John Barrowman

 

John Barrowman
Birth name	John Barrowman
Born	March 11 1967 (1967--) (age 40) Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Partner(s)	Scott Gill
Official site	JohnBarrowman.net

John Barrowman (born 11 March, 1967 in Mount Vernon, Glasgow) is a Scottish-American actor, musical performer, dancer, singer, and TV presenter who has lived and worked both in the United Kingdom and the United States. He currently lives in the UK with long term partner Scott Gill.

Barrowman is best known on British television for his acting and his presenting work on theatre. His most prominent television role has been the Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood. He has featured in such light entertainment shows as Live & Kicking, Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, as well as appearing on the celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice.

Openly gay, he was voted the 2006 Stonewall "Entertainer of the Year"^[1] and was third in Broadcast magazine's "Hottest Commodity" poll in November 2006.^[2]

Biography

Barrowman was born in Mount Vernon, Glasgow, where he spent the first eight years of his life. His mother worked in a record shop and his father worked for the Caterpillar heavy machinery company in nearby Uddingston. In 1976 the family was relocated to America by the company his father was working for. ^[3].

He spent the next few years of his life in Joliet, Illinois, where his father was a manager at the Caterpillar tractor factory. Barrowman graduated from Joliet West High School in 1985. While still in high school, he won parts in several musical productions even as a freshman. Between 1983 and 1985 he performed in productions of Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Camelot, Li'l Abner and Anything Goes. He also spent a summer working for an Illinois power company, a job arranged by his father to give him experience of manual labour.^[4] He attended university in San Diego, and returned to the United Kingdom in 1990.

As he said when he was guest hosted The Friday Night Project, John was dumped before his high school prom because he wore a kilt.

Acting career

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 a BBC One series on Saturday nights, entitled The Sound of Musicals, in which performers from West End musicals sing songs from the shows.^[5]

His professional debut was in the 1989 London West End production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, playing Billy Crocker, a role that he reprised in Trevor Nunn's 2003 West End revival. He has also appeared in the West End productions of Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Matador, Hair, Grease!, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera (as Raoul).

He was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1998 for originating the role of Cal Chandler in The Fix^[6], a performance he repeated in Cameron Mackintosh's 1998 gala concert Hey, Mr Producer!. 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 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 as Jack Ross opposite Rob Lowe. He has starred in the pantomimes Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre (Christmas 2005–6) and Jack and the Beanstalk at Cardiff's New Theatre (Christmas 2006–7). He will play the title role in Aladdin at the Birmingham Hippodrome over Christmas 2007–8.^[7]

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 Yasmine Bleeth cult film Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.

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 Eric McCormack instead, who is straight. "The sad thing is it's run by gay men and women," said Barrowman in a January 2006 article.^[8] He later expressed contempt at the idea that all gay men act the same way.^[9]

He has appeared playing an occasional character in BBC One's science fiction television series Doctor Who, since Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davies revived the series in 2005. Barrowman first appeared as Captain Jack Harkness in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances two-part story, and subsequently appeared in Boom Town, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways in 2005, and in the 2007 season's Utopia, The Sound of Drums, and season finale Last of the Time Lords.

Barrowman continues in the role of Harkness in 2008's second season of Davies's Torchwood, an adult-orientated spin-off from Doctor Who, whose title is an anagram of "Doctor Who". The spin-off's first 13-week season - set in modern Cardiff- was shown on BBC Three, BBC One and the BBC's BBC HD satellite and cable high definition channel. Harkness is Davies's main addition to the roster of characters that have been careening through space and time parallel to The Doctor on BBC TV since 1963. In both shows Harkness appears to be pansexual.

In the first series of Torchwood, Barrowman's character headed an organization apparently investigating crime and alien activity (In Tooth & Claw, episode 2 of 2006's Doctor Who season - without Harkness - Torchwood was created by Queen Victoria after her meeting with The Doctor at Torchwood House in the Scottish Highlands, during which she banished The Doctor and determined that Britain must be defended against alien/supernatural forces - hence Torchwood). Because of The Doctor's ministrations and a mistake his then companion Rose Tyler made, Harkness (a time agent from the far future who assumed the identity of a World War II flyer) cannot die.

Barrowman has also appeared in on a Doctor Who special of the BBC's The Weakest Link.^[10]

Presenting and guest starring

Barrowman appeared in the BBC children's Saturday morning variety show Live & Kicking, in which he hosted the Electric Circus segment, reporting on technology news, 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 Five's afternoon show Five's Company.

During January and February 2006 Barrowman took part in the ITV1 series 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. Although a favourite to win, on 4 February, 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.

Between 10 April and 14 April, 2006, Barrowman presented ITV's morning talk show This Morning whilst Phillip Schofield took an Easter Break. ^[11] 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. ^[12]

On December 31 2006, Barrowman made two television appearances. The first was on BBC Television's Heaven & Earth,^[13] hosted by Gloria Hunniford. On it he talked about spirituality and civil partnerships. His second appearance was as a guest on a team with Craig Revel Horwood and Louis Walsh, on Graham Norton's one-off programme, The Big Finish^[13] which was also broadcast on BBC Television. It was a light-hearted look at news stories in 2006.

