John Barrowman - Biography

In a nutshell

John is a bit like Marmite, don't you think? You either love the man (it seems lots of middle-aged women do) or you hate him (a lot of gay men seem to hate him, funnily enough...) but he won Stonewall's 2006 'Entertainer of the Year' award so he must be doing something right.

Here's something we're happy to clear up for you. The reason he's Scottish but has an American accent (it's like, so totally confusing) is because he had him family relocated there because of his Dad's work commitments.

We don't usually stereotype but John is most certainly a 'theatre luvvie' if ever there was one. In the early 80s he starred in lots of stage work, from Hello, Dolly! to Oliver!. He managed to squeeze in some study at San Diego University.

Apparently John was up for the role of Will in American sitcom Will & Grace but ? we hope you're sitting down ? was considered 'too straight' by producers. Ahem. The role instead went to Eric McCormack who, funnily enough, is straight.

He's had massive success in the past couple of years, mainly down to his role as Captain Jack in Doctor Who. He appeared in a number of episodes before becoming so hugely popular (apparently) that the character was given his own spinoff show, Torchwood, which started in 2006.

Think back to the first series of Saturday morning show, Live & Kicking. Remember Andi Peters? Remember Emma Forbes? Aaah, what a lovely pairing. But wait, who's the third presenter who didn't really gel? Look, it's John Barrowman! That's right, John has had a stint on Saturday morning TV before moving to prime-time for a stint as a judge on 'Any Dream Will Do'. He's also presented The Movie Game. Classic. Look out for John's new Saturday night show which, from what we know at the moment, involves singing and surprising members of the audience. It's called 'Tonight's the Night' and will be on BBC One soon. We'll have to watch the first episode just to check nothing bad happens!

John lives between London and Cardiff with his partner, Scott Gill.

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