 |
Rufus Hound | |
|---|---|
 Hound in 2011 | |
| Born | Robert James Blair Simpson 6 March 1979 Essex, England |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | Beth Johnson (m. 2007;div. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
Rufus Hound (born Robert James Blair Simpson [1] 6 March 1979) is an English actor, comedian and presenter.
Hound was born on 6 March 1979 [2] in Essex and moved to Surrey at the age of seven. [3] He was educated at Hoe Bridge School Woking, Frensham Heights and Godalming College, where he was elected as a Student Representative and built the college radio station. After leaving school he began working for a PR agency but started performing comedy in the evenings. In 2000, he left his job as an account executive for Claire's Accessories to begin working full-time as a stand-up comedian. While working at the Edinburgh Festival he adopted the stage name 'Rufus Hound' for the first time. [2] [4]
Hound hosted Destination Three, the coverage of the Glastonbury Festival and Top of the Pops in 2005 and 2006 alongside Fearne Cotton. He presented the idiosyncratic reality show Grime Scene Investigation on BBC Three with staff and students from Aston University, and narrated BBC Two's broadcasts of MythBusters . He has also appeared in many comedy shows and quizzes such as Street Cred Sudoku and Nevermind the Buzzcocks , as well as Celebrity Juice where he was a regular panellist. He narrated the 2009 series Rocket Science and has appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired! and Richard & Judy . He also presented Outtake TV on BBC1, replacing Anne Robinson.
In early 2008, Hound appeared twice on ITV's Thank God You're Here in the UK, after initially working as the warm-up act. In late summer 2008, Hound joined the panel show Argumental as the Blue Team Captain. Hound was the narrator for the gaming series Playr and presents What Do Kids Know? on UKTV-owned channel Watch. Hound took part in Let's Dance for Sport Relief , dancing to Cheryl Cole's "Fight for This Love" and won the final of the series on 13 March 2010. Partnered with Flavia Cacace, Hound won the 2013 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.
Hound hosted the year 2000 edition of My Funniest Year , a look at a past year of British television, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in September 2010. He has been a regular panelist on Celebrity Juice , hosted by Keith Lemon, and has appeared at Bright Club a number of times. [5] In January 2011, Hound participated in the former Channel 4 reality series Famous and Fearless . He came third for the boys' team, and was referred to as "The Ruthless Hound". In 2012, Hound was a team captain for Mad Mad World .
Since 2012, he has presented a programme on BBC Radio Four called My Teenage Diary, in which celebrities talk about the diary that they kept in their teenage years. On 22 February 2016, Hound made his debut as a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Just A Minute alongside regular Paul Merton and semi-regulars Pam Ayres and Graham Norton.
Hound plays a fictionalised version of himself in the CBBC television series Hounded as the protagonist, a normal television presenter who must constantly foil the plans of Dr Muhahaha, who plans on taking over the world. [6] In 2015, Hound played Sam Swift in an episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who , titled "The Woman Who Lived", and appeared in the Channel 4 drama series Cucumber as an eccentric character called Rupert.
Hound contributed his vocals to the track "Tazer Beam" by The Skints from their album FM, released in March 2015.
In 2016, Hound played the part of Duncan in the sixth series of the Sky 1 sitcom Trollied . [7]
In November 2017, Hound temporarily took over hosting responsibilities of Iain Lee's Talkradio show, named The Late Night Alternative as Iain Lee joined the cast of the 2017 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! . Since 2018 he has provided the voice of Waffle on the CBeebies show Waffle the Wonder Dog .
In 2021, Hound participated in the thirteenth series of Dancing on Ice opposite professional partner Robin Johnstone. [8] They were forced to withdraw from the competition in week 4 after Hound tested positive for COVID-19. [9] From October to November 2021, Hound appeared in four episodes of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Keith "Starbuck" Dursley. [10]
Hound made his acting debut in the Direct-to-DVD film Big Fat Gypsy Gangster which was directed by Ricky Grover. He also stars in the 2012 film The Wedding Video .