On February 11, 2007, he co-presented the E!: Entertainment Television BAFTA Film Awards red carpet coverage with Ruby Wax.^[14] He also guest-presented two editions of Elaine Paige on Sunday, a pre-recorded BBC Radio 2 weekly musical theatre and film music showcase, broadcast on February 11 and February 18, 2007.^[15]

In 2007 Barrowman was a judge in the BBC One TV series "Any Dream Will Do" to find a new star to play the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in London's West End, won on June 9 by Lee Mead, of whom he said: "Lee won because he is polished, professional and close to perfection in what he does. He goes on stage and commands it, and one of the best qualities about him is that he doesn't analyse the song too much. He just gets out there and does it. I'm happy to give over my West End leading man's shoes for a while, to allow him to fill them." [1] "The West End had need of Lee Mead," he says on a post-final party on video posted at Andrew Lloyd Webber's website. [2]

He has also guested on BBC Two comedy panel quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 19, Episode 5) , challenging host Simon Amstell to a "gay-off", Al Murray's Happy Hour, The Charlotte Church Show, and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

On Friday 27 July 2007 Barrowman guest hosted The Friday Night Project, on Channel 4, with Justin-Lee Collins and Alan Carr.^[16]

Personal life

Barrowman has been with his partner, British architect Scott Gill, since 1993 when they met during a production of Rope at the Chichester Festival Theatre.^[17] The couple have homes in London and the Bay Area of Cardiff.

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 became civil partners on December 27 2006. As Barrowman explained when the couple were interviewed by Attitude magazine, the couple 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."^[18][9][19] The two did have a small ceremony in Cardiff with around 40 friends and family.^[20] Among the guests were the regular cast of Torchwood, along with Russell T Davies, the Doctor Who and Torchwood executive producer.^[17] The civil partnership was covered by OK! magazine, which published pictures of the ceremony on 16 January, 2007.

Barrowman is signed to write his autobiography with Michael O'Mara Books, the book is to be called Anything Goes named after the Cole Porter song and musical of the same name and will be published in Spring 2008.^[21] His sister, English professor and journalist, Carole Barrowman is to write the book using her brother's dictations.^[22]

Barrowman is bidialectal. He learned an American accent after school children picked on his Scottish accent when he moved to the U.S.. He stated while he was appearing on The Friday Night Project that he still speaks in a Scottish accent when he is with his parents.

While visiting the gardens at Highgrove, the home of HRH The Prince of Wales, he was "caught short", he said on 23 June2007's edition of BBC One's Would I Lie To You comedy quiz. While urinating in the garden, he set off an alarm.

Filmography

Year	Title	Type	Role	More information
2006 - to present	Torchwood	TV Series	Captain Jack Harkness	Torchwood at the Internet Movie Database
2005 - 2007	Doctor Who	TV Series	Captain Jack Harkness	Doctor Who (2005-) at the Internet Movie Database
2005	The Producers	Film	Lead Tenor	The Producers at the Internet Movie Database
2004	De-Lovely	Film	Jack/Musical Performer	De-Lovely at the Internet Movie Database
2004	Method	Film	Reporter	Method at the Internet Movie Database
2002	Shark Attack 3: Megalodon	Film	Ben Carpenter	Shark Attack 3: Megalodon at the Internet Movie Database
2000	Titans	TV Series	Peter Williams	Titans at the Internet Movie Database
2000	Putting It Together	TV Special	The Young Man	Putting It Together at the Internet Movie Database
1996	Central Park West	TV Series	Peter Fairchild	Central Park West at the Internet Movie Database
1987	The Untouchables	Film	(uncredited)	The Untouchables at the Internet Movie Database

Recordings

Year	Title	Album Artist	Label	Notes
1994	Songs from Grease	John Barrowman	JAY Records	Studio recording
1994	Godspell	London Cast	JAY Records
1998	The Fix	Original London Cast	Relativity
1998	Hey Mr Producer!	Various Artists	First Night Records	Performing "One, Two, Three" from The Fix
2002	The Musicality of Andrew Lloyd Webber	Various Artists	JAY Records	Performing "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
2002	Essential Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber	Various Artists	Metro Music	Performing "High Flying, Adored" from Evita
2002	Greatest Songs from the Musicals	Various Artists	Soho	Performing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from The Lion King and "Grease" from Grease
2002	Loving You	Various Artists	JAY Records	Performing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from The Lion King
2003	Anything Goes	2003 London Cast	First Night Records
2003	Reflections from Broadway	John Barrowman	JAY Records	Studio album
2004	Swings Cole Porter	John Barrowman	JAY Records	Studio album
2004	De-Lovely	Original Soundtrack	Columbia	Performing "Night and Day"
2004	The Producers	Original Soundtrack	Sony BMG	Performing "Springtime for Hitler"
2006	Just So	World Premiere Cast	First Night Records
2007	Aspects of Lloyd Webber	John Barrowman	JAY Records	Studio album (re-issue of 1997 album)
2007	Another Side	John Barrowman	Sony BMG	Studio album (first pop album)

References

External links

• John Barrowman's personal website
• John Barrowman at the Internet Movie Database
• John Barrowman at the Notable Names Database
• Interview with Barrowman at AfterElton.com
• BBC's Torchwood site
• BBC's Doctor Who site
• BBC's Any Dream Will Do site
• John Barrowman's How Do You Solve A Problem Like A Maria? Profile
• Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org

Torchwood
Torchwood main pages	Themes • Criticism • Torchwood Declassified • Doctor Who • Whoniverse • Torchwood Institute • Cardiff Rift • Weevils
Main characters	Jack Harkness • Gwen Cooper • Owen Harper • Toshiko Sato • Ianto Jones
Torchwood lists	Episodes • Novels • Audio books • Monsters and aliens • Minor characters • Items • Celebrity appearances

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