Bill Gates
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- October 28, 1955 (age 71)
- Birthplace
- Seattle, Washington, USA
Biography
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Following Microsoft's initial public offering in 1986 and the subsequent increase in its stock price, Gates became the world's then-youngest billionaire in 1987, at age 31. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's wealthiest person for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007. Gates became the first centibillionaire in 1999, when his net worth briefly surpassed US$100 billion. According to Forbes, as of February 2026, his net worth stood at US$107.7 billion, making him the 18th-wealthiest individual in the world. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Gates was privately educated at Lakeside School, where he befriended Allen and developed his computing interests. In 1973, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he took classes including Math 55 and graduate-level computer science courses, but he dropped out in 1975 to co-found and lead Microsoft. He served as its CEO for the next 25 years and also became president and chairman of the board when the company was incorporated in 1981. Succeeded as CEO by Steve Ballmer in 2000, he transitioned to chief software architect, a position he held until 2008. He stepped down as chairman of the board in 2014 and became technology adviser to CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft leaders, a position he still holds. He resigned from the board in 2020. Over time, Gates reduced his role at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization, which he and his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, co-chaired from 2000 until 2024. Focusing on areas including health, education, and poverty alleviation, Gates became known for his efforts to combat transmissible diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and polio. After French Gates resigned as co-chair following the couple's divorce, the foundation was renamed the Gates Foundation, with Gates as its sole chair. Gates is the founder and chairman of several other companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. In 2010, he and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledged to give at least half their wealth to philanthropy. Named as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time magazine in 1999, he has received numerous other honors and accolades, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded jointly to him and French Gates in 2016 for their philanthropic work. The subject of several documentary films, he published the first of three planned memoirs, Source Code: My Beginnings, in 2025. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Gates, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Finding Satoshi
Movie · as Self
Instadocs: AI Gone Wild
Movie · as Self (archive footage) - Co-founder, Microsoft
America Who Are You?
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 2 eps
Breakdown: 1975
Movie · as Self
Skavlan & Sverige
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special
Movie · as Self
What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates
TV · as Self · 5 eps
Lab Leak Liars: How China and Authorities Deceived Us
Movie · as Self
Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story
Movie · as Self
Joko Winterscheidt Presents: The World's Most Dangerous Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Icahn: The Restless Billionaire
Movie · as Self
Joe Montana: Cool Under Pressure
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 1 ep
Monopoly: Who Owns the World?
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Tech Billionaires: Bill Gates
Movie · as Himself
Power On: The Story of Xbox
TV · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) · 5 eps
Amol Rajan Interviews
TV · as Self - Interviewed Guest · 1 ep
One World: Together at Home
Movie · as Self
Toilettes sans tabou
Movie · as Bill Gates
Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself
Movie · as Self - Audience Member (uncredited)
Pandemic: The People, The Conspiracy, The Journey
Movie
Coronavirus, Explained
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Aces & Knaves
Movie · as Self
Retro Tech
TV · as Self - Environmentalist & Philanthropist · 1 ep
Maischberger
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
TV · as Self · 3 eps
trustWHO
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Axios
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Explained
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 1 ep
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman
TV · as Self · 1 ep
You Quiz on the Block
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Becoming Warren Buffett
Movie · as Himself (archive footage)
Mosquito: Judgment Day For A Killer
Movie
The New Fire
Movie · as Self
Trump: An American Dream
TV · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) · 1 ep
Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk?
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV · as Self - Guest · 4 eps
The Late Late Show with James Corden
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Top Spin
Movie · as Self - CEO, Microsoft
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Duels
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Silicon Valley
TV · as Bill Gates · 1 ep
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Das Milliardenversprechen
Movie · as Himself
Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Steve Jobs: Visionary Genius
Movie · as Self - Microsoft Founder
Bill Gates: How a Geek Changed the World
Movie · as himself
Freakonomics
Movie · as Himself
Roslings värld
Movie · as Self - (archive footage)
Q&A
TV · as Self - Panellist · 1 ep
All Things Digital: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Movie · as Himself
The Big Bang Theory
TV · as Bill Gates · 1 ep
Buffett and Gates Go Back to School
Movie · as Himself
A Brief History of the PC
Movie · as Self
Live 8
Movie · as Self
Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers
Movie · as Self
Our Best
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Leben nach Microsoft
Movie · as himself
Click
TV · as Self · 1 ep
maybrit illner
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Sabine Christiansen
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet
TV · as Himself (co-founder, Microsoft) · 3 eps
Im Dialog
TV · as self · 1 ep
The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires
Movie · as Self - Co-Founder, Microsoft
The Daily Show
TV · as Self - Guest · 4 eps
Triumph of the Nerds
TV · 3 eps
Microsoft Judgment Day: Doom
Movie · as William J. Blazkowicz III (Doom Slayer)
Visions of Heaven and Hell
Movie · as Self
Frasier
TV · as Bill Gates · 1 ep
Microsoft: How to Succeed in Business with Workgroup Computing
Movie · as Self
Countryfile
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Citizen Steve
Movie · as Self - Businessman
Newsnight
TV · as Self · 1 ep
CBS News Sunday Morning
TV · as Self · 1 ep
60 Minutes
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Bambi
TV · as Self · 1 ep