“Acting is not very good for relationships - but very good for when they are over.” Hugh Dancy.
British actor Hugh Dancy first hit the big screen in Ridley Scott's acclaimed adaptation of Mark Bowden’s best-selling book, Black Hawk Down (2001). He subsequently garnered wider attention while playing Prince Char opposite Anne Hathaway's Ella in Ella Enchanted and as Galahad in Antoine Fuqua's historical drama movie, King Arthur (both in 2004). Next, he starred in Shooting Dogs (2005), as a young idealistic English teacher who was caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and played the Emmy-nominated role of Robert Devereux, the charming yet twisted Earl of Essex on Channel 4/HBO's two-episode TV movie Elizabeth I (2005). He also supported Sharon Stone in the long awaited, but little-praised sequel to 1992's Basic Instinct, Basic Instinct 2 (2006). As for his upcoming projects, the quickly rising British star will star in Blood and Chocolate, The Jane Austen Book Club, Evening, Savage Grace, and Brontë.
"I don't really think of myself as a hunk, to be honest." Hugh Dancy.
The 5' 11" tall heartthrob was the face of Burberry mens' fashion campaigns in 2004 and 2005 alongside Kate Moss. He reportedly has dated artist Annie Morris on and off for many years.
Childhood and Family:
"My dad is an academic but there was never any question of me following on that route. I'm thick." Hugh Dancy.
In Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, Hugh Dancy was born on June 19, 1975. His father is eminent British philosopher Jonathan Dancy, a professor at the University of Reading and the University of Texas at Austin. His mother, Sarah, is a publisher. Hugh has a younger brother, Jack (born in 1977; travel agent), and a younger sister, Kate (born in 1980).
“I got sent to the school theatre as punishment because I was not being well-behaved. I was at an all-boys school and the only area that girls were involved in was the theatre. So I discovered this little pocket of happiness and stuck with it.” Hugh Dancy.
At age 13, Hugh attended the all-boy Winchester School. He continued his study at the Oxford University, where he graduated with a degree in English Language and French. He clearly speaks fluent French and currently resides in West London.
Blood and Chocolate
"I knew I wanted to be an actor when I was growing up, really. So when I decided to go to university instead of drama school, it was with the intention of becoming an actor afterwards." Hugh Dancy.
Stung by the acting bug since his school years, Hugh Dancy has performed in a couple of school plays. A huge fan of Guinness, Dancy worked as a bartender in London while continuing to perform on theater. He could be seen in such small theatre productions as William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," "Measure for Measure," "Twelth Night," "Much Ado About Nothing" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Dancy eventually had an agent and soon landed on his first television role on ITV crime-drama movie Trial & Retribution II, in which he played Roberto Bellini, alongside David Hayman and Kate Buffrey. Recalling on his first experience in the TV movie, Dancy said: “I couldn't get my head round all the logistics of filming, the way they filled the courtroom with smoke and flapped it around. I thought I'd missed a bit in the script where the courtroom went on fire.”
Following his first television appearance, Dancy received guest star roles on Turner Network Television's live-action TV series "The New Adventures of Robin Hood," ITV's "Kavanagh QC," ITV's comedy/drama series "Cold Feet" and the drama series "Dangerfield." He continued to work on the small screen during the new millennium, appearing in the telefilm version of Gustave Flaubert's novel, Madame Bovary (starring Frances O'Connor), and played the title role in the TV movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1850 novel, David Copperfield. He was also spotted as a guest in an April 2000 episode of the TV series "Relic Hunter." Meanwhile, Dancy kept working on stage, performing in productions of "Billy and the Crab Lady" and Sam Mendes' play, "To the Green Fields Beyond."
Young Blades (2001), an action film by director Mario Andreacchio, is Dancy’s first big screen work in which he starred as the Musketeer D'Artagnan, alongside Sarah-Jane Potts and Scott Hikman. That same year, he scored his big break in Ridley Scott's acclaimed adaptation of Mark Bowden’s best-selling book which details an ill-fated U.S. Army mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993, Black Hawk Down (starring Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and Tom Sizemore). Afterward, he returned to television to portray the titular role in successful BBC drama, Daniel Deronda, based on George Eliot's 1876 romantic drama novel with the same name.
