Chris Lilley

A gifted performer with a Peter Sellers-like knack for immersing himself into characters, Chris Lilley was an actor and writer who rose to fame on "mockumentary"-style comedies in his native Australia. Audiences Down Under got their first taste of his talents on the sketch comedies "Big Bite" (Seven Network, 2003-04) and "We Can Be Heroes" (ABC TV, 2005), which served as the launching pad for some of his more popular characters like the vicious schoolgirl Ja'mie King and Mr. G, a deeply deluded drama teacher. Both misguided souls returned for Lilley's successful follow-up, "Summer Heights High" (ABC TV, 2007), which was picked up for syndication by HBO in 2008. The acquisition served as official notice to the rest of the globe as to what Australian TV viewers knew all along - that Chris Lilley was a formidable comic talent on the rise.