Stephen James Merchant is a comedian, actor and writer with an estimated net worth of $35 million. Merchant was born in Bristol, England in 1974, he met his comedy partner Ricky Gervais in 1997 and success was soon to follow.

His first big hit was The Office, which was co-directed and co-written by Merchant and Gervais; The Office hit screens for the first time in 2001 to rave reviews but relatively low viewer numbers.

Nevertheless The Office ran for 2 series and is widely regarded as one of the best Sitcoms in recent times. In 2005 they teamed up together once again to pen Extras, a sitcom following a down-and-out actor which became famous for cameos from famous actors such as Ross Kemp and Orlando Bloom.

Extras enjoyed fantastic success and ratings, running for a total of 2 series. After a successful stint hosting his own radio show, The Steve Show, Merchant went on to appear in a number of films such as Hot Fuzz and Run Fatboy Run. He even lent his voice to the hit puzzle video game, Portal 2 for which he won 2 awards.