Published by billie64

Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yoan Griffith), who burst on to our TV screens as the swashbuckling Commander Horatio Hornblower, has a lot more than a pair of knickerbockers under his belt.

Born in Cardiff in 1973, he made his TV debut at the age of 14, in the Welsh series 'People of the Valley'. After studying at RADA, he starred along side Stephen Fry and Jude Law in 'Wilde' (1997), Brian Gilbert's hommage to the melancholic life of homosexual writer Oscar Wilde. That same year he was to be seen again in James Cameron's monster, 'Titanic' .

Hornblower hit our screens in 1998, and Gruffudd hasn't looked back since: He's been too busy jumping between the big screen and the humble TV set, with a variety of roles to boot. In 2000 he starred as Soloman Levinsky in Paul Morrison's 'Solomon and Gaenor', which was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. He then jumped from '102 Dalmations' (2000) with Glen Close, to Ridley Scott's 'Black Hawk Down' (2001), managing to don his breeches for Hornblower at regular intervals in between. 'The Gathering', with Christina Ricci followed, and 2004 saw him as Lancelot in Antoine Fuqua's version of 'King Arthur', alongside Keira Knightley as the skimpily dressed Guinevere.

After being this busy, you'd expect him to be exhausted, but no, he's put away the breeches for now, and is honing his superpowers for the 'Fantastic Four', due for release in 2005.