The son of a publisher and a philosophy professor, handsome young British actor Hugh Dancy studied English Language and Literature at Oxford and speaks fluent French. He got his start performing in theater productions under the direction of Sam Mendes before he made his first few television guest-star appearances on Dangerfield, Cold Feet, and the miniseries Trial & Retribution II. He got his first starring role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of David Copperfield, which aired in the States on TNT, and he continued doing costume dramas adapted from literature with the BBC productions of Madame Bovary and Daniel Deronda. In 2000, he experimented with fantasy adventures, starring in the Three Musketeers-inspired Young Blades and appearing in an episode of Relic Hunter. He had a small role in the war drama Black Hawk Down before making the move toward romance with the straight-to-video titles The Sleeping Dictionary (opposite Jessica Alba) and Tempo (opposite Melanie Griffith). Dancy stuck with romance for his next feature, the fantasy comedy Ella Enchanted, opposite Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Family
-
Brother: Jack Dancy.
-
Father: Jonathan Dancy. British philosopher; professor at the University of Reading and the University of Texas at Austin
-
Mother: Sarah Dancy.
-
Sister: Katie Dancy.
Significant Others
-
Companion: Claire Danes. rumored to be dating as of Winter 2006
Education
-
Winchester College, Hampshire, England
-
St Peter's College, Oxford, Oxford, England
Milestones
-
1998 First small-screen appearance in "Trial & Retribution II"
-
1999 Appeared in two episodes of the British drama series "Dangerfield"
-
2000 Played a Frenchman fascinated by knights in the Canadian series "Relic Hunter"
-
2000 Played the lead in "David Copperfield," a TV/film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel
-
2001 Cast in Ridley Scott's war drama "Black Hawk Down"
-
2002 Played the lead in BBC's "Daniel Deronda," an adaptation of George Eliot's novel
-
2004 Appeared alongside Kate Moss in three Burberry campaigns
-
2004 Played Prince Charmont in the comedy-drama "Ella Enchanted"
-
2005 Co-starred in "Shooting Dogs (US title Beyond the Gates), Michael Caton-Jones' film based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belton, who worked in Rwanda during the Rwandan Genocide
-
2006 Earned an Emmy nomination portraying the Earl of Essex in the joint Channel 4/HBO production of "Elizabeth I"
-
2007 Appeared in in Michael Cunningham's film adaptation of Susan Minot's novel "Evening"
-
2007 Broadway debut as Captain Dennis Stanhope in "Journey's End"
-
2007 Cast in the feature adatation of "The Jane Austen Book Club," as Grigg an offbeat 40-something, and the only male member of the book club