Bio: Simon Cowell

FOX - Simon Cowell’s honesty on AMERICAN IDOL has made him a household name in America. His U.K.-based production company, SYCO, produces the BAFTA Award-winning show, “The X Factor,” which has topped the charts in the U.K. Cowell continues to serve as both executive producer and star of the show. Cowell has served as executive producer on “America’s Got Talent” and also produces and judges “Britain’s Got Talent.” Versions of both series can be seen in more than 70 countries.

Cowell is notorious for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms about contestants and their singing abilities. Cowell is known for his work in both the television and music industries and was most recently featured in the fifth series of “The X Factor” and the third series of “Britain’s Got Talent.” He returns in January 2010 for a ninth season of AMERICAN IDOL.

In 2009, Cowell was named No. 1 in Hollywood Reporter’s Top 50 Most Powerful in Reality TV, one of People’s 25 Most Eligible Bachelors in 2004 and one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top Entertainers of the Year. A 20-year veteran of the music industry, Cowell is an executive with Sony Records and has helped shape modern pop music. Over the last 15 years, his acts have achieved sales of more than 150 million albums, and he has had more than 100 No. 1 records.

Cowell lives in Los Angeles and the U.K.