Alex Zane (born Faris Alexander L. Albayaty) is an English television presenter and DJ.

Early and personal life

Zane was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, a course which he left after a year, and then Media and Communications at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

. His father is an academic based in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and his mother a charity worker from Leeds, though a March 2014 interview with the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' reports that "Wikipedia has Zane's real name as Faris Alexander L Albayaty but when I email asking him to clarify this and some other family details his responses are prompt, polite and discreetly uninformative". He bought a house in

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

in 2005, having previously rented in the area. In June 2018, it was reported that he was engaged to Nettie Wakefield following a "whirlwind year-long romance". They separated in 2022 following a five month marriage.

Stand-up comedy and radio

Zane began his career at the age of 18 when he became a finalist on an open-mic competition called ''So You Think You're Funny''. He moved to London to concentrate on his career, and before leaving medical school, he presented "The Alex Zane Show" on UCL's student radio station Rare FM. He also presented on Wired FM, which led to his own show on London alternative/Indie station Xfm. His radio show was heard by

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

producers, who subsequently signed him up to present shows such as ''Screenplay'' and '' TRL''. From April 2007 to April 2009 he presented the weekday breakfast show on Xfm. Zane left Xfm in April 2009, with the station stating that his sudden departure was by "mutual agreement" following a disagreement over a controversial self-created song by Zane. In April 2010 it was announced Alex would jointly present a Friday evening radio show on NME Radio with the creator of the indie club night Propaganda, DJ Dan. The Show launched 30 April and has a 6pm-8pm time slot. The show is presented live and blends Alex and DJ Dan's taste in music with the NME Radio playlist. In 2010 Alex performed at the Edinburgh Festival with his stand-up show 'Just One More Thing...'.

Television presenting

In 2006 Zane was signed by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

under an exclusive contract. He co-presented '' Popworld'' and the accompanying Popworld Radio

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

with

Alexa Chung Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is an English model and television personality. Chung pursued a modelling career as a teenager after being scouted by a modelling agency at the Reading Festival. She has walked for brands such as Vivienne Westw ...

until the programme ended in July 2007. He has narrated an E4 television show, '' Princess Nikki'', and made appearances on Channel 4 entertainment programmes such as ''The Law of the Playground'', ''

8 out of 10 cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'' and '' Balls of Steel''. He presented E4's coverage of Channel 4's hoax reality show '' Space Cadets'', as well as Death Wish Live, the BT Digital Music Awards in 2005 and 2006 and Carling Live 24. He has also presented television coverage of several large scale music events, including the

V Festival V Festival, often referred to as V Fest or simply V, was an annual music festival held in the United Kingdom during the third weekend in August. The event was held at two parks simultaneously which shared the same bill; artists performed at one ...

, and the

Wireless Festival ''Wireless'' Festival is an annual rap and hip-hop music festival that takes place in London, England, which is owned and managed by Live Nation Entertainment, Live Nation. Debuting in 2005, the festival's earlier years primarily featured rock an ...

in London's Hyde Park and more recently Orange Unsigned Act. He presented '' Celebrity Scissorhands'' first on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

, then on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, as part of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

charity campaign in November 2006. He has presented Channel 4's variety show based on YouTube videos, '' Rude Tube'', four times (February 2008, January 2009, January 2010 and October to November 2010). He co-presented the

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

music awards 2008 with Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. He has done promotional presenting work wit
BBC Blast
including a piece o
what creativity means
AlexZane

He had small acting roles in '' Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' (2005), '' Dawn of the Dead'', '' Land of the Dead'' and ''

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse ''The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'' is a 2005 disaster horror comedy film based on the British television series ''The League of Gentlemen''. It is directed by Steve Bendelack at his directorial debut and written by the series' cast alon ...

''. In July 2009, he co-hosted ''Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: A T4 Special'' with Rick Edwards and hosted the Channel 4 coverage of ''

Inglourious Basterds ''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 epic film, epic war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars an ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger ...

''. Between 2008 and 2011 Zane hosted a film show, ''Alex Zane's Guest List'', on Sky Movies Premiere. In early 2010 he appeared with Bill Bailey as a team captain on birdwatching show '' Bill Bailey's Birdwatching Bonanza'' for Sky 1. He is the leading face of

Sky Cinema Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

Writing

Zane has written comedy material for '' The Eleven O'Clock Show'' (

), '' Smack the Pony'' (Channel 4), ''Brain Candy'' (

), and ''

The Sketch Show ''The Sketch Show'' is a British television sketch comedy programme, featuring British comedians. It aired on ITV between 2001 and 2004. The show was first commissioned in 2001 and was co-produced by a company owned by Steve Coogan. Despite t ...

'' (

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

). He also presents some shows on Kerrang! TV. He has been the film reviewer for ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' newspaper since November 2009.

Podcasting

In 2019, he began presenting movie

''Clash of the Titles'', along with Chris Tilly and Vicky Crompton.

References

External links

*
Alex Zane "This is Who I Am" Interview
Heat World, June 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zane, Alex Living people Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Comedians from Leeds DJs from Leeds English male comedians English podcasters English radio personalities English television presenters Mass media people from Leeds People educated at Boston Spa Academy People from Wetherby Year of birth missing (living people)