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Ioan Gruffudd extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Ioan Gruffudd
promoting Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 4 May 2007
Born	Ioan Gruffudd 6 October 1973 (1973-10-06) (age 35) Llwydcoed, Wales, United Kingdom
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Alice Evans (2007–present)

Ioan Gruffudd (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈjo.æn ˈɡrɪfɪð]  ( listen); born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh actor.

Educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he started off in Welsh language productions, then came to international attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in the film Titanic (1997), and as Lt. John Beales in Black Hawk Down (2001). However, he is probably best known for playing the role of Horatio Hornblower in Hornblower, the British made-for-TV films (1998–2003) based on C.S. Forester's novels.

Gruffudd's recent notable film roles include Lancelot in King Arthur (2004), Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) in Fantastic Four (2005) and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and British slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006). He played Tony Blair in W. (2008).

Contents 1 Family, early life and education 2 Career 3 Selected work 3.1 Film 3.2 Television 3.3 Theatre 4 Personal life 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

Family, early life and education

Gruffudd was born on 6 October 1973 in the village of Llwydcoed near the town of Aberdare, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Mid Glamorgan, south Wales. His family later moved to Cardiff.¹ Gruffudd's parents, Peter and Gillian Griffiths, were teachers.² His father was headmaster at two Welsh comprehensive schools in South Wales, first at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari then later at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen.³ He has two siblings; a brother, Alun,⁴ who is two years younger, and a sister, Siwan, who is seven years younger than he is.¹

The popular Welsh name "Ioan" is an equivalent of "John", and "Gruffudd" corresponds to the Anglicised "Griffith". He has been quoted as saying, "I'm determined not to lose my name. It's who I am. It has neither aided my progress nor hampered it. It's just who I am. My character... my make-up. My culture and heritage is a very rich one. So what if it's difficult for people to pronounce? We all learned how to say Schwarzenegger."⁵

Gruffudd attended Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdar (Ynyslwyd) (now situated in Cwmdare), Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd, and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, where he sat his GCSEs and A-Levels. A natural musician, he was an accomplished oboist in his teens,⁶ attaining a Grade 8 level in the ABRSM music examinations⁷ and playing for the South Glamorgan Youth Orchestra for several years,⁸ but gave it up once acting took up most of his time.⁹ He also won prizes for his high baritone singing while at school, including one at the National Eisteddfod.⁷ He has said, "As a Welshman, I grew up in a culture of singing and performing with music, and I think it was through this performing that I got my confidence as an actor."¹⁰

Gruffudd's parents are committed Christians, and in his early 20s he was a member of the controversial London Church of Christ but that his mother later came to London to "sort [his] head out".¹¹ In June 2007 he said that he "wouldn't describe myself as a deeply religious man".¹²

Career

Gruffudd started his acting career at the age of 13 in a Welsh television film called Austin (1986) and then later moved on to the Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) from 1987 to 1994. In 1992, at 18, he began attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. However, he was only given small parts in the Academy's productions, and feeling isolated and directionless, almost dropped out several times. However, in 1995 in his final year, he was cast in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler as George (Jörgen) Tesman, the husband of Hedda, the lead character. This performance led to him being offered the lead role in the 1996 TV remake of Poldark.⁶¹³

After playing Oscar Wilde's lover John Gray in 1997's Wilde he took his first international role as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in the blockbuster film Titanic. He later landed his best-known role as Horatio Hornblower in Hornblower, the Meridian production of the C.S. Forester novels (1998–2003), shown on ITV1 and A&E. Gruffudd has said: "It was quite something for an unknown actor to get the lead. So I will always be grateful to Hornblower. ... I would love to play this character through every stage of his life. I think it would be unique to have an actor playing him from the very early days as a midshipman, through till he's an Admiral. So, I would love to play this character till he perishes."¹⁰ Since February 20, 2007, Gruffudd has been making plans to obtain rights to the Horatio Hornblower novels in order to produce a film for the big screen.¹⁴

Gruffudd's TV work includes playing the character Pip in the BBC TV production of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1999) and architect Philip Bosinney in ITV's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga (2002). As regards films, he has starred in 102 Dalmatians (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001) and King Arthur (2004). In 2007 he starred in the historical drama Amazing Grace as William Wilberforce, the British slavery abolitionist, receiving critical acclaim for the role. Gruffudd has also portrayed characters of both Marvel Comics and DC Comics, having appeared as Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) in Marvel's Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and provided the voice of Mister Miracle in DC's Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006).

