Born in London and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Matt Lucas lost his hair at the age of six, giving him a distinctive look from an early age.

He was a member of both the National Youth Music Theatre and the National Youth Theatre, where he met comedy partner David Walliams, and both went on to study drama at the University of Bristol.

He began his career in comedy on the stand-up circuit as character act Sir Bernard Chumley, an aging luvvie actor, which he took to the Edinburgh Festival and who later resurfaced in Little Britain

In 1992, Bob Mortimer spotted him on a comedy club stage and recruited him to appear in the second series of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. He then went on to be the giant baby George Dawes, who kept score on Reeves and Mortimer's cult quiz show Shooting Stars.

But he is best known for his partnership with David Walliams, which started in earnest with the 1999 UK Play series Rock Profile. They recorded their first of two series of Little Britain for Radio 4 in 2001, and it transferred onto BBC Three in 2003.

In 2002, he played Leigh Bowery in Boy George's musical Taboo in London,and in 2005, he took his first role in a TV drama, playing a Venetian duke in the BBC's Casanova.