Advanced search

Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory. She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). Her father (the son of Bertram (1912-1970) and Zeta Davies Jones (1917-2008)) is of Welsh descent and her mother (the daughter of William (1921-2000) and Catherine O'Callaghan Fair (1920-2001) ) is of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her brothers are David Jones (born 1967), a development executive, and Lyndon Jones (born 1972), who works at her production company. Her birth name was simply Catherine Jones, but she added her paternal grandmother's name ("Zeta") so as to stand out from the many other young women with the exact same name.

She showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street". She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series The Darling Buds of May (1991). The series was a success and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses.

She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1995) and a larger role as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the musical comedy Chicago (2002). She then appeared opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and reprised her starring role in the sequel The Legend of Zorro (2005).

In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.

Joanna Page was born on 23 March 1977 in Treboeth, Swansea, Wales, UK. She is an actress, known for Love Actually (2003), From Hell (2001) and Dolittle (2020). She has been married to James Thornton since 6 December 2003. They have four children.

While in his teens, Owen Teale occasionally worked at Porthcawl Little Theatre. In September 1980 he was accepted by the Guildford School of Acting and by Christmas of 1983 had obtained his Equity card. His first proper work was as a dancer in the musical "Cabaret" in Plymouth, Devon. Subsequently he was approached by BBC-TV and landed a role in The Mimosa Boys (1985). Two years spent as a jobbing actor were followed by roles in the stage version of "The Fifteen Streets", "When She Danced" and "The Comedy of Errors". In 1990 he appeared in Robin Hood (1991) starring Patrick Bergin and immediately after finishing this film, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford upon Avon.

Rob Brydon was born on 3 May 1965 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), Marion & Geoff (2000) and Barbie (2023). He has been married to Claire Holland since 6 October 2006. They have two children. He was previously married to Martina ?.

Ryan was born in Swansea, the son of Steve (a postman turned record producer) and Maria Evans, a dance teacher. He attended schools in Penyrheol before moving on to Gorseinon College, where he completed a BTEC Performing Arts course. He graduated from the Bristol Old Vic in 2003 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2004. As a child, Ryan appeared as Gavroche in the West End production of Les Misérables. He played Mick Rawson on the CBS series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, a character that had been introduced in the Criminal Minds episode "The Fight". He performed the voice and motion capture of Edward Kenway in Ubisoft Montreal's video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. In February 2014, it was announced that Ryan was cast as John Constantine in NBC's pilot for Constantine. He starred in all 13 Episodes of the first and only season. He is set to reprise his role in an episode of Arrow.

Jessica Sula (born 3 May 1994) is a British actress known for playing the character Grace Blood in the third generation of the British television series Skins and for her role in the M. Night Shyamalan-directed horror film Split (2016).

Sula was born in Swansea to Trinidadian mother Shurla Blades, who has Afro-Hispanic and Chinese ancestry, and to Steven Sula, a father of German and Estonian heritage. She grew up in Gorseinon, where she completed her A-levels in Spanish, French and Drama at Gorseinon College.

Sula made her television debut in 2011, portraying Grace Blood in the fifth and sixth series of the E4 teen drama Skins. Afterwards, she gained a supporting role in comedy drama Love and Marriage which was broadcast on ITV in 2013. In 2015, Sula was cast as the lead character, Maddie Graham, in the Freeform drama Recovery Road, alongside Skins co-star Sebastian de Souza. Her first big screen leading role is in Honeytrap, the story of 15-year-old girl who sets up the murder of a boy who is in love with her. In 2017 she filmed the indie feature Big Fork, in which she played the main character, Emily.

Sula had a recurring role in the 2017 limited series Godless. That same year, it was announced that she would be a series regular for the third season of the series Scream, expected to air in 2019.

Sula plays the guitar and practices karate.

Desmond Barrit was born on 19 October 1944 in Morriston, Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for Northanger Abbey (2007), A Christmas Carol (1999) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1996).

Steffan Rhodri was born in 1967 in Morriston, Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for Submarine (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and Wonder Woman (2017).

Tom Ward was born on 11 January 1971 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for Quills (2000), The Lost World (2001) and The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (2001). He has been married to Emily Hohler since 2001. They have three children.

