James Hooton (born 13 July 1973) is an English actor, best known for his role as

Sam Dingle Sam Dingle is a fictional character from the British television soap opera '' Emmerdale'', played by James Hooton. He made his first appearance in the episode broadcast on 14 February 1995. Storylines Sam arrives in Emmerdale village followi ...

on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

soap opera ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'', a role he has played since 1995.

Early and personal life

Hooton was born and raised in

Carlton, Nottinghamshire Carlton is a town in the Borough of Gedling, Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the east of Nottingham. The population at the 2011 Census was 6,881. It was an urban district until 1974, whose wards (Carlton Hill, Carlton, Cavendish, Colwick, G ...

, where he attended Frank Wheldon Comprehensive School. He has been engaged to dance company owner Nancy Lucas since 2010, after they became engaged on Valentine's day. The couple have two children together.

Career

In 1985, at the age of 12, he made his television debut in the children's TV series ''

Your Mother Wouldn't Like It ''Your Mother Wouldn't Like It'' was a children's sketch show broadcast on ITV between 1985 and 1988. A unique aspect of the show was that the performing cast were almost entirely children. The show was produced by Central Television at their ...

''. He has also appeared in several other programmes, including ''

Peak Practice ''Peak Practice'' is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale—a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District—and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most ...

'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'', '' Heartbeat'' and ''

Touching Evil ''Touching Evil'' is a British television drama serial following the exploits of a crack squad on the Organised & Serial Crime Unit, a rapid response police force that serves the entire country. The serial was produced by United Productions f ...

''. In 1995, he was cast in the

soap opera ''

'' as

. He filmed his first scene on 10 January 1995. In 1997, he appeared in director

Shane Meadows Shane Meadows (born 26 December 1972) is an English director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in independent film, most notably the cult film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its three sequels (2010–2015). Meadows' other films i ...

' first feature film, '' Twenty Four Seven'', where he played the character 'Wolfman' Knighty. Then a year later, he announced his decision to leave ''Emmerdale''. He subsequently starred in ''

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe, published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same title. The work focuses on Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working clas ...

'' after Chris Gascoyne dropped out of the show, with Hooton having ten days to prepare for the role. In 2009, he attended the Eurogamer Expo alongside co-star Alex Carter where he revealed that he was trying to get sponsorship for a video game show he was planning to pitch to television studios. Hooton returned to ''Emmerdale'' in 2000. In 2012, Hooton returned to the stage after 15 years to star in a stage production titled ''Our Style is Legendary''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooton, James 1973 births English male stage actors English male television actors English male film actors Living people Male actors from Nottinghamshire People from Carlton, Nottinghamshire