Luke Garrod Kempner (born 5 June 1987) is an English impressionist, comedian and actor. After appearing in various films and musicals, he established a career in comedy, developing his own stand-up comedy show, and has since appeared as an impressionist on numerous sketch shows including ''

Newzoids ''Newzoids'' is a British topical satirical sketch show, which was co-produced by Citrus Television and Factory for ITV and broadcast for two series between 15 April 2015 and 8 October 2016. The programme operated in a similar format to '' Spitt ...

'' (2016), ''

Tracey Ullman's Show ''Tracey Ullman's Show'' is a British sketch comedy television series starring Tracey Ullman. ''Tracey Ullman's Show'' premiered on BBC One on 11 January 2016. The programme marks her first project for the broadcaster in over thirty years, and h ...

'' (2017), '' Murder in Successville'' (2017), ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

'' (2020–2021), ''

The Last Leg ''The Last Leg'' (known during its first series as ''The Last Leg with Adam Hills'' and in Australia as ''Adam Hills: The Last Leg'') is a British late-night television humorous talk/sketch show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Par ...

'' (2021) and ''Deep Fake Neighbour Wars'' (2023), as well as appearing regularly on ''

Big Brother's Bit on the Side This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series), Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition originally ran from 2000 to 2018, and again since 2023. The celebrity editio ...

'' (2016–2018).

Early and personal life

Luke Garrod Kempner was born on 5 June 1987 to Mark and Anna Kempner (' Schneider) in

Smallfield Burstow is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. Its largest settlement is Smallfield. Smallfield is boxing the compass, ENE of Gatwick Airport and the M23 m ...

, a settlement in

Burstow Burstow is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. Its largest settlement is Smallfield. Smallfield is ENE of Gatwick Airport and the M23 motorway, southwest of Oxted and east of Horley. Crawley is a near ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England. He is the younger brother of comedian

Sooz Kempner Suzanna Maria Kempner is an English stand-up comedian, actress and singer. Biography Suzanna Maria Kempner was born in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, before the family moved to Surrey, where she attended Oakwood School, Horley. She is the older ...

. Kempner attended Burstow Primary School and subsequently Oakwood School in

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own econ ...

. He then went on to attend

Reigate College Reigate College is a state sixth form college, college in Reigate, Surrey, England, for students aged 16–19. The college occupies part of the town centre between the High Street and Reigate railway station, railway station. Reigate College wa ...

and studied drama at the

Guildford School of Acting Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is a drama school in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is an academic school in the University of Surrey. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Overview The school is part of the University of Surrey ...

. Kempner said he " mpersonatedthe teachers all the way through iseducation." Kempner married Alana MacFarlane in 2016 and they have a daughter, born in 2021.

Career

After finishing drama school, Kempner began his career as an actor, portraying minor roles in the films ''

Fathers of Girls ''Fathers of Girls'' is a 2010 British drama film written and directed by Karl Howman and Ethem Cetintas and starring Ray Winstone. Plot Frank, a single father, spirals into grief after his only child Helen dies of a drug overdose while in colle ...

'' (2009) and ''Fly Trap'' (2010) and appearing in musicals including ''Lift'', ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'', ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

'' and ''

Avenue Q '' Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and a book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody ...

'' but said that he "always wanted to do iscomedy professionally." In 2012, he began posting videos of himself impersonating celebrities including

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...

and

Tom Daley Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994) is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FI ...

, however it wasn't until his comedy skit ''Downstairs at Downton'', inspired by the characters of the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

drama ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

'', gained traction on social media and his career as a comedian and impressionist subsequently took off. He developed the online sketch into a one-man show titled ''The Only Way Is Downton'', touring around the UK at venues including the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, and later developing an American version ''America's Got Downton'' that he performed in the United States. In December 2015, Kempner fronted his own

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

sketch show ''Luke Kempner's Impression of 2015'', which featured Kempner's various impersonations of celebrities. In 2016, he appeared in an episode of ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's executive p ...

'' and provided the voices for the

sketch show ''

'', before joining ''

'' as a regular comedian and impressionsist, in which he impersonated the housemates throughout the series. In 2017, he appeared as various characters in ''

'' and '' Murder in Successville''. In 2019, he narrated the

dating series '' Singletown''. In 2020, Kempner appeared as a contestant on the first series of ''

Celebrity Karaoke Club ''Celebrity Karaoke Club'' is a British reality television singing show in which celebrities sing karaoke in hope of being crowned champion. It began on 23 September 2020 on ITV2. The first series was won by Scarlett Moffatt. The show was renewe ...

'', and finished in third place. Between 2020 and 2021, he provided the voices for the puppets on the revival series of ''

'' and went on to star in the musical adaption. In 2021, he appeared as various characters in ''

''. In 2022, Kempner toured his new show ''Macho Macho Man'' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was described as a "deep dive into the thorny issues of modern masculinity" and ranked four out of five stars by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. In 2023, Kempner impersonated various celebrities in the

comedy series ''Deep Fake Neighbour Wars'', before it was announced he would be appearing in the West End production of ''Les Misérables'' as Thénardier. He later reprised the role in the 2025 World Arena Concert Tour of the show.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kempner, Luke 1987 births 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Guildford School of Acting Comedians from Surrey English impressionists (entertainers) English male comedians English male musical theatre actors Jewish English comedians Living people Male actors from Surrey People from Tandridge (district)