18 Things Everyone Should Know About Rowan Atkinson AKA Mr. Bean

Growing up, it was always mayhem in the living room when it came time to deciding what the whole family would watch on the TV. I always wanted to watch a Disney movie, my older sister wanted to watch a teen romcom and my parents wanted to watch Friends. But the one show we all agreed on? That was always Mr. Bean. We loved watching Mr. Bean get himself into trouble because he couldn’t figure out the simplest things in life. I miss that show, don’t you? Rowan Atkinson became a star because of that show and he’s gone on to star in Mr. Bean movies and several other successful projects. You recognize his face and his weird facial expressions, but you might not realize that there’s more to Rowan than Mr. Bean. So here are some interesting facts about the actor!

1. He voiced a pretty important character in The Lion King. He was cast as Zazu, the red-billed hornbill.

And yes, he does his own singing on “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King!” *listens to it on repeat because who even knew it was Mr. Bean*

2. So how did Rowan even come up with the character of Mr. Bean? It started when he was getting his master’s degree at Oxford. He was asked to do a sketch at the playhouse and the idea came to him when he was standing in front of the mirror and fooling around with weird facial expressions.

According to him,  “this strange, surreal, sort of non-speaking character evolved.”

3. Rowan is pretty quiet about his personal life and doesn’t tend to give many interviews. It’s because he has suffered with a stammer for several years. 

He sometimes has trouble pronouncing words that begin with “B” and are immediately followed by a vowel. To get around those words, he has to pause a bit before saying them.

Personally, I don’t think he needs to be shy about that. It’s just another thing to adore about him.