From October 2012 through February 2013, Hound played the lead role of Francis Henshall in the National Theatre's second touring production of One Man, Two Guvnors . Following the end of the tour, he took over the role in the West End production from 4 February 2013. In summer 2013 he played Roy in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Neville's Island by Tim Firth at the Theatre in the Park (a temporary theatre, while the Festival theatre was being refurbished).
In 2014, Hound played the role of Freddie in the West End production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels after out-of-town tryouts in Manchester and Aylesbury. [11]
In early 2016 he played the role of Sancho Panza in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Don Quixote , adapted by James Fenton. [12] The production transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End for a limited season from October 2018 to February 2019.
On 23 April 2016, Hound appeared in Shakespeare Live! From The RSC at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon (which was also broadcast live on BBC Two) celebrating the birthday and 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. He appeared as the Second Gangster opposite Henry Goodman performing 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' from the musical Kiss Me, Kate .
In late 2016, he played Toad in the world premiere of the new musical, The Wind in the Willows in Plymouth, Salford and Southampton. In June 2017 he reprised the role for a West End transfer at the London Palladium, after playing Dr Prentice in a revival of What The Butler Saw by Joe Orton at the Curve Theatre, Leicester and Theatre Royal Bath in March 2017.
In April 2018, he returned to Chichester Festival Theatre to play Garry Essendine in a revival of Present Laughter by Noël Coward. [13] From June 2018 he played Vic Billings / Ray in Dusty - The Dusty Springfield Musical on a UK tour. [14]
He has played the role of Constant in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Provoked Wife by John Vanbrugh [15] and returned to the RSC for winter 2019 to play Dennis's Dad in the new musical The Boy in the Dress, based on the book by David Walliams.
In March 2020, he was due to play the role of Hugo/Loco Chanelle in the West End production of Everybody's Talking About Jamie , [16] prior to the suspension of performances due to COVID-19. During November and December 2020 he portrayed Buttons in the adult pantomime Cinderella: A Socially Distanced Ball at the Turbine Theatre (at the Battersea Power Station), written by Jodie Prenger and Neil Hurst.
In 2021, he played Tom Good in the UK tour of The Good Life based on the BBC sitcom. [17] He appeared as Abanazar in Aladdin at the New Theatre Peterborough during Christmas of 2021. [18]
Hound campaigned for the Liberal Democrats at the 2010 general election. He has subsequently declared his support for the Labour Party. In an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show , which aired on 25 January 2014, Hound announced plans to run as a Member of the European Parliament for the party in the London constituency in the 2014 European Parliament election. [19] Hound was the fifth candidate on the National Health Action Party list, which came ninth, receiving 23,253 votes (1.06 per cent of the vote). [20]
Hound has made critical statements against Conservative Party figures David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt. [21]
In August 2015, Hound endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. He tweeted: "Understand your thinking, but Corbyn=alternative. The others =Tory policies inflicted with mea culpa eyes". [22] In July 2016, he also supported Corbyn after mass resignations from his cabinet and a leadership challenge. He performed stand-up at "Keep Corbyn event" in Kentish Town [23]
In May 2017, Hound wrote a series of tweets concerning the Manchester Arena bombing, in which he implied the attack was a false flag operation designed to help the Conservative Party in the upcoming general election, likening it to the German Reichstag fire of 1933. [24] [25] The comments were widely condemned: he was compared to 9/11 truther conspiracy theorists and accused of insensitivity to the victims of the attack; he later issued a comprehensive apology via social media. [26] [27] [24] [28]
Hound lives in Hampton, London. [29]
In April 2007, Hound was married at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas Strip, Nevada, to Beth Johnson, whom he had met at the Reading Festival the year before. [30] They have two children together Alby & Hilda. [2] They separated as of April 2020. [31] Rufus has since been linked romantically with actor Sally Hodgkiss.
