Ronnie OSullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan OBE (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player from Essex. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won five World Championships, a record seven Masters titles, and a record seven UK Championships for a record total of 19 titles in Triple Crown tournaments. One of 11 players to win a career Triple Crown, he shares the record for the most ranking titles (36) with Stephen Hendry and also holds the record as the youngest winner of a ranking title (1993 UK Championship, aged 17 years and 358 days) as well as the youngest winner of the Masters (in 1995, aged 19 years and 69 days).
He has held the world number one ranking on multiple occasions. In March 2019, he attained the world number one position for the first time since May 2010, the longest gap in the history of the sport. He has earned career prize money of over £11 million, the highest amount by any player in snooker history.
A prolific break-builder, O'Sullivan is the only player to have achieved 1,000 career century breaks, a milestone he reached in frame 14 of the 2019 Players Championship final. He has also achieved the highest number of officially recognized maximum breaks in professional competition (15), and the fastest competitive maximum break, compiled in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds at the 1997 World Championship.
O'Sullivan has often been a controversial figure in the sport. Noted for his unpredictable temperament and outspoken views, he has received many warnings and sanctions from the sport's governing body over his conduct and comments, and has repeatedly declared his intention to retire. Outside his playing career, he has worked as a pundit for Eurosport's snooker coverage, he had his own magazine show The Ronnie O'Sullivan Show. He has written crime novels and autobiographies, and has starred in the miniseries Ronnie O'Sullivan's American Hustle. He was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours.
Born in Wordsley in the West Midlands, O'Sullivan grew up, and still lives, in the Manor Road area of Chigwell, Essex. His parents Ronald John O'Sullivan and Maria O'Sullivan (née Catalano) ran a string of sex shops in Soho. O'Sullivan's father was jailed in 1992 for murder after stabbing father-of-two Bruce Bryan, and released 18 years later. His mother was also sentenced to a year in prison for tax evasion in 1996, leaving O'Sullivan to care for his then 8-year-old sister Danielle.
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