Happy Birthday Ioan Gruffudd

Although his first international movie role was as John Gray, the real-life lover of Oscar Wilde opposite Stephen Fry in the film Wilde, it was as the fictional character Horatio Hornblower that I - along with millions of others - first got to know Ioan Gruffudd.

Then, of course, there's the matter of The Fantastic Four, in whose two recent films he played Mister Fantastic. Hm... Sounds like typecasting to me... He's also played Lancelot opposite Clive Owen and Keira Knightley in King Arthur (2004) and real-life abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006).

Nevertheless, it was the superhero role that launched his career into another level altogether. Gruffudd has expressed a keen interest in playing Horatio Hornblower as he was written, from callow midshipman to elderly Admiral, and the fame engendered by playing a comic book character might just allow him that opportunity.

In addition to acting, Gruffudd is an adept oboist, and in his native land of Wales in 2003 he was accepted into the Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain as a Bard at the highest level.
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