More film roles rolled in. Dancy was cast as a young and naive Englishman goes to Sarawak, Malaysia to become part of the British colonial government in writer-director Guy Jenkin's romantic drama movie The Sleeping Dictionary (opposite Jessica Alba, Brenda Blethyn and Bob Hoskins) and as Melanie Griffith's much younger roomate and Rachael Leigh Cook's secret lover in Eric Styles' romantic thriller Tempo (both in 2003). He also starred as Prince Char, the heir to the kingdom of Frell whom Anne Hathaway's Ella falls in love with, in Tommy O'Haver's comedy-drama film adaptation of Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel, Ella Enchanted (2004). Being asked about what is so appealing about Anne Hathaway, Dancy replied: “I can tell you that when I first met her, as an actress this is, I was really impressed by the way she combined charm and comedy, and blended the two seamlessly. (She) made it feel incredibly natural, which I think is the hallmark of a very good actress and a very good comedienne. You don't try and play a gag, you just offer up a character that happens to be quite funny or quirky or whatever and make it believable.”
"Hugh Dancy is a terrific young actor, he's in the vein of Orlando Bloom...he's so strong on screen." Jerry Bruckheimer (producer of King Arthur (2004)).
Also in that year, Dancy landed the role of Galahad, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend in director Antoine Fuqua's historical drama movie, King Arthur, alongside Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd and Keira Knightley. Comparing King Arthur and Ella Enchanted,” Dancy explained: “It's a very big film - no singing and dancing. But I suppose the similarities are that it was a re-working of an old genre, or in this case an old myth or an old legend. It's an attempt to tell the story of how that myth was born in the real world and obviously you're taking people's expectations and playing around with them.”
Back on stage, Dancy co-starred with Jeremy Irons in the one-night only play "The Soldier's Tale" in Fall 2004. The next year, he returned to the big screen alongside John Hurt, playing a young idealistic English teacher who was caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in Michael Caton-Jones' true story-based moving drama Shooting Dogs. The film, based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belton who worked in Rwanda during the Rwandan Genocide, premiered at the 2005 London Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA. Dancy also co-starred with Helen Mirren who played the title role on Channel 4/HBO's two-episode TV movie Elizabeth I (also starring Jeremy Irons), portraying Robert Devereux, the charming yet twisted Earl of Essex and a favorite of the Queen. The role later earned him an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries.
"Hugh had my vote right from the beginning. It's not an easy role. He looks beautiful, and he had the ability -- which not a lot of male actors have -- to give, especially to a woman. And Essex absolutely had to have that ability, because that's what Elizabeth found so seductive about him, the way he gives to her." Helen Mirren on Dancy.
During this time, Dancy also entered modeling, becoming the face of Burberry and modeled in their Fall 2004, Spring/Summer 2005 and Fall 2005 campaigns alongside Kate Moss. He also co-starred alongside Saffron Burrows at the one-time only play "The Silence of the Sea," a production apart of the Hay Festival in Wales.
2006 saw Dancy playing Adam Towers in Michael Caton-Jones' Basic Instinct 2 (starring Sharon Stone and David Morrissey), the long awaited, but little-praised sequel to 1992's Basic Instinct. Recently, Dancy just completed Katja von Garnier's film adaptation of Annette Curtis Klause's young adult novel, Blood and Chocolate, playing the artist and the human male whom a werewolf girl (played by Agnes Bruckner) falls in love with. As for his upcoming projects, Dancy will soon wrap Robin Swicord's take on Karen Joy Fowler's romantic drama novel, The Jane Austen Book Club (with Maria Bello, Emily Blunt and Ellen Burstyn), and Lajos Koltai's romantic drama film inspired by Susan Minot's novel, Evening (with Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes and Meryl Streep).
He will also star in Tom Kalin's film version of Steven M.L. Aronson and Natalie Robins' book, Savage Grace (starring Julianne Moore), which dramatizes the shocking Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case in a posh London flat in November 1972, and writer-director Angela Workman's drama film set in the 19th century Yorkshire, Brontë (starring Michelle Williams and Jonathan Rhys Meyers).
"Sometimes I wake up and think I'd like to go off and live my life in a way that's complete tabloid fodder, particularly when I'm hungover and turn on MTV, and all the risible elements of popular culture suddenly seem really appealing and cool, so I decide I'm going to stop going to the pub and hang out in celeb venues like Kabaret." Hugh Dancy.