Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced /ˈjɘʊæn ˈgrɪfɪð/) (born October 6, 1973 in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales) is a Welsh actor. His parents, Peter and Gillian Gruffudd, were teachers. He has two siblings – a brother, Alun, who is two years younger, and a sister, Siwan, who is seven years younger than he is. The popular Welsh name 'Ioan' is an equivalent of 'John', and 'Gruffudd' corresponds to the Anglicized 'Griffiths'. He attended Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdar (Ynyslwyd), Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd, and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, where he sat his GCSEs and A Levels.

A natural musician, Gruffudd was an accomplished oboist in his teens, but gave it up once acting overtook his time.^[1] He also won prizes for his singing while at school.

Gruffudd started his acting career at the age of 12 in a Welsh television film named Austin and then later moved on to the Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley). At the age of 18, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He won his first major English language role a few years later in the 1996 TV remake of Poldark.

After playing Oscar Wilde's lover John Gray in Wilde in 1997, 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 the Meridian production of the C.S. Forester novels (1998–2003), shown on ITV1 and A&E. Next, he played Pip in the BBC TV production of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1999). He has also starred in 102 Dalmatians (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), ITV's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga (2002), King Arthur (2004) (as Lancelot) and Fantastic Four (2005). He currently stars in the historical drama Amazing Grace (2007) as the British slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce, and has received critical acclaim for the role.

Apart from television and film work, he also starred in the music video of Westlife's version of "Uptown Girl" (2001) alongside Claudia Schiffer.

Gruffudd is a native Welsh speaker. He was accepted into the Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain (the Bardic Order of Great Britain) at the highest rank in the National Eisteddfod at Meifod in 2003, with the bardic name "Ioan".

Personal life

Gruffudd is currently living with his English fiancée, Alice Evans, in Los Angeles, California. They met during the production of 102 Dalmatians.

Selected filmography

Quotations

• "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."

• "My girlfriend, Alice, and I moved out to Los Angeles in January. We just rented a house there for a year. I want to work there, I've always had that ambition, and I've got to be there if I want this to work."

• "It was quite something for an unknown actor to get the lead. So I will always be grateful to Hornblower."

• "When I saw a billboard on Sunset Strip I parked the car, ran out, took a picture of it, then emailed it to all my friends."

• "The change is that suddenly everybody wants to meet me. That's happened overnight just because I'm in a big film – and it hasn't even come out yet. You have to enjoy and exploit that. I'm happy to do that because I know it's a game. Once you start believing it's real, you're lost."

• "I enjoy playing golf, reading and going to the movies. I like to escape. I'll go to movies on my own and watch two in a row, sometimes. I like to go off in, sort of, dreamland."

• "It's incredible, and I'm so appreciative of the lifestyle that I have. It's really fun to be able to work at doing my hobby, and be able to earn money doing it."

• "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."

• "I’m homesick for Wales, but I don’t miss London as a place. I miss my friends. I enjoy 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."

• "I think real success is measured more by your personal situation, as in having a family etc."

• "There's a physicality and confidence to Americans; they're very present. That's something I enjoy being around because it rubs off on you. Although an actor friend of mine visited recently and said, 'It's no wonder they write such terrible scripts these days, there's no pain! Everything's so nice you can't be bothered.'"^{[citation needed]}

• "I was still virgin at 22. I'm not embarrassed about that at all, but I've certainly made up for it."^{[citation needed]}

Notes

1. ^ Ioan Gruffudd at the Internet Movie Database

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