The youngest of five children, Anthony Deklan James Slattery was born in England November 9th, 1959. His parents had emigrated to England from Ireland after the war. There they lived in Stonebridge, a housing estate in Northern London. After Completing his schooling at Gunnersbury Boy‚s Grammar School in West London, Tony won a scholarship to study medieval and modern anguages at Cambridge University (his special subject was the religious ecstasy of Spanish poetry in the early 16th century).

It was during this time at Cambridge that Tony was introduced to the theatre and became of member of the famous Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club. There he met a lot of future stars including: Richard Vranch, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Neil Mullarkey, Sandi Toksvig, Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Jan Ravens and Morwenna Banks.

In 1982, Tony was elected president of the Footlights, a position Clive Anderson also held in 1975 (as had Eric Idle, Clive James, Time Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garded and Peter Cook, amongst others). After leaving Cambridge, Tony and Richard Vranch appeared as a double act at various clubs such as the Jongleurs. Their friendship led them to further work, both appeared on „Whose Line is it Anyway?, S & M and Richard was also the musical director for Tony's sitcom Just a Gigolo. Since that time, Tony has appeared in numerous TV series, plays, musicals, radio shows and films. He also worked as a writer for shows such as Gems.

In recent years, Tony hasn‚t been as prominent on our screens as he had been in the past, largely due to a breakdown in the form of endogenous clinical depression. Fortunately he is now recovering and working again but it serves as a reminder of the emotional depths to which we are all vulnerable to sink to without warning. His recovery displays remarkable strength and perseverance and we can but wish him the very best. Though his on-screen persona may be very boisterous, he is, in person, a very shy and thoughtful man.