Louis Theroux
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| Louis Theroux | |
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| Born | Louis Sebastian Theroux 20 May 1970 Singapore |
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| Residence | Harlesden, London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British-American |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Citizenship | British & American |
| Education | Modern history (1st) |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Broadcaster |
| Known for | Documentaries Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends When Louis Met… |
| Partner | Nancy |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | Paul Theroux & Anne Castle |
| Relatives | Marcel Theroux (brother), Justin Theroux (cousin) |
Louis Sebastian Theroux (born 20 May 1970 in Singapore) is a British broadcaster holding both UK and USA citizenship, best known for his television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met…
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Family
Theroux was born in Singapore, the younger son of the American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux and his British first wife, Anne Castle. His elder brother is the writer and television presenter Marcel Theroux. He is the cousin of American actor Justin Theroux. Brought up in the UK, he holds dual USA-UK citizenship. His surname is of French Canadian provenance and originates from the region around Sarthe and Yonne in France.
[edit] Early life
Theroux was educated at Westminster School (where he was a friend and contemporary of the comedians Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish). He then went to Magdalen College, Oxford where he gained a first class degree in modern history.
[edit] Early career
His first journalism job was at Metro Silicon Valley, an alternative free weekly newspaper in San Jose, California. In 1992 he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine. He got his break in television working as a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series, for which he provided segments on off-beat cultural subjects, including Avon ladies in the Amazon, the Jerusalem syndrome, and the attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand itself as a civil rights group for white people. When TV Nation ended he was signed to a development deal by the BBC, out of which came Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. He has guest-written for a number of publications including Hip-Hop Connection and he continues to write for The Idler.
[edit] Personal life
He lives in the London district of Harlesden with his partner, Nancy, with whom he has two sons, Albert and Frederick.[1]
[edit] Documentaries
[edit] Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends
In Weird Weekends (1998–2000), Louis followed marginal, mostly American subcultures like survivalists, Black nationalists, White supremacists and porn stars, often by living among or close to the people involved. Often, Theroux's documentary method subtly exposes the contradictions or farcical elements of some seriously-held beliefs. Theroux himself describes the aim of the series as
| “ | Setting out to discover the genuinely odd in the most ordinary setting. To me, it's almost a privilege to be welcomed into these communities and to shine a light on them and, maybe, through my enthusiasm, to get people to reveal more of themselves than they may have intended. The show is laughing at me, adrift in their world, as much as at them. I don't have to play up that stuff. I'm not a matinee idol disguised as a nerd. | ” |
[edit] When Louis Met...
In When Louis Met… (2000–2002), Theroux accompanied a different British celebrity in each programme as they went about their day-to-day business, interviewing them about their lives and experiences as he did so. His episode about the DJ and charity fundraiser Sir Jimmy Savile When Louis Met Jimmy was voted one of the top fifty documentaries of all time in a survey by Britain's Channel 4. In When Louis Met the Hamiltons, the disgraced Tory MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine were arrested following false allegations of indecent assault during the course of filming. In When Louis Met Max Clifford, Max Clifford tried to set Louis up. However, it backfired when Max Clifford was caught lying, as the crew was still recording his live microphone during a conversation. After this celebrity series concluded, a retrospective was aired, called Life with Louis.
[edit] Special Episodes
In these special programmes (2003–2006), Theroux returned to American themes, working at feature-length, this time with a more natural tone. One, Louis and the Brothel, takes a sympathetic look at the prostitutes working at a legal brothel in Nevada. Other programmes include Louis and the Nazis, and Louis and Michael, which was notable for Louis offending Michael Jackson's father Joe with a question that implied that Michael Jackson may be a homosexual. In March 2006, he signed a new deal with the BBC to make ten films over the course of three years. [2]
[edit] BBC 2 specials
The first programme in his new series was titled Louis Theroux: Gambling in Las Vegas and followed Louis investigating the high rollers and those who manage casinos in Vegas. Dr Martha Ogman was one of the main characters of the show and as the interviews with her took place it became evident that she was clearly addicted to gambling. Near the end of the programme it was revealed that in just seven years, she had lost in excess of $4 million. All in all Louis was $4,590 up from $3,000 at the end of what he called his "blowout night" playing Baccarat in addition to turning $500 into $700 on his first foray into gambling at the Blackjack tables. As an interesting aside, the money gambled was his own, not part of the production budget.
In the second show, The Most Hated Family in America, which aired on 1 April 2007, he followed members of the highly controversial Westboro Baptist Church, a small family community infamous for strong anti-homosexual beliefs and the picketing of funerals of US soldiers.
The third programme (aired on 7 October 2007), Louis Theroux: Under The Knife, saw Theroux follow patients having cosmetic surgery in California before receiving liposuction himself.
The fourth programme, Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (aired on 13 January 2008), saw Louis immerse himself in San Quentin Prison by exploring the relationships between prisoners and their guards.[3]
The fifth in the series called Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday, aired on 6 April 2008. In this episode, Louis visits South African game, where near-extinct and other African species are bred to be hunted by predominantly American tourists.
The sixth in the series aired on 30 November 2008, entitled Law and Disorder in Philadelphia. In this episode Louis spent some time with the Philadelphia Police Department as they patrolled one of the most dangerous areas of the city. The second part is called "Law and Disorder in Johannesburg" and aired on 7 December 2008, on BBC Two.
The next episode in the series is entitled A Place for Paedophiles and is due to air in April 2009.[4]
[edit] Books
His first book, The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures, was published in Britain in 2005. In this book, Theroux returns to America to find out what has happened in the lives of some of the people he featured in his television programmes since he last saw them.
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Nominated: Outstanding Informational Series for TV Nation
British Academy Television Awards 2001:
- Won: Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for Weird Weekends
2002 Royal Television Society:
- Nominated: Best Presenter for When Louis Met…
British Academy Television Awards 2002:
- Won: Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for When Louis Met…
- Nominated: Flaherty Documentary Award for When Louis Met the Hamiltons
Journalists John Safran and Harmon Leon cite him as an important influence.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Interview timesonline.co.uk
- ^ Theroux promises to raise stakes BBC News
- ^ Rachel Cooke interviews broadcaster and documentary maker Louis Theroux The Observer
- ^ Theroux returns: Off The Telly Off The Telly
[edit] External links
- Louis Theroux Fansite, Wiki and Forum
- Louis Theroux at the Internet Movie Database
- Fansite internettrash.com
- Something weird about Louis Interview by Gyles Brandreth and published by the Telegraph (11 December 2001)
- When Amazon Met Louis Interview with Amazon.com
- Weird & wonderful Interview by Jeremy Taylor for bmi Voyager Magazine (November 2007)
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