Paul Danan (born 2 July 1978) is an English actor who played Sol Patrick in the UK teen soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' between 1997 and 2001. In 2005, Danan appeared as a contestant on the first series of '' ITV's Celebrity Love Island'', and returned for the second series in 2006. Danan was also a contestant on the 20th season of ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

'' that started on 1 August 2017.

Early life

Danan attended the

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. For ...

Television

In 1995 Danan played Melody's Agent Max Mitford in the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

series ''

The Queen's Nose ''The Queen's Nose'' is a children's novel by Dick King-Smith, first published by Gollancz in 1983 with illustrations by Jill Bennett. Set in England, where King-Smith lived, it features a girl who can use a fifty pence coin to make wishes. ...

''. Between 1997 and 2001 he played Sol Patrick in the UK teen soap opera ''

''. In 2005 he appeared as a contestant on the first series of

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 ...

's ''

Celebrity Love Island ''Love Island'' (originally ''Celebrity Love Island'') was a British reality television programme that was aired on ITV in 2005 and 2006. In the show, twelve single celebrities spend five weeks on an island in Fiji. The final couple remaining w ...

''. He returned for the second series in 2006. He appeared on series 5 of in Da Bungalow. In 2006 he presented a television series entitled ''Test Drive My Girlfriend'' on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

. In September 2006, Danan appeared in the

series Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan, in which he traveled from Texas to Los Angeles on America's U.S. Route 66 with

Calum Best Calum Milan Best (born February 6, 1981) is a British-American television personality. He is the only child of footballer George Best. Early life Best was born in San Jose, California, the son of parents from the United Kingdom: Angie Best (bor ...

and Fran Cosgrave. In 2009, Danan was a guest on series 1 and 2 of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

sketch show ''

The Kevin Bishop Show ''The Kevin Bishop Show'' is a sketch comedy written by and starring English comedian Kevin Bishop, part of the ''Star Stories'' team. The show was commissioned by Channel 4 for a six-part series starting on 25 July 2008 at 10 p.m. A pilot was b ...

''. From 2010 to 2011 he co-hosted ''Stars and Strikes'' for

4music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. It ...

with presenter Rick Edwards playing a ten-frame ten-pin bowling match against a popstar or group. In November 2012 Danan appeared in an episode of

drama ''

Crime Stories Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

''. In 2015 he played the character Steve in the TV series ''Good Girls Club'' for Sky TV. He competed in ''

Celebrity Big Brother 20 ''Celebrity Big Brother 20'' was the twentieth series of the Television in the United Kingdom, British reality television series ''Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series), Celebrity Big Brother'', hosted by Emma Willis and narrated by Marcus ...

''. On Day 18, he became the 5th evictee. On an episode of ''

The Jeremy Kyle Show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' is a British tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle and produced by ITV Studios. It premiered on the ITV network on 4 July 2005, and ran for seventeen series until its cancellation on 10 May 2019. It was the most p ...

'' broadcast on

in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2019, Danan discussed his substance addiction. He admitted to being a recovering addict. In January 2022, he appeared on series 7 of E4's ''

Celebrity Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 7 March 2005 to 30 June 2006. The programme returned after a three-year break, from 25 May 2009 to 9 March 2012. In early 2013, the show went into hiatus agai ...

'' in Northern Portugal, where he was put with Team GB athlete Ashley McKenzie. Danan and McKenzie joined a line-up which featured fellow celebrity travellers like Matt Richardson, Honey G, Ginny Lemon, pop duo

Honeyz The Honeyz are a British R&B girl group, composed of members Celena Cherry and Mariama Goodman. The group had five UK top 10 hits between 1998 and 2000, with "Finally Found" (1998), " End of the Line" (1998), " Love of a Lifetime" (1999), "Ne ...

and '' Birds of a Feather'' stars Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph.

Stage

On stage, Danan played "the Monster" in ''Desires of Frankenstein'' by

James Martin Charlton James Martin Charlton (born 29 July 1966) is an English playwright, theatre director and filmmaker. He was born in Romford, Greater London, United Kingdom in 1966. Career His play ''Fat Souls'' won the 1992 International Playwriting Festival at ...

at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2007, Danan was due to play Jack in

Jack & the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Col ...

at the

Preston Guild Hall Preston Guild Hall is an entertainment venue in Preston, Lancashire, England. History The Guild Hall was commissioned to replace the town's Public Hall. The new building, which was designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall, was due to be re ...

, but he was sacked after swearing during the

Christmas Lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goe ...

switch on.

Personal life

Danan was born in

Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the London U ...

, Essex to a

Moroccan Jewish Moroccan Jews ( ar, اليهود المغاربة, al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba he, יהודים מרוקאים, Yehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews b ...

family. His father was from

Fez, Morocco Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès, Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the List of cities in Morocco, second largest city i ...

. Danan now lives in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, running a drama club for local children. He has a son called Deniro who was born in September 2015.

Awards

In 2006 Danan was awarded a '' Loaded'' Laftas Comedy Award for funniest reality TV personality.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Danan, Paul Living people 1978 births 20th-century British male actors 21st-century British male actors Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts People from Chigwell Male actors from London English male soap opera actors British people of Moroccan-Jewish descent English male stage actors