Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Stephen Ross is an English broadcaster, television personality, comedian, and writer born on 17 November 1960. He is widely recognized for hosting television comedy chat shows, including the BBC's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show. Over his career, Ross has worked extensively across television and radio, as well as in film criticism and writing.

Ross was born in St Pancras, north London, and raised in Leytonstone, east London, alongside four brothers and one sister. His mother, actress Martha Ross, put her children forward for roles in television commercials, leading to Ross appearing in advertisements for Kellogg's Rice Krispies in 1970 and Persil. He was educated at Norlington School for Boys and Leyton County High School for Boys before studying at Southampton College of Art and earning a degree in Modern European History from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London.

Ross began his professional television career working behind the scenes as a researcher on programmes such as Loose Talk and Solid Soul. In 1987, he co-founded the production company Channel X with Alan Marke and launched the Channel 4 chat show The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross, serving as its presenter through 1988. Following this breakthrough, he hosted documentary series such as The Incredibly Strange Film Show and Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Ross expanded his presence in British media. He served as a regular panellist on the sports quiz show They Think It's All Over from 1999 to 2005 and presented the annual British Comedy Awards for most years between 1991 and 2014. In 1999, he became the host of the BBC's long-running cinema review programme Film..., continuing in the role until 2010. He also presented a popular Saturday morning radio show on BBC Radio 2 from 1999 to 2010.

From 2001 to 2010, Ross presented the BBC One comedy chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, for which he won three British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance. His television work during this period included hosting coverage for major charity events like Live 8 and Live Earth, as well as presenting culture series such as Japanorama and Comics Britannia.

Since 2011, Ross has hosted ITV's chat show The Jonathan Ross Show. His recent television projects include judging on the musical competition The Masked Singer and its spin-off The Masked Dancer, alongside competing on the reality series The Celebrity Traitors in 2025. Outside television, Ross published his semi-autobiographical book Why Do I Say These Things? in 2008 and authored the comic books Turf and America's Got Powers. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005 and received a Special Recognition award at the National Television Awards in 2012.