Sometimes described as a genius and sometimes as a talentless hack, Russell T. Davies is one of the most prominent - and polarising - British television writers of his generation, who specializes in emotional dramas, frequently with gay and sex-related adult themes. He was born in Swansea, Wales (UK) in 1963. After initially taking a BBC Television director's course in the 1980s, he briefly moved in front of the cameras to present a single episode of the BBC's version of Play School (1964) in 1987, before deciding that his abilities lay in production rather than presenting.

Working for the children's department at BBC Manchester, from 1988 to 1992 he was the producer of summertime activity show Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? (1973) which ironically showcased various things children could be doing rather than sitting at home watching the television. While serving as the producer of "Why Don't You?" he also made his first forays into writing for television, creating a children's sketch show for early Saturday mornings on BBC One called Breakfast Serials (1990).

In 1991, he wrote his first television drama, a six-part serial for children entitled Dark Season (1991) for BBC One, which effectively comprised of two different three-part stories based around a science-fiction / adventure theme. The production was very low budget but nevertheless successful, and noteworthy for showcasing the acting talents of a young Kate Winslet. Two years later he wrote another equally well-received science-fiction drama in the same vein, entitled Century Falls (1993).

In 1992, he moved to Granada Television, producing and writing for their successful children's hospital drama Children's Ward (1989). One of the episodes Davies wrote for this series won a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama in 1996. At Granada he also began to break into working for adult television, contributing an episode to the ITV crime quiz show Cluedo (1990), a programme based on the popular board game of the same name, in 1993, and also working on the daytime soap opera Families (1990). He continued working on "Children's Ward" until 1995, by which time he was already consolidating his position outside of children's programming with the comedy The House of Windsor (1994) and camp soap opera Revelations (1994).

After a brief stint as a storyliner on ITV's flagship soap opera Coronation Street (1960) (for which he later wrote the straight-to-video spin-off Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas! (1997)) and contributions to Channel 4's Springhill (1996), the following year he wrote and created the hotel-set mainstream period drama The Grand (1997) for prime time ITV, winning a reputation for good writing and high audience figures. He contributed to the first series of the acclaimed ITV drama Touching Evil (1997), before beginning his fruitful collaboration with the independent Red Productions company.

His first series for Red was the ground-breaking adult gay drama Queer as Folk (1999), which caused much comment and drew much praise when screened on Channel 4 in early 1999. A sequel followed in 2000 and a US version, which still runs successfully in that country to this day, was commissioned by the Showtime cable network there. In 2001 he followed this up with another popular mini-series with a gay theme for Red, Bob & Rose (2001), this time screened on the mainstream ITV channel in prime time. After writing an episode for a Red series he had not created, Linda Green (2001) (shown on BBC1) in early 2003 he wrote the religious telefantasy drama The Second Coming (2003) starring Christopher Eccleston, which cemented his position as one of the UK's foremost writers of TV drama.

His other work includes another Red mini series for ITV, Mine All Mine (2004), a series about the life of Casanova (2005) which made a star of David Tennant and the screenplay for a film version of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1998) cheating scandal. Most famously, he is the chief writer and executive producer of the BBC's big budget revival of Doctor Who (2005), as well as the spin-offs Torchwood (2006), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007) and Wizards vs. Aliens (2012). He subsequently created more gay drama with Cucumber (2015) and the sex-themed documentary series Tofu (2015). He has also written A Very English Scandal (2018), which stars the legendary Hugh Grant as gay Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe, whose political career was destroyed by conspiracy to murder allegations. He then won further acclaim with his serial It's a Sin (2021), written about the HIV/AIDS crisis which swept through the gay community in the 1980s.

Outside of television and film, his prose work has included the novelization of Dark Season (1991) and an original "Doctor Who" novel, "Damaged Goods", for Virgin Publishing in 1996.

He lives in Manchester, UK.

Melanie Walters was born on 30 January 1962 in Swansea, Wales, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Submarine (2010), The Collection (2016) and High Tide (2015).

Margaret John was born on 14 December 1926 in Swansea, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for Run Fatboy Run (2007), Game of Thrones (2011) and High Hopes (2002). She was married to Ben Thomas. She died on 2 February 2011 in Swansea, Wales, UK.

