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John Barrowman Profile |
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Birth Date: March 11, 1967
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Birth Place: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
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Birth Name: John Barrowman
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Height: 6'1"
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Biography |
John Barrowman (born 11 March 1967 in Glasgow) is a
Scottish-American actor, musical performer, dancer, singer,
skater and TV presenter who has lived and worked both in the
United Kingdom and the United States. He currently lives in
the UK. He became a United States citizen in 1985, and holds
dual US/UK citizenship.
Barrowman is best known on British television for his acting
and presenting work. After appearing as Jack Harkness, a
companion of the Doctor, in the long-running science fiction
television series Doctor Who in 2005, he will be taking the
lead role in forthcoming spin-off series Torchwood. He has
presented such light entertainment shows as Live & Kicking
and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, as well as
appearing on the celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice.
Barrowman was raised in Joliet, Illinois, and graduated from
Joliet West High School in 1985. He is the son of a plant
manager of the former Caterpillar Inc. tractor factory in
Joliet. While still in high school, he won parts in several
musical productions while still a freshman. Between 1983 and
1985 he performed in productions of Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!,
Camelot, L'il Abner and Anything Goes. He attended
university in San Diego, and returned to the United Kingdom
in 1990.
Barrowman, who is openly gay, has been with his partner,
British architect Scott Gill, since 1991. Despite this
long-standing relationship, Barrowman told Scotland's The
Herald newspaper that he had no plans to marry, saying, "Why
would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates
me?". However, he and Gill are to become civil partners, but
as Barrowman explained when the couple were interviewed by
Attitude magazine, they do not want to call this a marriage:
"We're just going to sign the civil register. We're not
going to have any ceremony because I'm not a supporter of
the word marriage for a gay partnership."
Following the interview, there were several articles about
the couple, which also stated that they are planning to
become fathers with the help of a female friend, a claim
which is based on his interview with The Herald.
He has appeared in several West End musicals, including
Anything Goes, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Matador,
Hair, Grease! and The Phantom of the Opera (as Raoul).
He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1998 for
his role in The Fix. He has also appeared in the West End in
non-musical dramas, such as Rope and the 2005 production of
A Few Good Men, in which Barrowman starred opposite Rob
Lowe. Most recently he starred in Cinderella at the New
Wimbledon Theatre for the 2005-2006 Christmas season.
He has played the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard in
the West End and, briefly, on Broadway. His only other
Broadway credit is the Stephen Sondheim revue Putting It
Together (1999–2000). In 2002, he appeared in the central
role of Bobby in Sondheim's Company in the Kennedy Center's
Stephen Sondheim Celebration.
He is probably best known in the United States for starring
roles in several short-lived prime-time soap operas such as
Titans with Yasmine Bleeth in 2000 and Central Park West, as
well as the low-budget cult film Shark Attack 3.
Barrowman, a gay actor, was under consideration for the role
of Will in the popular US series "Will and Grace" but the
producers felt he was "too straight" and the role went to
straight actor Eric McCormack instead. "The sad thing is
it's run by gay men and women," said Barrowman in a January
2006 article.
He appeared in five episodes of the BBC One science fiction
television series Doctor Who (2005) as Captain Jack
Harkness, beginning in The Empty Child. On 17 October 2005,
The Independent reported that the BBC had commissioned a
13-part Doctor Who spin-off series titled Torchwood (an
anagram of "Doctor Who"), set in modern-day Britain and
investigating alien activities and crime. The series will
star Barrowman playing Jack Harkness, and will premiere in
Autumn 2006. Barrowman is also scheduled to return to Doctor
Who in 2007.
Barrowman's musical abilities have been featured in film: he
had a duet with Kevin Kline in the Cole Porter biopic
De-Lovely, and he sang "Springtime for Hitler" in the film
of Mel Brooks' The Producers, based on the Broadway
adaptation of the original movie.
He also recently performed in and co-presented another new
BBC One series for Saturday nights, entitled The Sound of
Musicals, in which performers from West End musicals sing
songs from the shows.
For the 2006/7 pantomime season, he is due to appear as Jack
in Jack and the Beanstalk at the New Theater in Cardiff.
Barrowman co-hosted the first run of the BBC children's
variety show Live & Kicking in 1993–1994, co-hosting the
show with Andi Peters and Emma Forbes, before moving on to
The Movie Game, a children's television game show.
In the late 1990s he was one of the regular presenters on
Channel Five's afternoon show 'Five's Company'.
Between 10 April and 14 April 2006, Barrowman presented
ITV's morning talk show This Morning whilst Phillip
Schofield took an Easter Break.
Between 1 May and 5 May 2006, Barrowman read bedtime stories
on the CBeebies channel.
In Summer 2006, he was on the Judges panel of BBC One's How
Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? music talent show
alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian, and Zoe Tyler.
On 14 January 2006 Barrowman took part in Dancing on Ice,
where Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean trained celebrities
to compete in an ice skating show which took onboard many
characteristics of a real ice skating competition.
Barrowman's skating partner was World Junior Gold Medalist
and three-time Russian champion Olga Sharutenko.
In their first appearance the pair scored 21 points out of
30. The following week, they scored 22 out of 30 while
dancing to "Is This The Way To Amarillo". In the 3rd week of
the competition, they danced to "Black Horse and the Cherry
Tree" and scored 22 out of 30. Despite a little fall near
the end of the routine, they got straight back up and
carried on, winning the best score of the evening and taking
1st place with the judges.
Although a favourite to win, on 4 February, Barrowman and
Sharutenko were eliminated from the competition. After
scoring 21.5 they found themselves in third place. This
position was expected to be good enough to see them through
to the next round, but they did not receive enough public
votes to keep them out of the bottom two. It is thought a
fall occurring in their performance the week before had
shaken John and made him tame down his usual startlingly
brilliant and unique performance that week. This combined
with people not voting, believing he was already going to
win meant he was voted out far before anyone expected.
Barrowman and Sharutenko faced Stefan Booth and Kristina
Cousins in the Skate Off and were eliminated by the judge’s
vote of 3 to 2. |
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Other Information |
Presented a children's TV show in the UK callled "Live and
Kicking". Played Beast in the London Musical of the Disney
animated film "Beauty and the Beast" at the Dominion theatre
in central London.
He has performed his Cabaret show in New York, Chicago, D.C.
and in Milwaukee.
Appeared as an extra in The Untouchables (1987) - the scene
in the police academy where Sean Connery is recruiting Andy
Garcia.
He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award
for Best Actor in a Musical of 1997 season for his
performance in The Fix.
Partner of British architect Scott Gill
Graduated from the United States International University of
San Diego
Voted best guest actor by readers of Doctor Who Magazine for
his five episodes in 2005 season. |
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My daughters and I love you on Torchwood and Dr. Who and your relationship with your companion is inspireing and reminds me alot of my own marriage. I personally would like to know if you have ever thought about doing Phantom of the Opera if you got the chance. Bye, we love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ur the best actor ever and i only watch torchwood cz ur in it ur so amazing i love you soooooo much n i wish u wernt gay lol
my friend went to see you at the panto and yelled 'i love you john barrowman' do you remember that? hope to see much more of you on our screens