Hugh Bonneville facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hugh Bonneville DL
Bonneville in 2017
Born	Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams (1963-11-10) 10 November 1963 (age 61) Paddington, London, England
Alma mater	Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (BA) Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Known for	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey
Spouse(s)	Lucinda Williams ​ ​ (m. 1998; separated 2023)​
Children	1

Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams DL (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. 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 reprised his role in the feature films Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). He also appeared in the films Notting Hill (1999), Iris (2001), The Monuments Men (2014), and the Paddington films (2014–present).

Early life and education

Hugh Richard Bonneville 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 and at Sherborne School, an independent school in Dorset.

Following secondary education, Bonneville read theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge with a 2:2 in theology. He then went on to study acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Bonneville is also an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre.

Career

1990s

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, Kastril and later Surly in The Alchemist.

In 1994, Bonneville made his television debut, billed as Richard Bonneville in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes episode "The Dying Detective". His debut film was 1994's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh. His early roles were usually good-natured bumbling characters like Bernie in Notting Hill (1999) and Mr Rushworth in Mansfield Park (1999).

2000s

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 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.

2010s

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.

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. 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.

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

Bonneville played Mr. Brown in the 2014 film Paddington and its 2017 sequel Paddington 2. He has appeared in the singing comedic role of 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.

Bonneville has also narrated several Paddington stories available as audio books.

In 2017, Bonneville portrayed Lord Mountbatten in director Gurinder Chadha's film Viceroy's House, which depicted the tumult and violence surrounding the Partition of India during the final days of British rule. Also in 2017, he portrayed the voice of Merlin in the movie based on the children's TV series Thomas & Friends, Journey Beyond Sodor. Also that year, he narrated the documentary A Return to Grace: Luther's Life and Legacy and it was announced that Bonneville would play Roald Dahl in an upcoming biopic about the author.

In 2018, Bonneville succeeded Julie Andrews as host and narrator of the annual "From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration" episode of Great Performances, broadcast on New Year's Day on PBS in the United States. Also in 2018, he returned to voice Merlin in one of the episodes of the twenty-second series of Thomas & Friends.

In 2019, Bonneville portrayed C. S. Lewis at the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Shadowlands, along with actors Liz White and Andrew Havill.

2020s

On 8 March 2023, Bonneville appeared on ITV’s DNA Journey with comedian, John Bishop.

On 7 May 2023, Bonneville appeared as the host of the Coronation Concert of King Charles III. In June 2023, it was announced that Bonneville will return to the third instalment of Paddington.

Personal life

Bonneville married Lucinda Williams in 1998. They lived with their son in West Sussex. In September 2023, the couple separated after 25 years together.

In 2009, Bonneville was the voice of Justice Fosse in Joseph Crilly's British premiere of Kitty and Damnation for the Giant Olive Theatre Company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town. Shortly thereafter he became Giant Olive's first patron. Bonneville is also a patron of the London children's charities Go Live Theatre Projects and Scene & Heard, as well as an ambassador for WaterAid.

On 8 October 2019, he was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of West Sussex.

Works

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1994	Mary Shelley's Frankenstein	Schiller
1997	Tomorrow Never Dies	Air Warfare Officer – HMS Bedford
1999	Notting Hill	Bernie
	Mansfield Park	Mr Rushworth
2001	Blow Dry	Louis
	High Heels and Low Lifes	Farmer
	The Emperor's New Clothes	Bertrand
	Iris	Young John Bayley
2003	Conspiracy of Silence	Fr. Jack Dowling
2004	Piccadilly Jim	Lord Wisbeach
	Stage Beauty	Samuel Pepys
2005	The Commander: Virus	James Lampton	Uncredited
	The Commander: Blackout
	Man to Man	Fraser McBride
	Asylum	Max Raphael
	Underclassman	Headmaster Felix Powers
2006	Scenes of a ... Nature	Gerry
2007	Four Last Songs	Sebastian Burrows
	Hola to the World	Painter	Short film
2008	One of Those Days	Mr Burrell
	French Film	Jed
2009	Knife Edge	Charles Pollock
	Glorious 39	Gilbert Williams
	From Time to Time	Captain Oldknow
2010	Critical Eye	Brian
	Shanghai	Ben Sanger
	Third Star	Beachcomber
	Burke & Hare	Lord Harrington
	Hippie Hippie Shake	John Mortimer	Unreleased
2011	Third Star	Beachcomber
2014	The Monuments Men	Lieutenant Donald Jeffries
	Muppets Most Wanted	Irish Journalist
	Paddington	Henry Brown
2015	Stick Man	Santa Claus	Voice
	Silent Hours	Commander William Calthorpe
2017	Viceroy's House	Lord Mountbatten
	Paddington 2	Henry Brown
	Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor	Merlin	Voice
	Breathe	Teddy Hall
	A Return to Grace: Luther's Life and Legacy	Narrator
	Secrets of the Magna Carta		Documentary
2019	The Corrupted	Anthony Hammond
	Downton Abbey	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
2020	Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey	Mr. Delacroix
2021	To Olivia	Roald Dahl
2022	Downton Abbey: A New Era	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
	I Came By	Sir Hector Blake
	The Amazing Maurice	The Mayor	Voice
2023	Bank of Dave	Sir Charles
	Mummies	Lord Sylvester Carnaby	Voice
2024	Ozi: Voice of the Forest	Narrator	Voice
	Paddington in Peru	Henry Brown
2025	Untitled Downton Abbey: A New Era sequel	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham	Post-production
TBA	Go Away!	Bernard	Post-production

Television

Audiobooks

Awards

Honours

Commonwealth honours

Country	Date	Appointment	Post-nominal letters
United Kingdom	8 October 2019 – Present	Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex	DL

Scholastic

Location	Date	School	Degree
England		Corpus Christi College, Cambridge	Lower Second Class Honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Theology
England		Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art

Honorary degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree	Gave Commencement Address
England	October 2019	University of Winchester	Doctor of Arts (D.Arts)
England	September 2024	University of Chichester	Doctor of Theatre

See also

In Spanish: Hugh Bonneville para niños