Hugh Bonneville Biography

Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English stage, film, television and radio actor. He is most well known for starring in the ITV hit television series Downton Abbey (beginning in 2010) and the BBC London Olympics mockumentary comedy series Twenty Twelve.

Bonneville also starred as Bernie in Notting Hill. From 2011, he has been the narrator of the Channel 4 show The Hotel, for all three series. In 2013, he made a brief appearance as the Duke of Milan for the opening episode of Da Vinci's Demons.

Early life and education

Bonneville was born in Blackheath, London, UK, to a nurse mother and a tree surgeon father. He was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school in the market town of Sherborne, Dorset.

Following secondary education, Bonneville read Theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Bonneville is also an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre.

Acting

Bonneville's first professional stage appearance was at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In 1987 he joined the National Theatre where he appeared in several plays, then the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1991, where he played Laertes to Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1992"1993). He was also Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bergetto in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Kastril and later Surly in The Alchemist.

He made his television debut in 1991, billed as Richard Bonneville. His early roles were usually good-natured bumbling characters like Bernie in Notting Hill (1999) and Mr. Rushworth in Mansfield Park (1999). In the BBC television series, Take A Girl Like You (2000) and Armadillo (2001), he played more villainous characters, leading up to the domineering Henleigh Grandcourt in Daniel Deronda (2002) and the psychopathic killer James Lampton in The Commander (2003) series. In Love Again, he played the poet Philip Larkin.

In 2004, he played Sir Christopher Wren in the docudrama Wren " The Man Who Built Britain. In Iris (2001), he played the young John Bayley opposite Kate Winslet, with his performance lauded by critics and receiving a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In early 2010, he earned a role in the comedy film Burke and Hare. In 2011 and 2012 he starred as Ian Fletcher in the award-winning BBC comedy series Twenty Twelve. In December 2012 he appeared on BBC 2 with co-star Jessica Hynes in World's Most Dangerous Roads, travelling through Georgia. He is appearing in the 2012 series of the popular ITV period drama Downton Abbey, as Robert, Earl of Grantham. He is also slated to appear in the much-delayed Hippie Hippie Shake, alongside Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller.

Patronage

In 2009, Bonneville played the voice of Justice Fosse in Joseph Crilly's UK premiere of Kitty and Damnation for the Giant Olive Theatre Company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town. Shortly thereafter he became Giant Olive's first Patron.

Charity

He is a patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard, and of the medical relief charity Medical Emergency Relief International.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1990	Chancer	Jas	TV series (2 episodes)
1991	Dodgem	Rick Bayne	TV series (5 episode)
1993	Paul Merton: The Series	Captain	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.2.6")
	Stalag Luft	Barton	TV film
1994	The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes	Victor Savage	TV series (1 episode: "The Dying Detective", credited as Richard Bonneville)
	Peak Practice	Dominic Kent	TV series (1 episode: "Perfect Love")
	Cadfael	Daniel Aurifaber	TV series (1 episode: "The Sanctuary Sparrow", credited as Richard Bonneville)
	Frankenstein	Schiller
	Between the Lines	Henry Oakes	TV series (1 episode: "Close Protection", credited as Richard Bonneville)
1995	The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show		TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.2.5")
	The Vet	Alan Sinclair	TV series (6 episodes)
	Eastenders	Headmaster	TV series (1 episode: "14 December 1995")
1996	Married for Life	Steve Hollingsworth	TV series (7 episodes); a British remake of
	Bugs	Nathan Pym	TV series (1 episode: "Bugged Wheat")
1997	Breakout	Peter Schneider	TV film
	See You Friday	Daniel	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.1.1")
	The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous	Ferdinand Fitzgerald	TV mini-series (1 episode: "Episode No.1.1")
	Get Well Soon	Norman Tucker	TV series (4 episodes)
	Tomorrow Never Dies	Air Warfare Officer " HMS Bedford
1998	Heat of the Sun	Reverend Edward Herbert	TV series (1 episode: "Hide in Plain Sight")
	Mosley	Bob Boothby	TV series (4 episodes)
	The Scold's Bridle	Tim Duggan	TV film
	Holding the Baby	Gordon Muir	TV series (series 2)
1999	Murder Most Horrid	Inspector Dawson	TV series (1 episode: "Confessions of a Murderer")
	Notting Hill	Bernie
	Mansfield Park	Mr. Rushworth
2000	Thursday the 12th	Brin Hopper	TV film
	Madame Bovary	Charles Bovary	TV film
	Take a Girl Like You	Julian Ormerod	TV series
2001	Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairy Tale	Publisher	TV film
	Blow Dry	Louis
	High Heels and Low Lifes	Farmer
	The Cazalets	Hugh Cazalet	TV series (6 episodes)
	The Emperor's New Clothes	Bertrand
	Armadillo	Torquil Helvoir Jayne	TV series
	Iris	Young John Bayley	Berlin International Film Festival Award for New Talent Nominated"?BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated"?European Film Award for Best Actor
2002	Impact	Phil Epson	TV film
	The Gathering Storm	Ivo Pettifer	TV film
	Right Under My Eyes	James	TV film
	The Biographer	Eric	TV film
	Midsomer Murders	Hugh Barton	TV series (1 episode: "Ring Out Your Dead")
	Tipping the Velvet	Ralph Banner	TV series
	Doctor Zhivago	Andrey Zhivago	TV film
	Daniel Deronda	Henleigh Grandcourt	TV film
2003	The Commander	James Lampton	TV film
	Conspiracy of Silence	Fr. Jack Dowling
	Love Again	Philip Larkin	TV film
	Hear the Silence	Dr. Andrew Wakefield	TV film
2004	Piccadilly Jim	Lord Wisbeach
	Wren: The Man Who Built Britain	Christopher Wren	TV documentary
	Stage Beauty	Samuel Pepys
2005	The Commander: Virus	James Lampton	uncredited
	The Commander: Blackout	James Lampton	uncredited
	The Rotter's Club	Voice of Adult Ben	TV series
	Man to Man	Fraser McBride
	Asylum	Max Raphael
	The Robinsons	George Robinson	TV series (6 episodes)
	Underclassman	Headmaster Felix Powers
2006	Beau Brummell: This Charming Man	Prince Regent	TV film
	Courting Alex	Julian/Charles Carter	TV series (10 episodes)
	Scenes of a Sexual Nature	Gerry
	Tsunami: The Aftermath	Tony Whittaker	TV film
2007	Four Last Songs	Sebastian Burrows
	The Diary of a Nobody	Pooter	TV film
	The Vicar of Dibley	Jeremy Ogilvy	TV series (1 episode: "The Vicar in White")
	Five Days	DSI Iain Barclay	TV series (4 episodes)
	Miss Austen Regrets	Rev. Brook Bridges	TV film
	Hola to the World	Painter	short
	The Replacements	Voice	TV series (1 episode: "London Calling")
	Freezing	Matt	TV series (3 episodes: 2007"2008)
2008	Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story	Sir Hugh Carleton Greene	TV film
	Bonekickers	Gregory Parton	TV series (6 episodes)
	Lost in Austen	Mr. Bennet	TV mini-series (4 episodes)
	One of Those Days	Mr. Burrell	short
	French Film	Jed	Jury Prize " Best Actor
	Country House Rescue (series 1)	Narrator	TV series (6 episodes: 2008"2009)
2009	Knife Edge	Charles Pollock
	Hunter	DSI Iain Barclay	TV mini-series (2 episodes)
	Glorious 39	Gilbert
	From Time to Time	Captain Oldknow
	Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue	Narrator	TV series (6 episodes)
	Country House Rescue Revisited	Narrator	TV series (3 episodes: 2009)
2010	Legally Mad	Gordon Hamm	TV film
	Critical Eye	Brian
	Ben Hur	Pontius Pilate	TV mini-series (2 episodes)
	Shanghai	Ben Sanger
	Third Star	Beachcomber
	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Edward Masterman	TV series (1 episode: "Murder on the Orient Express")
	The Silence	Chris	TV series (4 episodes)
	Rev.	Roland Wise	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.1.4")
	Burke & Hare	Lord Harrington
	As Time goes by (film)
	Hippie Hippie Shake	John Mortimer	Unreleased
	Country House Rescue (series 2)	Narrator	TV series (8 episodes: 2010)
	Downton Abbey	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham	TV series (25 episodes: 2010") Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated " Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Miniseries or Television Film Nominated " Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor " Drama Series Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2012) Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2013)
2011	Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side	Inspector Hewitt	TV film
	Twenty Twelve	Ian Fletcher	TV series Nominated " BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance
	Doctor Who	Captain Avery	TV series (2 episodes: "The Curse of the Black Spot" and "A Good Man Goes to War")
	Country House Rescue (series 3)	Narrator	TV series (7 episodes: 2011)
	The Hotel	Narrator	Series 1
	Third Star	Beachcomber	Film
	Rev.	Roland Wise	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.2.1")
2012	The Hotel	Narrator	Series 2
	Turn Back Time: The Family	Narrator	TV series (5 episodes: 2012)
	Getting On	Philip Moore	TV series (1 episode: 2012)
	Mr Stink	Mr Stink	TV film
	World's Most Dangerous Roads		TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.3.2")
2013	The Hotel	Narrator	Series 3
	Monuments Men
	Da Vinci's Demons	Duke of Milan	TV series (1 episode: 2013)