Timothy L. McInnerny is a British actor. He is known for his many roles on stage and television, including as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the 1980s British sitcom Blackadder.
Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc is an English actress, comedian and television presenter.
Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street between 1998 and 2014. For this role, she won "Best Serial Drama Performance" at the 2014 National Television Awards and "Best Actress" at the 2014 British Soap Awards.
Joseph Marcell is a Saint Lucian-British actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Geoffrey Butler, the butler on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from September 1990 until the show ended in May 1996.
Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).
Maxine Peake is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in dinnerladies, a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as Veronica Ball in Shameless, the comedy drama from Channel 4 (2004–2007), Martha Costello in the BBC One legal drama Silk (2011–2014), and Grace Middleton in the BBC One drama series The Village (2013–2014). In 2017, she starred in the Black Mirror episode "Metalhead". She has also played the title role in Hamlet, as well as the notorious serial killer Myra Hindley in See No Evil: The Moors Murders, the critically acclaimed 2006 dramatisation by ITV of the Moors murders.
David John Threlfall is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series Shameless. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In April 2014, he portrayed comedian Tommy Cooper in a television film entitled Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This. In 2014, he starred alongside Jude Law in the thriller Black Sea. In 2022, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in the Martin McDonagh play Hangmen. In 2024 he played Paul Peveril in 6 part BBC drama Nightsleeper.
Emma Cunniffe is an English film, stage and television actress.
Doña Croll is a Jamaican-born British actress. She is best known for her roles in soap operas, playing Pearl McHugh in Channel 5's Family Affairs, Vera Corrigan in Doctors, and Emerald Fox in EastEnders, both on the BBC. She also played the regular role of nurse Adele Beckford in series 8 of Casualty.
Tom Burke is an English actor. He played Athos in the 2014–2016 BBC TV series The Musketeers, Dolokhov in the 2016 BBC literary-adaptation miniseries War & Peace, the eponymous character Cormoran Strike in the BBC series Strike, and Orson Welles in the 2020 film Mank.
Bríd Brennan is an Irish actress who is known for her film, TV and theatre work. She originated the role of Agnes in the Brian Friel play Dancing at Lughnasa, for which she won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She is also a three-time Olivier Award nominee; for Rutherford and Son (1995), The Little Foxes (2002) and The Ferryman (2018).
Chipo Tariro Chung is a Zimbabwean actress and activist based in London.
Sean Foley is a British director, writer, comedian and actor. Following early success as part of the comedy double act The Right Size and their long-running stage show The Play What I Wrote, Foley has more recently become a director, including of several West End comedy productions. From 2019 to 2024, he was appointed as Artistic Director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Rufus Norris is a British theatre and film director, who is currently the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre.
Lucian Gabriel Wiina Msamati is a British actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in theatre, film, television and radio. His notable screen roles include Salladhor Saan in the HBO series Game of Thrones, J.L.B. Matekoni in the BBC/HBO adaptation of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, David Runihura in the Netflix/BBC thriller Black Earth Rising and Ed Dumani in the Sky/AMC series Gangs of London.
Paul Hilton is an English actor on stage, radio, and TV. He is an alumnus of the Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Alex Gaumond is a Canadian actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker best known for his involvement in West End theatre. He plays series regular gendarme Caron, the chief of police in Sainte Victoire, in the Channel 5 television series The Madame Blanc Mysteries, starring Sally Lindsay.
Patrick O'Kane is an Irish actor who was born in 1965 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has been part of the companies of the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. He has appeared in London's West End and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In addition to his extensive stage work, O'Kane has appeared in movies and on television in many parts.
Fra Fee is a Northern Irish actor and singer known for his role as Kazi in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He portrayed Courfeyrac in Tom Hooper's 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables. Fee also played the role of Michael Carney in Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman at the Royal Court Theatre, West End, and Broadway, directed by Sam Mendes. For his performance, he won the 2018 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.
Pippa Nixon is an English actress. She trained at Manchester School of Theatre.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
