Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

series '' Spy'', for which he won a BAFTA Award. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama.

Early life

Boyd began acting at age 17 in amateur theatre and performed in local productions from 1989 to 1995. Boyd moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in his mid-20s, where he continued to work in theatre until being cast in ''

Kiss Me Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-sta ...

'' for the BBC in 1998.

Career

Television

Boyd co-starred in the BBC comedy ''

'' (1998), which ran for three years. This led to starring roles in British comedies such as '' Hippies'' (1999) and ''

Smack the Pony ''Smack the Pony'' is a British sketch comedy show that was originally broadcast between 1999 and 2003 on Channel 4. The main performers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from ...

'' (1999). In 2001, he worked with

Victoria Pile Victoria Pile, also known as Vicky Pile, is a British comedy writer, director and producer, most noted as the creator of two Channel 4 comedy programmes, the sketch show ''Smack the Pony'' and the sitcom ''Green Wing''. She began her career writi ...

on a new series '' Los Dos Bros'', an off-beat sitcom exploring physical comedy and the relationship between Boyd and

Cavan Clerkin Cavan Clerkin (born 1973) is a British actor and filmmaker from Hackney, London. Career Clerkin has appeared in various TV shows including ''Smack the Pony'', ''The Inbetweeners'' and ''The IT Crowd'', and feature films ''Gangster No. 1'', '' ...

as the titular (half-)brothers. Boyd was co-creator and co-writer. The show won a silver rose at Montreux in 2002. During this time Boyd was cast in the American

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

series, ''

Watching Ellie ''Watching Ellie'' is an American television sitcom that stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and was created by her husband, Brad Hall and aired on NBC from February 26, 2002 to May 20, 2003. Sixteen episodes were broadcast before it was canceled due to lo ...

'', starring

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...

. Boyd returned to the UK in 2005 and took on characters such as Dr. Jake Leaf in the second series of ''

Green Wing ''Green Wing'' is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show '' Smack the Pony'' – Channel 4 commissioner Caroline Leddy and producer Victoria Pile – and stars Mark H ...

'' (2006), and as Jonathan in Steve Coogan's '' Saxondale''. In 2009, he appeared in the two-part adaptation of ''May Contain Nuts'', based on John O'Farrell's best-selling novel, ''Personal Affairs'' for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

and ''Royal Wedding'' (2010), which follows the 1981 Royal Wedding through the perspective of events held in a small Welsh mining village, written by BAFTA winner

Abi Morgan Abigail Louise Morgan (born 1968) is a Welsh playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as ''Sex Traffic'' and '' The Hour'', and the films '' Brick Lane'', '' The Iron Lady'', ''Shame'' and '' Suffragette''. Early l ...

and starring

Jodie Whittaker Jodie Whittaker (born 17 June 1982) is an English actress who is best known for portraying the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2017–2022) and as Beth Latimer in ''Broadchurch'' (2013–2017). She came to prominence ...

. Boyd starred as Bib in the BBC series ''

Whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

'' and co-starred in the BBC Four drama ''

Dirk Gently Dirk Gently (born Svlad Cjelli, also known as Dirk Cjelli) is a fictional character created by English writer Douglas Adams and featured in the books '' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' and '' T ...

'' playing

's business partner Richard MacDuff. The BBC announced in June 2011 that Boyd would play the role of John Cleese in ''

Holy Flying Circus ''Holy Flying Circus'' is a 90-minute BBC television comedy film first broadcast in 2011, written by Tony Roche and directed by Owen Harris. The film is a "Pythonesque" dramatisation of events following the completion of '' Monty Python's Life ...

'', a 90-minute dramatisation of the controversy that arose when Monty Python's '' Life of Brian'' was released in 1979. ''

'' was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama. From 2011–2013, Boyd starred in the

series '' Spy'' which won him a BAFTA for his performance. He also starred in two ITV dramas, ''

Case Sensitive Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ...

'', a series adapted from

Sophie Hannah Sophie Hannah (born 1971) is a British poet and novelist. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 a junior research fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She lives with h ...

's novel ''Point of Rescue'' alongside

Olivia Williams Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television. After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakesp ...

and three-part drama '' The Guilty''. In 2014, Boyd was reunited with his ''Watching Ellie'' costar Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a guest appearance on her HBO series ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep' ...

'' in the episode "Special Relationship". Boyd was part of the ensemble cast of

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HB ...

drama series '' Fortitude'', which premiered simultaneously in the UK and US in early 2015 playing Markus Huseklepp. Following Fortitude, Boyd briefly returned to comedy in the lead role of Matthew Bunting in the ITV situation comedy ''

The Delivery Man ''The Delivery Man'' is the 21st studio album by Elvis Costello, released on Lost Highway Records, B0002593-02. It was recorded with the Imposters at Sweet Tea Studio in Oxford, Mississippi. It peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboar ...

''. In 2016, he returned to television with two dramatic roles. He appeared opposite

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

in the fourth series of ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'' for the BBC and

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

in Stan Lee's '' Lucky Man,'' a

television series. In early 2018, Boyd played Frank Haleton in the British

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Career

Television

Film

Radio

Personal life

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and recognition

References

External links