Moviegoers can be forgiven if they thought that stocky, jaunty Rhys Williams was a jovial Irishman, as he often played that type of character, but his role as a Welsh miner in John Ford's classic How Green Was My Valley (1941) (his film debut) was much closer to home for him, as he was born and raised in Wales. In fact, he served as a technical advisor and Welsh language consultant on the film. He began his career on the British stage, and traveled the country as a member of various Shakespearean stock companies, even joining the famed Globe Theater company for a spell. Once he began his career in Hollywood, though, he became one of the busiest supporting actors in the business. He appeared in everything from action pictures to mysteries to westerns to musicals. One of his few villainous roles was as a weaselly American reporter in Tokyo on the payroll of the Japanese government just prior to World War II in Blood on the Sun (1945). In addition to his prolific film work, he did much television over the years, appearing in everything from Maverick (1957) to Mission: Impossible (1966). He died in Santa Monica, California, in 1969, shortly before his last film, Skullduggery (1970), was released.

Geraint Wyn Davies was born in Swansea, Wales on April 20, 1957. His father is a semi-retired Welsh congregational minister and his mother, a retired teacher, was headmistress at Geraint's first school. At the age of seven, his family moved to Canada where he attended Upper Canada College then the University of Western Ontario where he briefly studied business and economics before leaving to pursue his acting career.

Geraint was 12 when he was first bitten by the acting bug, appearing in a school production of "Lord of the Flies". His professional stage debut was made in 1976 in Quebec City when at 19 he appeared in "The Fantasticks", "Red Emma", and "A Midsummer's Night Dream". After Quebec, Geraint moved on England where he played the lead in "The Last Englishman". He then spent 2 seasons with Wales' leading theatre company, Theatre Clwyd, touring the United Kingdom in "Enemy of the People" and "Hamlet". It was his performance in "Hamlet" that led to the Regional Theatre Best Actor Award. He then spent a season with the Chichester Festival doing "Henry VIII". He has performed at the Shaw Festival and the Stratford Festival of Canada as well as the Mark Taper Forum Lincoln Center. He has appeared in such plays as "The Music Cure", "Candida", "Cyrano de Bergerac", "The Vortex", "Goodnight Disgrace", "Henry V" and "The Three Musketeers, "The Boys from Syracuse, "Sleuth" and "The Taming of The Shrew", "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde", "My Fair Lady" and "King Lear". In August of '99, Geraint starred in a one man show written by the late Leon Pownall called "An Evening with Dylan Thomas" at the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Nova Scotia, Canada. Two more shows were written for Geraint "Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare: In the Envy Of Some Greatness" and "Stranger in Paradise". Geraint has continued to perform "Do Not Go Gentle" in Chicago, Stratford and New York. Most recently Geraint appeared at Washington DC's Shakespeare Theater in "Cyrano" (Helen Hayes Award winner), "Love's Labor's Lost" (Helen Hayes Award nominee) and "Richard III". He, along with friend Brent Carver, are opening in Toronto's CanStage production of "The Elephant Man" in mid-October of 2007.

Geraint's directorial accomplishments include multiple episodes of "Forever Knight", "Black Harbour", "Pit Pony", "Power Play" and "North of 60". In June 2000, Geraint took on the challenge of directing Oliver Mayer's "Joy of the Desolate" in Highland Park, Illinois. A "back-burner" project for Geraint is "Horatio Salt", a collection of four short films that he is producing and directing.

Geraint's musical talent was first brought to prominence on "Forever Knight" where he actually played the piano in the loft and co-wrote a song for the "Baby Baby" episode. As a result he was featured in one of the selections on the first "Forever Knight" CD. He is a self-taught musician who produced a CD of his own works "Bar Talk" which is sold through his fan club with the proceeds going to a variety of charities such as Childrens' Hospital Foundation in Washington D.C. and The Stratford Festival's Shakespeare School (Stratford, Ontario). Geraint's voice can be enjoyed on two audio books, "Great American Suspense: Five Unabridged Classics" and "Great Classic Hauntings: Six Unabridged Stories".

Geraint is divorced from artist Alana Guinn however they are the proud parents of a son, Galen, and a daughter, Pyper.

He became a U.S. citizen on June 13, 2006, at a swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. He was made a city resident for the run of "Love's Labor's Lost" to facilitate the process. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over his induction ceremony.

Martyn Ellis was born on 30 November 1960 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997), Rockliffe's Babies (1987) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007).

Steve Meo was born in 1977 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for High Hopes (2002), Torchwood (2006) and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001).

Kevin Allen's latest feature is the counterculture romantic comedy LA CHA CHA. Filmed during the summer 2020 lockdown and shot entirely on an iphone using Moondog anamorphic lenses, La Cha Cha, stars Rhys Ifans, Dougray Scott, Keith Allen and Melanie Walters and is available on Amazon Prime.

