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John Barrowman (born 11 March, 1967 in Glasgow) is a Scottish-American actor, musical performer, dancer, singer, skater and TV presenter who has lived and worked both in the United Kingdom and the United States. He currently lives in the UK. He became a United States citizen in 1985, and holds dual US/UK citizenship.New York Times, February 25, 2002, p. E8

Barrowman is best known on British television for his acting and presenting work. After appearing as Jack Harkness, a companion of the Doctor, in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who in 2005, he is currently starring in spin-off series Torchwood. He has featured in such light entertainment shows as Live & Kicking and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, as well as appearing on the celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice.

He was voted the 2006 Stonewall "Entertainer of the Year". and was third in Broadcast magazine's "Hottest Commodity" poll in November 2006.

Biography

Barrowman was raised in Joliet, Illinois, and graduated from Joliet West High School in 1985. He is the son of a plant manager of the former Caterpillar Inc. tractor factory in Joliet. While still in high school, he won parts in several musical productions while still a freshman. Between 1983 and 1985 he performed in productions of Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Camelot, L'il Abner and Anything Goes. He attended university in San Diego, and returned to the United Kingdom in 1990.

Barrowman has been with his partner, British architect Scott Gill, since 1991. Despite this long-standing relationship, Barrowman told Scotland's The Herald newspaper that he had no plans to marry, saying, "Why would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates me?". However, he and Gill are to become civil partners, but as Barrowman explained when the couple were interviewed by Attitude magazine, they do not want to call this a marriage: "We're just going to sign the civil register. We're not going to have any ceremony because I'm not a supporter of the word marriage for a gay partnership." He and Gill have planned for the ceremony take place when his Torchwood filming is complete; they hope to hold a non-extravagant ceremony with their families on December 27, 2006 at the St. David's Hotel and Spa in Cardiff.

Filmography

Acting career

He has appeared in several West End musicals, including Anything Goes, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Matador, Hair, Grease!, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera (as Raoul).

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1998 for his role in The Fix. He has also appeared in the West End in non-musical dramas, such as Rope and the 2005 production of A Few Good Men, in which Barrowman starred opposite Rob Lowe. Most recently he starred in Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre for the 2005-2006 Christmas season.

He has played the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard in the West End and, briefly, on Broadway. His only other Broadway credit is the Stephen Sondheim revue Putting It Together (1999–2000). In 2002, he appeared in the central role of Bobby in Sondheim's Company in the Kennedy Center's Stephen Sondheim Celebration.

He is probably best known in the United States for starring roles in several short-lived prime-time soap operas such as Titans with Yasmine Bleeth in 2000 and Central Park West, as well as the low-budget cult film Shark Attack 3.

Barrowman was under consideration for the role of Will in the popular US series "Will and Grace" but the producers felt he was "too straight" and the role went to straight actor Eric McCormack instead. "The sad thing is it's run by gay men and women," said Barrowman in a January 2006 article. He later expressed contempt at the idea that all gay men act the same way.

He appeared in five episodes of the BBC One science fiction television series Doctor Who (2005) as Captain Jack Harkness, beginning in The Empty Child. Torchwood (an anagram of "Doctor Who"), a 13-part Doctor Who spin-off series set in modern-day Cardiff and investigating alien activities and crime is now showing on BBC Three, repeated weekly on BBC Two. In both shows the character is portrayed as omnisexual. Barrowman is also scheduled to return to Doctor Who in 2007, appearing in three of the final four episodes of the show's third season. http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=3008

Barrowman's musical abilities have been featured in film: he had a duet with Kevin Kline in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely, and he sang "Springtime for Hitler" in the film of Mel Brooks' The Producers, based on the Broadway adaptation of the original movie.

He also recently performed in and co-presented another new BBC One series for Saturday nights, entitled The Sound of Musicals, in which performers from West End musicals sing songs from the shows.

For the 2006/7 pantomime season, he is due to appear as Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk at the New Theatre in Cardiff.

Torchwood

John Barrowman is now starring in Torchwood, a television series spun off from Doctor Who, which is targeted at an adult audience. It premiered on Sunday 22nd October 2006.

As a presenter

Barrowman co-hosted the first run of the BBC children's variety show Live & Kicking in 1993–1994, co-hosting the show with Andi Peters and Emma Forbes, before moving on to The Movie Game, a children's television game show.

In the late 1990s he was one of the regular presenters on Channel Five's afternoon show 'Five's Company'.

Between 10 April and 14 April, 2006, Barrowman presented ITV's morning talk show This Morning whilst Phillip Schofield took an Easter Break. EXCLUSIVE: DR'S JACK TAKES ON ITV SOFA The Daily Mirror, Cameron Robertson, Monday March 13, 2006

Between 1 May and 5 May, 2006, Barrowman read bedtime stories on the CBeebies channel.

In Summer 2006, he was on the Judges panel of BBC One's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? music talent show alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian, and Zoe Tyler. BBC - Press Office - How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? panel chosen Tuesday June 6, 2006

Dancing on Ice

On 14 January, 2006 Barrowman took part in Dancing on Ice, where Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean trained celebrities to compete in an ice skating show which took onboard many characteristics of a real ice skating competition. Barrowman's skating partner was World Junior Gold Medalist and three-time Russian champion Olga Sharutenko.

In their first appearance the pair scored 21 points out of 30. The following week, they scored 22 out of 30 while dancing to "Is This The Way To Amarillo". In the 3rd week of the competition, they danced to "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and scored 22 out of 30. Despite a little fall near the end of the routine, they got straight back up and carried on, winning the best score of the evening and taking 1st place with the judges.

Although a favourite to win, on 4 February, Barrowman and Sharutenko were eliminated from the competition. After scoring 21.5 they found themselves in third place. This position was expected to be good enough to see them through to the next round, but they did not receive enough public votes to keep them out of the bottom two. It is thought a fall occurring in their performance the week before had shaken John and made him tame down his usual performance that week. This combined with people not voting, believing he was already going to win meant he was voted out far before anyone expected. Barrowman and Sharutenko faced Stefan Booth and Kristina Cousins in the Skate Off and were eliminated by the judge’s vote of 3 to 2.

References

External links

• johnbarrowman.com
• Torchwood Section at unitnews
• Article from The Sun
• John Barrowman's Dancing on Ice Profile
• Interview with Barrowman at AfterElton.com
• John Barrowman's How Do You Solve A Problem Like A Maria? Profile
• John Barrowman Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing

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