Background and career
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker. C.K. has won six Emmy Awards, and three Grammy Awards, three Critics' Choice Awards, three Peabody Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards. He was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2012 and Rolling Stone ranked him fourth on its 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.
C.K. began his career in the 1990s writing for comedians including David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, and Saturday Night Live. He was also directing surreal short films and directed two features—Tomorrow Night (1998) and Pootie Tang (2001). In 2001, C.K. released his debut comedy album, Live in Houston, directly through his website and became among the first performers to offer direct-to-fan sales of tickets to his stand-up shows and DRM-free video concert downloads via his website. He became prolific releasing nine comedy albums, often directing and editing his specials as well. These specials include Shameless (2007), Chewed Up (2008), Hilarious (2010), and Oh My God (2013).
He gained prominence and widespread acclaim for his FX semi-autobiographical comedy-drama series Louie (2010–2015), which he created, directed and starred in. The series received many accolades with C.K. winning two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. In 2016, he created and starred in his self-funded web series Horace and Pete, and co-created the shows Baskets and Better Things for FX. In film, he acted in American Hustle (2013), Blue Jasmine (2013), Trumbo (2015), and The Secret Life of Pets (2016).
In 2017, he admitted to several incidents of sexual misconduct following the release of an article in The New York Times. This resulted in widespread criticism and caused his 2017 film I Love You, Daddy to be pulled from distribution prior to its release. In 2018, he returned to stand-up comedy, and in 2019, he announced an international tour. He has also released the specials Sincerely Louis C.K. (2020) and Sorry (2021) on his website, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the former. C.K. also co-wrote and directed the film Fourth of July (2022).
Louis Alfred Székely was born in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 1967, the son of software engineer Mary Louise (née Davis) and economist Luis Székely. He has three sisters. His father is of Mexican and Hungarian-Jewish descent. C.K.'s Jewish paternal grandfather, Géza Székely Schweiger, had immigrated from Hungary to Mexico; he and his Mexican wife, Rosario Sánchez Morales, raised their children in the Catholic faith. C.K.'s mother, an American, was a Catholic with Irish ancestry.
How Louis C.K. makes money
By December 21, 2011, the sales of the special from C.K.'s website had already earned him over $1 million. would write, direct, and star in the film I'm a Cop, to be produced by Scott Rudin, Dave Becky, and Blair Breard, with a budget of $8 million, although he later canceled the project. suffered repercussions, stating in 2018 that the fallout had taken him through "hell and back" and cost him approximately $35 million in lost income.