Next up is TIN, the much awaited sequel to TWIN TOWN, set in the world of home grown cannabis in Welsh town of Llanelli.

Also slated is THE CRUCIBLE an epic 4-part period drama set in 19th century Merthyr Tydfil during the industrial revolution.

Allen's film version of Dylan Thomas UNDER MILK WOOD was shot in two language versions, and the Welsh film was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2015.

In 2013 Kevin directed Y-SYRCAS which was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru Award and won the Audience and Jury awards at The European Minority Language Film Festival 2014.

He supervised and developed projects in Hollywood including COMING OUT for Milk Wood Films and CHEEK TO CHEEK' a feature film collaboration with Gene Wilder. Allen set up Airstream Films at this time' developing a diverse slate of feature projects with his producing partner, Kate McCreery.

He then directed AGENT CODY BANKS 2: DESTINATION LONDON.

In 2005 Allen adapted Louis Stevenson's novel, TREASURE ISLAND, as both a feature film and TV series for Working Title Films.

Kevin directed the first series of ITV's BENIDORM for which he was nominated for his second BAFTA.

Gary Jones was born on 4 January 1958 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for The Package (2018), Forgotten Masters (2021) and Stargate SG-1 (1997). He is married to Meg Cameron. They have three children. He was previously married to Greta Headley.

Harry Secombe was one of Britain's best loved comic entertainers. Born in Swansea, South Wales he began singing as a child in local church choirs. His first job was as a clerk although he had considered a career in opera. During World War Two he served in the Army in North Africa and Italy. He met the comedian Spike Milligan while on duty in the Western desert and their common bond was a unique brand of humour. Secombe appeared in many troop concerts where he was known for his trademark high pitched laugh and blowing raspberries. After the war he appeared as a comic at London's famous Windmill Theatre and in 1945 became one of the stalwarts of the hugely successful radio series Educating Archie. His greatest popularity began in 1951 with the birth of radio's Crazy People, later to be renamed The Goon Show. One of the most famous radio comedy programmes of all time it helped launch the careers of Secombe, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine.

Whilst the Goon Show was in its prime the comedy team made several films associated with the series including Down Among the Z Men (1952) and in 1955 Secombe had his own TV show, The Harry Secombe Show. His other popular TV shows, often written by Marty Feldman and Barry Cryer, included Secombe and Friends (1966) and Have a Harry Christmas (1977). On stage he had a long running success with Leslie Bricusse's Pickwick (1963) and he revived the show in the 1980s.

His most notable film work began with Davy (1957) in which he played a music hall performer who auditions for an opera at Convent Garden. It was meant as a star vehicle for him but was not a box office success. International audiences became familiar with him when he played Mr Bumble, the beadle in Oliver! (1968) and films such as The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) and Starstruck (1972).

Knighted in 1981 and much slimmed down after a serious attack of peritonitis, he continued to appear in concerts and on television as well as writing several volumes of autobiography. He toured Australia and in 1983 became the host of Highway, a weekly TV religious programme. This was Secombe toned down, far from his rollicking past and with no jokes, but it gave him a chance to sing seriously. The show ran for nearly ten years.

Ill health continually dogged the comedian in his final years and he battled with cancer and a severe stroke. He continued to appear on television, notably narrating D Day - The Official Story (1994) and presenting Top Ten Comedy Records (2000).

Sam Buffington was born on 12 October 1931 in Swansea, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), Unwed Mother (1958) and Damn Citizen (1958). He was married to Patsy Ann Whitehouse. He died on 15 May 1960 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Stephen Garlick was born on 7 July 1959 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for The Dark Crystal (1982), Look and Read (1967) and The Tomorrow People (1973).

John Sparkes was born on 9 January 1954 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Calendar Girls (2003), Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) and Naked Video (1986). He is married to Beverly. They have two children.

Sally El Hosaini was born in 1976 in Swansea, Wales, UK. She is a director and writer, known for The Swimmers (2022), My Brother the Devil (2012) and Unicorns (2023).

Richard Mylan was born in 1973 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Coupling (2000), Border Cafe (2000) and Waterloo Road (2006).

Talfryn Thomas was born on 31 October 1922 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for St. Ives (1967), Doctor Who (1963) and Survivors (1975). He was married to Barbara. He died on 4 November 1982.