Gísli Rúnar Jónsson

Gísli was born in Reykjavík, Iceland in 1953 to parents Guðrún Valgerður Gísladóttir, a housewife and Jón Konráð Björnsson, a local business man.^[1] Gísli has three siblings.^[2]

Gísli is mostly known for his involvement with Icelandic comedies and sitcoms in the 1980s. He wrote and directed the sitcoms Heilsubælið í Gerfahverfi and Fastir liðir eins og venjulega, which become hugely successful in Iceland and have been played on reruns every few years for the last 30 years.^[2]

In 1996 Gísli hosted his own talk show called Gott kvöld með Gísla Rúnari (English: Good Evening with Gísli Rúnar) on Stöð 2.^[1]

In addition to starring in numerous plays Gísli was also a vivid screenwriter and translator of foreign plays into Icelandic. To name a few of his translations are Little Shop of Horrors,^[3] Grease and Mary Poppins.^[4]

In 2001, Gísli wrote the biography of singer Björgvin Halldórsson.^[5] In 2011 he published the book Ég drepst þar sem mér sýnist (English: I'll die wherever I feel like), a book filled with funny stories from his early days as a comedian.^[6]