Ant (born Anthony Steven Kalloniatis; August 23, 1967) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and actor. He was born as 'Anthony Kalloniatis', but later legally changed his name to 'Ant' in 1993.ANT v Anthony McPartlin et al. – Document 132
Justia US Law

Early life

Ant was born Anthony Steven Kalloniatis on August 23, 1967, in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In 1993, he legally changed his name to 'Ant'.

Career

Ant performed at comedy clubs across the US beginning in 1991. In 1995, he was a semi-regular cast member on the WB series ''

Unhappily Ever After ''Unhappily Ever After'' is an American television sitcom that aired for 100 episodes on The WB from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of five seasons. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. Synopsis The series follows ...

'', spending four seasons on the sitcom. Ant appeared as a contestant on ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' is an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, and again in 2014 and 2015. Each season a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls was picked as ...

'', competing in seasons two and three. He was the host of

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

reality series ''

Celebrity Fit Club ''Celebrity Fit Club'' is a reality television series that follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. Split into two competing teams of four, each week teams are given different physical challenges, and weighed ...

'' and was a regular judge of talent on '' Steve Harvey's Big Time''. His television series '' U.S. of Ant'' premiered on MTV's gay-targeted

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

cable channel in the summer of 2006. Ant also frequently appeared as a commentator on shows such as VH1's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced for VH1 by Fred Graver. The series, which first aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, is a spin-off of the '' I Love the...'' series and was renamed ''Best ...

'' and CNBC's ''

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...

'', and was a regular guest on ''

The Tyra Banks Show ''The Tyra Banks Show'', also known as and shortened to ''Tyra'' or ''The Tyra Show'', is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks that aired from 2005 to 2010. While Banks's show covered a variety of topics, there was a sensationalized focus ...

'', ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

'' as well as ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

''. In 2007, he appeared along with

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

as a guest star on

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 ...

s sketch comedy show '' Short Circuitz''. Ant appeared as a regular celebrity guest on the game show ''

To Tell the Truth ''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...

'', alongside Jackée Harry,

Meshach Taylor Meshach Taylor (; April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) was an American actor, widely known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom '' Designing Women'' (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandin ...

and

John O'Hurley John George O'Hurley Jr. (born October 9, 1954) is an American actor and game show host. He played Jacopo Peterman, J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', provided the voice for King Neptune on ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', and hosted the game s ...

. In 2008, he was a contestant on VH1's reality competition '' Celebracadabra'', where celebrities trained with established magicians, and competed in an elimination-format contest. Ant was eliminated in episode 2 and brought back in episode 4, but did not go on to win. Ant is a former host of the ''Second Chances'' podcast with comedian Greg Baldwin.

Legal issues

On September 30, 2008, Ant sued English presenter

Ant McPartlin Anthony David McPartlin (born 8 January 1975) is a British television presenter, former singer, rapper and actor. He is best known for working alongside Declan Donnelly as part of the presenting duo Ant & Dec. McPartlin came to prominence, al ...

, best known as half of the presenting duo

Ant & Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo consisting of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from Newcastle upon Tyne. After meeting as child actors on CBBC's drama ''Byker Grove'', they performed together as pop musicians PJ & Duncan, ...

, for

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

30 million for using the name 'Ant' in the United States. The lawsuit, among other things, alleged trademark infringement and fraud. The suit was dismissed in May 2010.

References

External links

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TV.com entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ant 1967 births Male actors from Boston American people of Greek descent American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American stand-up comedians Last Comic Standing contestants American gay actors Gay comedians LGBTQ people from Massachusetts Living people 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Boston 21st-century American LGBTQ people American LGBTQ comedians