Toby Young on AllMovie

British journalist Toby Young achieved his greatest success through his biggest failure. After spending five miserable years trying in vain to make it big in the U.S. as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine, Young wrote a memoir called How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which became a surprise hit and was later adapted into a movie starring Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst. Prior to his adventures in the Big Apple, Young had received a top-notch education at Brasenose College in Oxford and Trinity College in Cambridge, as well as at Harvard, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar. Following his success with How to Lose Friends, Young returned to London and became a regular contributor to The Evening Standard and The Guardian, using his signature obnoxiousness as a springboard toward serious notoriety. He also appeared on-stage in the West End musical adaptation of his book, as well as in a political sex farce called Who's the Daddy?, which he cowrote with Lloyd Evans. The production won the Best New Comedy Award at the 2006 Theatregoers' Choice Awards.