Anthony Ackroyd is one of Australia’s most successful comedians, speakers and writers.

Before becoming a comedian Anthony worked as a busker, actor, puppeteer, songwriter, musician and was the lead singer in the almost famous rock band Albatross. But it was open mike night at the Sydney Comedy Store that would change his destiny. In his stellar career as a stand up comic he would go on to create laughter live in front of thousands of audiences including 110,000 people at Stadium Australia.

Anthony became a household name as a star of ABC TV’s legendary comedy series The Big Gig and has performed and written for hundreds of Australian and international TV shows, radio programmes, and feature films (he’s even been a question on Wheel Of Fortune!).

Anthony was also a writer-performer on three of Australia’s most successful comedy TV series, Hey Hey It's Saturday, The Comedy Company and Good News Week, and filled the role of head writer at Granada Television. For 25 years he was one of the stars of ABC Radio’s top rating comedy show Thank God It’s Friday!

Anthony’s impersonation of ex-Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has become the stuff of legend and was described by the real ex-PM Bob Hawke as “the funniest and best in the history of Australian political impersonation”.

Anthony has worked throughout Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, South America, the Middle East and Asia. He was chosen as one of six international speakers to be featured at Kuwait’s first ever happiness conference and was a headline speaker at the renowned Happiness & Its Causes conference.

Anthony has workshopped material with writer-performers such as Billy Crystal and Rowan Atkinson, and co-starred in the movie Reckless Kelly with Hugo Weaving and English comic Alexei Sayle. He has also written material for Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura character.

As a clown-doctor Anthony spent years cheering up sick children in the Sydney Children’s Hospital. He is a certified Laughter Group Leader with Laughter Club International. He also worked extensively as a Humour Therapist in aged care facilities helping dementia patients.

Anthony was the creator and Director of the Bowral Of Laughs Comedy Festival, a three year project which showcased the cream of Australian comedy including the staging of the official Graham Kennedy Celebration which honoured one of Australia’s most iconic comedians.

In the business and corporate world Anthony applies his unique talents to uplifting, entertaining and inspiring with his keynote delivery and seminar Stress Less Laugh More. He teaches people how to deliberately and skilfully enjoy, create and express humour and laughter at work and in life in general and reap the rewards. His work in this area was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s website.

The political satire web shows Political Bent and The Ackroyd Retort Anthony wrote and presented were featured on the websites of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today, and The Brisbane Times.

Anthony was a senior teacher at Screenwise Acting School delivering the Comedy course and the Improvisation course. In recognition of his cultural influence Anthony was chosen to be part of a group of prominent Australians recorded for a permanent multi-media installation at the Museum Of Australian Democracy in Canberra.

But wait, there's more! Let’s talk about Anthony’s career as a writer.

Anthony's writing output as a stand up comic has been prolific and much admired. The material he wrote and the characters he created for his hundreds of TV appearances is legendary.

Recognised as a leading authority on the social and cultural impacts of comedy Anthony’s articles on this subject have frequently been printed in leading publications including the Sydney Morning Herald.

Anthony has also written many successful one man shows including Anthony Ackroyd in His Own Little World, Ecstasy and How To Get It, At Last The Truth About Everything, and The Fruit of My Lions.

As well as writing the spoken word content for these shows he also wrote or co-wrote songs for these productions. Over his lifetime he has written over 300 songs for a range of applications.

He also wrote and performed the critically acclaimed comedy monologue "Karma Comedian" for ABC's The Smallest Room in the House. This show detailed with great honesty many aspects of his life to that point and the writing was described by critics as "exquisite" and "profoundly funny and touching".

Anthony's writing skills were recognised at the age of 8 when he won a TV writing competition. He still has the copy of Tasmanian Adventure he was awarded for best short story. He also has the trophy he won at age 15 for coming first in the national Rostrum Voice Of Youth public speaking competition. He wrote a speech that the judges called "of extraordinary quality".

Years later Anthony's love of writing would see him graduate from the University Of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English Literature and European Literature.

He has written for a multitude of TV and film projects. These include the sketch show The Comedy Company and the internet sitcom spin off for Jim Carey's Ace Ventura. His movie scripts have been funded by Screen Australia, and Film NSW.

Anthony's articles, on a range of topics from the nature of comedy to the future of humanity, have appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Vogue, Life Etc., Studio, Eco Magazine, Parenting, Men's Stuff, the Good Weekend and Good Taste.

He developed the series Anthony for the ABC, and he held the position of senior writer at Granada ITV.

He recently became an Amazon No 1 Bestselling Author as co-author of the book Living Beyond Limits.