James Kimberley Corden[1] (born 22 August 1978[2]) is an English actor, comedian, writer, producer, singer, and former television host.

Originally airing from 2007 to 2010, Corden co-wrote and co-starred with Welsh actress Ruth Jones in Gavin & Stacey, for which he won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy Performance.

Corden has acted in films, including Gulliver's Travels (2010), Kill Your Friends (2015), and Peter Rabbit (2018) and its 2021 sequel (in which he voiced the title character).

[23] The show ran for only one series and was poorly received by the critics, with Corden later admitting "the absolute truth is I wasn't good enough.

That year he played Clem Cattini in the Joe Meek biopic Telstar, and likewise in the animated Planet 51 along with Mathew Horne.

[25] In March 2009, he appeared in a sketch for the UK charity telethon Comic Relief giving the England football team a motivational talk, and later presented a section with Horne showing their best bits of comedy from the previous two years along with highlights from the night.

[23] In March 2010, Corden began hosting the Sky 1 comedy/sports panel show A League of Their Own alongside team captains Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp.

[28][29] In March 2010, Corden took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London.

In March, Corden reprised his Gavin & Stacey role as Smithy in a Red Nose Day sketch for the charity telethon Comic Relief.

The sketch included appearances by then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, JLS, Paul McCartney, and Justin Bieber.

The show also saw the first appearance of his Carpool Karaoke sketch, which saw him singing songs with pop star George Michael while driving around London.

[39] Corden made a cameo appearance in the music video for the single "Mama Do the Hump" by Rizzle Kicks, released in December 2011, which reached No.

[48] Corden's Carpool Karaoke through the streets of London with pop singer Adele, a sketch that was featured on his talk show in January 2016, was the biggest YouTube viral video of 2016.

[49] Corden did numerous editions of Carpool Karaoke with singers such as Sir Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Harry Styles, and Katy Perry.

The special ended with McCartney and his band surprising a small group of locals at Liverpool's Philharmonic Pub with a 13-song set that included "A Hard Day's Night", "Back in the U.S.S.R" and his new single, "Come On to Me".

[60][61] In 2019, Corden starred in Tom Hooper's feature film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular musical Cats as Bustopher Jones,[62] which received widespread negative attention.

Some critics called it one of the worst films of the year due to its poorly conceived CGI and off kilter comedic performances from Rebel Wilson and Corden.

[66] Corden's leading role in the 2020 musical comedy film The Prom received negative reviews, and was named "one of the worst performances of the 21st century" by Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson.

[67][68][69] Lawson elaborated writing, "Corden, flitting and lisping around in the most uninspired of caricatures, misses all potential for nuance, and thus never finds even a hint of truth in the role".

[70] Corden received an even larger amount of backlash when this performance earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Film.

[74] On 20 March 2024, it was announced that Corden would make his return to theatre starring as Alec in a new political drama by Joe Penhall called The Constituent opposite Anna Maxwell Martin and directed by Matthew Warchus.

[75] Once again teaming up with Ruth Jones, together they wrote and starred in the final episode of Gavin & Stacey airing on Christmas Day 2024 on BBC One, 17 years after the show was first broadcast.

Corden has said that his comedy influences are Graham Norton, Chris Evans, Jonathan Ross,[76] Conan O'Brien,[77] David Letterman,[78] and Stephen Colbert.

[87] Corden traced his life’s ups and downs very frankly on the BBC radio show Desert Island Discs[88] in September 2012 in which he discussed his controversial acceptance speech after receiving a Tony Award that year.

[97] In 2022, Corden was banned from New York restaurant Balthazar by proprietor Keith McNally, after reportedly being "abusive" and "extremely nasty" to staff.