Norton was born Graham William Walker on April 4th, 1963 in Clondalkin, County Dublin, and grew up in a Protestant (Church of Ireland) family in Bandon, County Cork. His father's family were from County Wicklow, while his mother is a native of Belfast. He discovered during a 2007 episode of the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? that his father's direct ancestors were English, having originated in Yorkshire before emigrating to Ireland in 1713. Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School in West Cork and then University College, Cork, where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s, but did not complete his studies after having a breakdown and refusing to leave his dorm room.
He later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2013. In the late 1980s, he moved to London to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama. He also worked as a waiter during that time. Upon joining the actors' union Equity, he chose "Norton" (his great-grandmother's maiden name) as his new surname as there was already an actor called Graham Walker represented by the union.
Trivia
Graham is known for his famous talkshow 'The Graham Norton Show'.
Kenyon Glover (S1), Keon Hunt (S1), Preston Taylor (S1), Emanuel Palmer (S2), Max "The Body" Philisaire (S2), Shawn Morales (S3-6), Jason Carter (S3-S13), Miles Davis Moody (S6-9), Simon Sherry Wood (S6), Bryce Eilenberg (S7-S13), Jared North (S9), Yadier Despaigne (S9), Bruno Carvalho (AS4-S13)
