Darren Day
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| Darren Day | |
|---|---|
| Born | Darren Graham 17 July 1968 Colchester, Essex, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor, singer |
| Spouse(s) | Stephanie Dooley (21 May 2007-present; 2 children) |
Darren Day (born Darren Graham; 17 July 1968, Colchester, Essex) is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles.
Contents
Early life
Day's paternal grandfather had a comedy acrobatic strongman act and was once a warm-up act for George Formby. Day attended Sir Charles Lucas Arts College, and undertook drama classes at evenings and weekends until he was 13, when he turned his attention to snooker.[1] He became a professional snooker player at 17, but found himself drawn to entertainment.
Career
Day started his career as part of a comedy cabaret trio when he was just 17. He also worked as a Butlin's redcoat for a season. He later went solo and auditioned for BBC's talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1987 and appeared on the show in 1988, introduced by host Bob Monkhouse. He won several heats and came fourth in the final.[citation needed]
Day made his breakthrough as an actor in London's West End theatre, starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when he replaced the departing Phillip Schofield.[1] He then starred in many West end shows, such as Grease', Summer Holiday' and Godspell and went on to develop a career as a television presenter, presenting programmes such as You Bet!, and Don't Try This at Home!. He appeared in the first series of the reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In 1991, Day presented the Classic Nursery Rhymes video.[2]
Day has appeared in many touring stage musicals, including Summer Holiday, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, Hello Dolly and Great Expectations. In 2007, Day made a guest appearance in July on ITV's police drama The Bill.[citation needed]
Autumn 2007 saw him take over from Mark Little in the UK tour of Defending the Caveman before returning to pantomime at the Lowry, Salford as King Rat in Dick Whittington.[3] In 2009 he changed management and was then cast in the musical, We Will Rock You, alongside Kevin Kennedy, which toured the UK.[4] From October 2010 to Jan 2011 Day played soap villain Danny Houston in the popular series Hollyoaks.[citation needed]
In early 2012, Day took on the role of American author Paul Sheldon in a production of Misery. The production was nominated locally for a Time Out Theatre Award. In Autumn 2012, he played HIV-positive gospel singer Gideon in the European premiere of the award-winning USA musical "The Last Session", for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the Off West End Awards ("The Offies"). In September 2013 he starred in the new musical comedy "Stand Up" with Lionel Blair and Billy Pearce. In 2014, he revisited his cabaret roots when he stepped in for his old friend, Joe Longthorne, who was ill.[5] He then guested on the Holby City Christmas Special, playing panto dame Michael Evans.[6] In 2015 he toured his solo cabaret internationally. He also played villain Rik Searle in the feature film A Bus Could Run You Over. Early 2016 will see the release of his new album, 'This is the Moment', his first ever album of Musical Theatre songs and he will join the tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, playing the role of Tick/Mitzi
On 5 January 2016, Day entered the Celebrity Big Brother house as a contestant.
Day is father of three. He has a son, Corey, with actress Suzanne Shaw, two children with his wife, actress Stephanie Dooley - Madison and Dalton - and is a Stepfather to Jordan, his wife's son from her first marriage.
Filmography
Film
| 2015 | A Bus Could Run You Over | Rik Searle | Feature film, Fulwell73 |
| 2014 | Rudy | Tom | Feature Film, directed by Shona Auerbach |
| 2002 | Alice | Short film | |
| 2004 | Hellbreeder | Jonathan |
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Doctors | David Wilde | Recurring; 8 episodes |
| 2004 | French and Saunders | Jude Law | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | The Bill | Jeff Slade | 1 episode: Copy Cat Killer |
| 2010 | Hollyoaks | Danny Houston | Recurring; 26 episodes |
| 2010 | Come Dine With Me | Himself | Celebrity Special |
| 2012 | Crime Stories | Graeme Watts | 1 episode; Episode 5 |
| 2014 | Holby City | Michael Evans | 1 episode; Christmas Special |
| 2016 | Celebrity Big Brother | Himself | Housemate |
Discography
Singles
- "Only The Good Die Young" – (2011), For The Soldiers Charity
- "Young Girl" – (1994), No.42 UK
- "Summer Holiday Medley" – (1996), No.17 UK
- "How Can I Be Sure?" – (1998), No.71 UK[7]
Albums
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – Darren will let Alfie do the talking, bbc.co.uk; retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "It's take Rat for Darren", Manchester Evening News; accessed 13 June 2007.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1] Archived 9 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine
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- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
| Preceded by | Host of You Bet 1996–97 |
Succeeded by Series Ended |
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015
- Use dmy dates from May 2011
- 1968 births
- Living people
- People from Colchester
- Celebrity Big Brother (UK) contestants
- English male singers
- English television presenters
- English male musical theatre actors
- English male film actors
- English male television actors
- I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (UK) contestants
- Butlins Redcoats
