Louis C.K. (born Louis Szekely on September 12, 1967 in Washington, D.C.) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, producer and director.

C.K. was born in Washington, D.C. to a Harvard educated father descended from Hungarian Jews and Mexican Catholics, and a Harvard educated mother of Irish Catholic descent. After six years in Mexico, he grew up in Massachusetts, in Framingham and, mostly, Newton. His family pronounces their surname Szekely roughly as [se'-ke], and in his grade-school years he resorted to "C.K." as an easy way to get his name pronounced almost correctly as [si' ke].

Stand-up
He has performed his stand-up frequently on shows like Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In August 2005, C.K. starred in a half-hour HBO special as part of the stand-up series One Night Stand. Most recently his subject matter reflected his frustrations and anxieties from raising his four-year-old daughter. He was ranked #98 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. There was a small controversy about his placement. When '80s prop comic Gallagher was ranked #100 on the list, he was angry and remarked "I don't even know who Louis C.K. is!"

In 2007, C.K. starred in his own hour-long HBO special titled Shameless.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C.K.