How The Office creator Stephen Merchant used his nerdy comic charm to become a Hollywood babe magnet worth millions
HE is the 6ft 7in former geek who turned himself into a Hollywood babe magnet worth millions.
At 45, comedy genius Stephen Merchant has gone from camera-shy co-creator of The Office to heart-throb A-lister who has dated a string of stunning movie stars.
He is currently living with Maxim magazine cover girl Mircea Monroe, and his ex girlfriends include actresses Christine Marzano, Rose Byrne and Hayley Atwell.
The bespectacled actor is worth an estimated £40million, has directed two movies and he bought Ellen DeGeneres’ modernist Hollywood pad.
Not bad for the Bristol-born son of a plumber and a community service officer.
Stephen, whose latest film Jojo Rabbit is out tomorrow, has admitted: “I was a teenage geek. I wore glasses. I was socially awkward. I collected comic books. For a while I took to wearing a bow tie — couldn’t understand why I didn’t have a girlfriend.”
But he has since found out his nerdy comic charm works on women.
First he was seen out with Australian Rose, then he was linked to Marvel beauty Hayley and for three years he dated Christine.
Now Stephen appears to be settling down with model-turned-actress Mircea, who he met at a pre-awards ceremony in LA in 2017.
Mircea, 37, best known for the Matt LeBlanc sitcom Episodes, has appeared in several steamy movies and has not been afraid to strip.
Stephen, who admits he did a lot of dating in LA before meeting Mircea, said of his girlfriend: “Aside from the fact that she’s great, hitting 40, there’s something very pleasing about not having the endless concern about filling that part of your life.
“The life of a single person is a very lonely life. There’s a lot of nights where you’re watching DVDs on your own.”
Stephen stayed out of the limelight when The Office became a global success in the early 2000s. But he is now more likely to be found starring in a major drama than his old pal and writing partner Ricky Gervais.
While Ricky has stuck to comic roles and rarely alters his look, Stephen has become a chameleon, able to transform himself into different characters.
He will be playing a Nazi in Golden Globe-nominated comic drama Jojo Rabbit, alongside Scarlett Johansson, and he will portray a gay serial killer in a BBC true life series.
In his younger years, Stephen was obsessed with Fawlty Towers, James Bond and music. He was such a trivia nut at school that he even got on TV quiz Blockbusters.
He would watch classic comedies such as Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em and write up the scripts.
Unfortunately, his knowledge of popular culture was a turn-off for the opposite sex.
Stephen said: “As my ability to recall pointlessly obscure film, TV and music trivia increased, so my ability to talk to the opposite sex diminished until I wondered if I’d ever talk to a girl again.”
But rather than trying to hide his tall frame, he decided it was better to make a big impression.
Stephen said: “Trying to be funny or doing school plays was a way of taking ownership or standing out.
“I felt a bit awkward because I was 6ft 7in, even from a young age.”
Years spent writing stories, making his own comics and volunteering on local radio would later pay off.
He met Ricky in 1997, when Gervais was Head of Speech at London radio station Xfm and hired him as his assistant.
The pairing took off and four years later they convinced the BBC to commission their breakthrough sitcom The Office. It won several awards, including three Baftas and one Golden Globe.
In the early years of The Office’s success the spotlight fell on Ricky because he played lead character David Brent, while directing duties meant Stephen only had a walk-on part as the Oggmonster.
Roles in Hollywood comedies such as 2010’s The Tooth Fairy, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I Give It A Year in 2013 with Rose Byrne and his own HBO comedy series Hello Ladies led to a greater profile in the US.
He also demonstrated he could act tough by playing a “freakish mutant” alongside Hugh Jackman in superhero movie Logan in 2017.
Both of Stephen’s latest projects are sure to attract even more attention.
Disney’s Jojo Rabbit has faced flak for portraying Adolf Hitler as the amusing imaginary friend of a German schoolboy. The film has split the critics, earning a number of Golden Globe award nominations at the same time as receiving negative reviews.
Stephen, who is Captain Herman Deertz of the Falkenheim Gestapo, has defended the movie by Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.
He said: “The film might ruffle some feathers.
“But I hope people will see it’s also quite a beautiful, timely story about a boy learning to think for himself, to not swallow hook, line and sinker what he’s been told but to question what he sees happening.”
Stephen has had experience of politically correct commentators knocking his work.
The Office was accused of belittling disabled people and Life’s Too Short of making fun of dwarfism. He believes Jojo Rabbit draws attention to the return of fascism today, with people still following dictators just like many Germans supported Hitler during World War Two.
Stephen said: “There’s a sense of how people can be swept up by, for lack of a better word, bulls**t.
“It’s something still resonating right now.
“We still see people all over the world being swept up in these things, especially when there’s a uniform and an identity involved, so it seems well worth satirising.”
While his character in Jojo Rabbit has a typically comic edge, Stephen’s other big drama is a major departure for him.
Three-part BBC series Four Lives, whose title has changed from The Barking Murders, will be a very dark watch.
He plays Grindr dating app murderer Stephen Port, who gave his male victims fatal doses of the drug GHB before raping them in Barking, East London, from 2014 to 2015.
The story tells how the police bungled the investigation, allowing Port to repeatedly kill.
Stephen said: “This is a story that can’t be ignored, how four young lives were lost and their families’ brave attempt to uncover what happened.”
Sheridan Smith plays Sarah Sak, the mother of Port’s first victim Anthony Walgate. She would not accept the original police verdict that her son had died of a drug overdose because Port kept changing his version of events.
The drama is sure to change people’s perceptions of joker Stephen, just as his view of himself has shifted over the years.
In the past he has complained about strangers making jokes about his height.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
These days, and with greater self confidence, he seems to be more relaxed about being unusually tall.
He jokingly calls himself a “leggy blonde” on his Twitter page, and says his height, glasses and “slightly weird features” are a “superpower”.
He has said: “If only I had realised being tall is regarded as an asset. I should’ve embraced it.”
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk