Hugh Bonneville is a British actor. He is best known for playing Robert Crawley in the ITV hit series Downton Abbey.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career.
- His full name is Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams, DL
- He was born on 10 November 1963
- He is an English film and television actor
- He is best known for playing Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in the ITV historical drama series Downton Abbey
- His performance on the show earned him a nomination at the Golden Globes
- And two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations
- Bonneville was born in Paddington, London
- His mother was a nurse
- His father was a urological surgeon
- He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School
- And at Sherborne School, an independent school in Dorset
- Following secondary education, Bonneville read theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
- He studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London
- He left Cambridge with a 2:2 in theology
- He has since said that he tended to do more acting than academic work
- Bonneville is also an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre
- Bonneville married Lucinda “Lulu” Evans in 1998
- The couple have a son, Felix
- In 2009, Bonneville was the voice of Justice Fosse in Joseph Crilly’s British 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
- Bonneville is also a patron of the London children’s charity Scene & Heard
- And an ambassador for WaterAid
- Bonneville’s first professional stage appearance was at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park
- In 1987, he joined the National Theatre
- There he appeared in several plays, then the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1991
- He played Laertes to Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1992–1993)
- He played Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bergetto in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Kastril
- And later Surly in The Alchemist
- In 1991, Bonneville made his television debut
- He was billed as Richard Bonneville
- His debut film was 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh
- 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
- From 2010 until 2015, he appeared in the ITV period drama Downton Abbey, as Robert, Earl of Grantham
- From 2011 until 2014, Bonneville was the narrator of the Channel 4 show The Hotel
- Bonneville played Mr. Brown in the 2014 film Paddington and its 2017 sequel Paddington 2
- He has appeared in the singing comedic role of The Pirate King in the ABC fairy tale-themed musical comedy extravaganza series Galavant during its 2015 and 2016 seasons
- He also narrated the ITV series The Cruise
- In 2017, Bonneville portrayed Lord Louis Mountbatten in director Gurinder Chadha’s film Viceroy’s House
- The film depicted the tumult and violence surrounding the Partition of India during the final days of British rule
- Also in 2017, it was announced that Bonneville would play Roald Dahl in an upcoming biopic about the author
- In 2018, Bonneville began yearly appearances as the host and narrator of the annual “From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration” episode of Great Performances
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