Jón Gnarr

Jón Gnarr (1967-) is an Icelandic actor, writer and

comedian, and was Mayor of Reykjavík 2010-14. Jón had an atypical

childhood, struggling with learning disabilities and various social

problems. At the age of five years old, he was sent to the Children

and Adolescents Faculty of the National University Hospital, where he

was diagnosed with “developmental disabilities.” This diagnosis had a

major impact on Jón’s schooling, his childhood and his teenage years.

Jón has described his upbringing in the books The Indian, The Pirate,

and The Outlaw, and he has been a powerful advocate on behalf of those

with conditions including ADHD, Asperger’s, dyslexia and other

disabilities. His books have been translated into English, German, Arabic, Spanish and other language

Jón has also been an active advocate for human rights, both

domestically and internationally. He is a member of a number of

organizations, including Amnesty International, the Icelandic Ethical

Humanist Association and PEN. Jón was made an honorary member of The

National Queer Organization of Iceland for his fight on behalf of the

rights of LGBT people.

In 2009 Jón founded The Best Party, together with a group of other

artists. The Best Party won a landslide in the 2010 local elections in

2010 and Jón became Mayor of Reykjavík. Despite enthusiastic support

from voters, Jón opted to govern for only a single term; in 2014 he

left the mayoralty, and The Best Party was disbanded.

He has won numerous awards in his career. He has received 12 Eddas

(the most prominent film and television award in Iceland) and he has

written and appeared in countless television shows and films. He was

named Person of the Year by the Icelandic news channel Station 2 in

2010. In 2014 he received the Humanist Award from the Icelandic

Ethical Humanist Association and the LennonOno grant for his human

rights and peace activism as Mayor of Reykjavík.

Jón Gnarr is also a member of the Icelandic Writers' Union, the

Association of Icelandic Actors and Playwrights, and the Icelandic

Screenwriters Association.

According to polls, a decisive majority of Icelanders name Jón as the

person they most want to see become the next President of Iceland in

the 2016 elections.

Jón is married to Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir; they have five children. They

are currently based in Houston, Texas where Jón is working at Rice

University as Lecturer and Writer-in-Residence at The Center for

Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences. Alongside

these duties, Jón is engaged in various positions, both domestically

and internationally, and has a US work permit (an O-1 Visa).

He is working on an Icelandic television show about a man who is Mayor

of Reykjavík and intends to play the leading himself.