Hugh Bonneville

Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor.

Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams was born on 10 November 1963 in Paddington, London.

His mother was a nurse and his

father was a urological surgeon.

He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School in south London and at Sherborne School.

Following secondary education, Bonneville read theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

He graduated from Cambridge with a 2:2 in theology.

He went on to study at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Bonneville is an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre.

When he began acting, Bonneville chose Richard Bonneville, a variation of his middle names, as his stage name, because there was a well-known playwright named Hugh Williams.

After appearing as Richard Bonneville for ten years, he changed Richard to Hugh.

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 played Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bergetto in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Kastril and later Surly in The Alchemist.

In 1994, billed as Richard Bonneville, he appeared in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes episode "The Dying Detective".

His film debut was in 1994's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh.

In the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, he had a small role playing a naval sailor onboard "HMS Bedford".

He also appeared in the films Notting Hill (1999), Iris (2001), The Monuments Men (2014), and the Paddington films (2014–present).

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 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 2004, Bonneville played Sir Christopher Wren in the docudrama Wren – The Man Who Built Britain.

Bonneville also works extensively in radio.

He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015.

His performance on the show earned him a nomination at the Golden Globes and two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, as well as three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

He played the role of Jerry Westerby in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the John le Carré novel The Honourable Schoolboy, first broadcast in January 2010.

Earlier, he appeared in the surreal parallel universe comedy Married.

From 2010 until 2015, he appeared in the ITV period drama Downton Abbey, as Robert, Earl of Grantham, a role he repeated in the 2019 film.

Bonneville again reprised the role of Robert Crawley in the 2022 film Downton Abbey: A New Era.

In early 2010, he appeared 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, and reprised the role in the 2014 BBC comedy series W1A.

From 2011 until 2014, Bonneville was the narrator of the Channel 4 show The Hotel.

In December 2012, he appeared on BBC Two with co-star Jessica Hynes in World's Most Dangerous Roads, travelling through Georgia.

He also appeared in the much-delayed film Hippie Hippie Shake with Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller.

On 18 November 2012, Bonneville appeared on stage at St Martin's Theatre in the West End for a 60th anniversary performance of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the world's longest-running play.

Bonneville played Mr. Brown in the 2014 film Paddington and its 2017 sequel Paddington 2.

He has appeared in the singing comedic role of Peter the Pillager, 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.

He reprised his role in the feature films, Downton Abbey (2019), and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).