Apart from television and film work, he also starred in the music video of Westlife's version of "Uptown Girl" (2001) alongside Claudia Schiffer,⁵⁸ and on 7 July 2007 he was a presenter at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.¹⁵

Gruffudd is a native Welsh speaker. He was inducted into the Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain (the Bardic Order of Great Britain) at the highest rank of druid in the National Eisteddfod at Meifod, Mid Wales, on 4 August 2003, with the bardic name "Ioan".²¹⁶ In July 2008 he featured in a promotional trailer in Welsh for BBC Wales alongside fellow Welshmen Matthew Rhys and Gethin Jones publicising the broadcaster's coverage of the 2008 National Eisteddfod of Wales in Cardiff.¹⁷

Selected work

Film

Year(s) of appearance	Film	Role	Awards and nominations
1997	Wilde	John Gray
1997	Titanic	Harold Godfrey Lowe, Fifth Officer of the RMS Titanic
1999	Solomon & Gaenor	Solomon Levinsky
2000	102 Dalmatians	Kevin Shepherd
2001	Another Life	Freddy Bywaters
2001	Very Annie Mary	Hob
2001	Happy Now	Sgt. Max Bracchi
2001	Black Hawk Down	Lt. John Beales
2002	Shooters	Freddy Guns
2002	The Gathering	Dan Blakeley
2003	This Girl's Life	Daniel
2004	King Arthur	Lancelot
2005	Fantastic Four	Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic
2006	The TV Set	Richard McAllister
2006	Amazing Grace	William Wilberforce
2007	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic
2008	Agent Crush	Agent Crush (voice)
2008	Fireflies in the Garden	Addison
2008	The Secret of Moonacre	Sir Benjamin
2008	W.	Tony Blair

Some information in this table was obtained from Ioan Gruffudd at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 15 May 2008.

Television

Year(s) of appearance	Television programme or series	Role	Awards and nominations
1986	Austin	Dafydd
1987–1994	Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) (1974–present)	Gareth Wyn Harries
1996	Poldark	Jeremy Poldark
1998	Hornblower: The Even Chance	Midshipman Horatio Hornblower
1998	Hornblower: The Examination For Lieutenant	Acting Lt. Horatio Hornblower
1999	Warriors	Lt. John Feeley
1999	Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil	Acting Lt. Horatio Hornblower
1999	Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters	Lt. Horatio Hornblower
1999	Great Expectations	Pip
2000	The Miracle Maker	voice
2001	Hornblower: Mutiny	3rd Lt. Horatio Hornblower
2001	Hornblower: Retribution	3rd Lt. Horatio Hornblower
2002	Man and Boy	Harry Silver
2002	The Forsyte Saga	Phillip Bosinney
2003	Hornblower: Loyalty	Commander Horatio Hornblower
2003	Hornblower: Duty	Commander Horatio Hornblower
2004	Century City (2004–2005)	Lukas Gold

Some information in this table was obtained from Ioan Gruffudd at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 15 May 2008.

Theatre

Year(s) of appearance	Performance	Role	Awards and nominations
1995	Hedda Gabler (1890) by Henrik Ibsen	George (Jörgen) Tesman
?1995	?Trouble Sleeping (1995)18 by Nick Ward National Theatre Studio, London	Unknown
1996	The Decameron (first performed 1996)19 by Nick Ward, based on the c. 1350–1353 novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London	Unknown
2001	The Play Wot I Wrote (first performed 2001) by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben Wyndham's Theatre, London	Mystery Guest (cameo appearance)

Some information in this table was obtained from "Ioan Gruffudd CV". Hamilton Hodell Talent Management. http://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/page.asp?partid=91. Retrieved on 2008-05-15. 

Personal life

Gruffudd currently lives with his wife, New Jersey-born British actress Alice Evans, in Los Angeles, California. The couple met during the production of 102 Dalmatians, and married on 14 September 2007 in Mexico.²⁰ One of Gruffudd's best men and speechmakers at the wedding was fellow Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, his long-time friend and former flatmate of eight years.⁴ On 20 April 2009, Gruffudd and his wife announced they were expecting their first child.²¹

Gruffudd enjoys being in Los Angeles because "it's the easiest place in the world to drive, and it's a real pleasure to do that in my black Jag XK8. I've gone all out." ⁶ He also admires the physicality and confidence of Americans, and enjoys being around them because he feels these qualities rub off on to him.²²

In April 2007, Gruffudd removed his funding from his largest fan-site, Ioanonline.com, due to comments made about Evans on the site, and elsewhere on the Internet, which angered her. In March 2007, Gruffudd posted a message on Ioanonline.com that started with "Dear All", and expressed disappointment about the "small minority" of fans that had behaved in a "despicable manner" by levelling "unpleasant and sometimes vitriolic comments" at his wife.²³ Despite the attempts of the site's owner to broker a solution, Gruffudd ceased funding, which resulted in the website's closure on 30 April 2007.²⁴

Notes

References

• Hoggard, Liz (2005-07-02). "Ioan Gruffudd: Enter the dragon". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/ioan-gruffudd-enter-the-dragon-496974.html. 
• "Ioan Gruffudd biography". BBC Wales. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/ioan_gruffudd/pages/biography.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ioan Gruffudd

• Ioan Gruffudd at the Internet Movie Database
• Ioan Gruffudd at TV.com
• Ioancentral – a fan site

Persondata
NAME	Gruffudd, Ioan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Welsh actor
DATE OF BIRTH	6 October 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH	Llwydcoed, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Mid Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH