About this Artist
IOAN GRUFFUDD Welsh-born actor Ioan Gruffudd began acting at age 11 in a Welsh language soap opera called Pobol Y Cwm (People of the Valley) for the BBC in Wales. He went on to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, when at age 23 he was cast as “Pip” in a BBC adaptation of Great Expectations.
Ioan was introduced to an American audience when he played 5th Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe aboard James Cameron’s Titanic in 1997. Soon after, he was cast as the title role in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries Horatio Hornblower, an adaptation of the C.S. Forester novels for A&E. In 1999 Ioan met his wife, Alice Evans, on the set of 102 Dalmatians when he played Kevin Shephard opposite Glenn Close. He played Lt. Beales in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and Dan Blakely in the horror thriller The Gathering alongside Christina Ricci. Having moved to Los Angeles in 2003, he immediately landed the part of Lukas Gold, one of the leading roles in the CBS drama Century City alongside Viola Davis. Later that year, he appeared as Lancelot opposite Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, Hugh Dancy, and Joel Edgerton in Antoine Fuqua’s epic retelling of King Arthur for Disney, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
After playing the lead role of William Wilberforce in Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Ioan became internationally known when he was cast as Dr. Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic) in The Fantastic Four and The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for 20th Century Fox. Both films grossed over $600 million dollars worldwide. In 2011, Ioan showed us his comedic side when he appeared as the “Wetwork Guy” alongside Jason Bateman, Jason Sudekis, and Charlie Day in Seth Gordon’s hilarious Horrible Bosses.
His other film credits include the quirky comedy The TV Set, co-starring David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver; the British drama The Kid, directed by Nick Moran; and the fantasy adventure The Secret of Moonacre, alongside Tim Curry. He also voiced the title character in the animated film Agent Crush, was featured alongside Julia Roberts and Ryan Reynolds in Fireflies in the Garden, and starred in the tragic love story Solomon & Gaenor, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film.
In addition to his dramatic and comedic adeptness, Ioan displayed his musical proficiency in 2013 with a guest-starring arc on Glee, where he appeared as Paolo San Pablo and performed songs and scenes from Funny Girl alongside Lea Michele.
Ioan stars in the Australian crime drama series Harrow, which is produced by ABC Studios International and Hoodlum Entertainment. He also has a starring role opposite Joanne Froggatt in a six-part thriller series Liar, co-produced by SundanceTV in the US & ITV in the UK, which has an upcoming second season. He played Dr. Henry Morgan in the ABC series Forever, followed by a season-long recur as the tech billionaire John Booth in Lifetime’s Peabody Award-winning series UnReal. Ioan can also be seen in the upcoming film The Professor and the Madman opposite Mel Gibson and Sean Penn. Prior to that he made a return to the big screen in San Andreas, opposite Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino.
Ioan was recently awarded the Welsh BAFTA’s Sian Phillips award for significant contribution to film or television. He currently resides in Los Angeles.