Tang, received largely negative reviews.
In 2001, C.K. co-wrote the Chris Rock film Down to Earth.
In 2007 he co-wrote the movie I Think I Love My Wife with Chris Rock.
He has also directed and written several short films and feature-length movies. His short films include: "Caesar's Salad," "The Legend of Willie Brown," a jazz mockumentary, "Ice Cream," and six short films on a Showtime sketch comedy show called "Sunny Skies." The feature films that he wrote and directed include: Tomorrow Night, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival among other festivals, and received rave reviews from the L.A. Times, Variety, and New Times L.A. which called it "the best film of the year 2000. However, he is probably best known for directing and writing the feature-length film Pootie Tang, starring a character that he created for The Chris Rock Show.
He has performed his stand-up frequently on shows like Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. In August 2005, C.K. starred in a half-hour HBO special as part of the stand-up series One Night Stand. Most recently his subject matter reflected his frustrations and anxieties from raising his four-year-old daughter. He was ranked #98 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. There was a small controversy about his placement. When '80s prop comic Gallagher was ranked #100 on the list, he angrily remarked "I don't even know who Louis C.K. is!"
In 2006, C.K. starred in his own hour-long HBO special titled Shameless.
On March 1, 2008, Louis recorded his new stand up special Chewed Up that will air on Showtime in October of this year.
In June 2006, he began starring in Lucky Louie, a sitcom he created. The series premiered on HBO. The show was filmed in front of a live studio audience; it was HBO's first series in that format. Lucky Louie is described as a bluntly realistic portrayal of family life. However, HBO cancelled the series after its first season. Louis will also be in Ricky Gervais' upcoming movie This Side Of The Truth.
As a voice actor he portrayed Brendon Small's estranged father, Andrew Small in Home Movies, and appeared numerous times on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.
Louis is a frequent guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show, which also stars his Lucky Louie co-star Jim Norton, and he was a part of Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour with other comedians in 2007.
Louis is also an occasional guest on the Bob and Tom radio show which is a popular showcase for comedians.
Louis frequently works with Robert Smigel on TV Funhouse shorts exclusively to Saturday Night Live, ranging from politics to surrealism. Louis also frequently works with Aaron Augenblick, of Wonder Showzen fame.
Louis started his own YouTube channel, featuring sketches and productions that were part of an HBO presentation that was ultimately rejected.
Currently, C.K. is set to appear in the upcoming films The Better Man, Diminished Capacity and This Side of the Truth.
