Brian Sergent

Brian Sergent born 29 December 1959 is a comedian writer and actor born and based in Wellington New Zealand Sergents acting career began at age 15 playing Lionel in the soap opera Close to Home In television Sergent is known for playing Eric Grady on Outrageous Fortune the New Zealand Prime Minister on Flight of the Conchords and Harold in The Lost Children One of his most popular characters cabin steward Gavin Soper appeared on the Pulp Comedy television series Sergent has a strong association with Circa Theatre in Wellington He performed in The Duchess of Malfi 1982 Travels with My Aunt 1997 and Take a Chance on Me 2001 Sergents film credits include Peter Jacksons Meet the Feebles Braindead and Lord of the Rings Absent Without Leave Via Satellite the lead role as Marty in The Shirt and Jonah in Eagle vs Shark Radio listeners are quite familiar with Sergents reading of short stories novels and radio plays on Radio New Zealand where he is still actively involved Sergent has won multiple Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for acting and writing In 1992 he won Male Actor of the Year for his performances as Lenny in The Homecoming at the Circa Theatre and Alfredo Traps in A Dangerous Game at the BATS Theatre In 1994 he won Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance of Gary Peter Lefkowitz in I Hate Hamlet at the Circa In 2004 Prior to the opening of his first play the New Zealand Listener described Sergent as New Zealands greatest comic actor He won the award for Outstanding New Playwright of the Year for his play The Love of Humankind In 2008 Radio New Zealand broadcast for the first of many times Sergents first radio play Madness You Can Trust After taking a break from the show for nearly three years Sergent returned to Outrageous Fortune as Eric in the second to last episode of the fifth season Sergent has been a standup Comedian and sketch writer since his debut in 1979