Darren Day

Darren Day is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles.

Early life

Day's paternal grandfather was a support act to George Formby in the days of music hall. Day undertook drama classes at evenings and weekends until he was 13, when he turned his attention to snooker. He became a professional snooker player at 17, but found himself drawn to entertainment.Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – Darren will let Alfie do the talking
bbc.co.uk; retrieved 29 December 2012.

Career

Day started his career as part of a comedy cabaret trio when he was 17. He also worked as a Butlin's redcoat for a season. He later went solo and auditioned for BBC's talent show '' Opportunity Knocks'' in 1987 and appeared on the show in 1988, introduced by host Bob Monkhouse. He won several heats and came fourth in the final.

Day made his breakthrough as an actor in London's West End theatre, starring in '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' when he replaced the departing Phillip Schofield. He then starred in many West End shows, such as '' Grease'', '' Summer Holiday'' and ''Godspell'' and went on to develop a career as a television presenter, presenting programmes such as '' You Bet!'', and '' Don't Try This at Home!''. In 1991, Day presented the ''Classic Nursery Rhymes'' video.

Day has appeared in many touring stage musicals, including '' Summer Holiday'', '' Grease'', ''The Rocky Horror Show'', '' Hello Dolly'' and '' Great Expectations''. In 2007, Day made a guest appearance in July on ITV's police drama ''The Bill''.

In 2001, he appeared in ''Lily Savage's Blankety Blank'', and in 2002, he appeared in the first series of the reality television show '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!''

In 2007, Day returned to pantomime at the Lowry, Salford as King Rat in ''Dick Whittington''. In 2009 he changed management and was then cast in the musical, ''We Will Rock You'', alongside Kevin Kennedy, which toured the UK. From October 2010 to January 2011, Day played soap villain Danny Houston in the popular series ''Hollyoaks''.

In early 2012, Day took on the role of American author Paul Sheldon in a production of '' Misery''. The production was nominated for a Time Out Theatre Award. In Autumn 2012, he played HIV-positive gospel singer Gideon in the European premiere of the award-winning USA musical ''The Last Session'', for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the Off West End Awards ("The Offies"). In September 2013, he starred in the new musical comedy "Stand Up" with Lionel Blair and Billy Pearce. In 2014, he revisited his cabaret roots when he stepped in for his old friend, Joe Longthorne, who was ill. He then guested on the '' Holby City'' Christmas Special, playing panto dame Michael Evans.
In 2015, he toured his solo cabaret internationally.

On 5 January 2016, Day entered the ''Celebrity Big Brother'' house as a housemate. On 5 February, he reached the final and finished in third place. On 27 July 2016 it was announced that Day would head the cast of the new Robert J. Sherman musical '' Bumblescratch'' at the Adelphi Theatre on 4 September 2016. The event was in aid of Variety and Day was named a Celebrity Ambassador for the charity.

In February 2016, Day released ''This is the Moment'', an album of his favourite musical theatre songs. He joined the tour of '' Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' in the same month, sharing the role of Tick/Mitzi with Duncan James and Jason Donovan. The feature film '' White Island'' in which he plays villain Rik Searle was premiered in London on 10 October 2016.

A regular in pantomime, in 2016 he played Captain Hook at the Alhambra Bradford, and reprised the role in 2017 at the Hull New Theatre.

In March 2017, Day toured in '' Grease'' in the role of Teen Angel, a revival of the show in which he had previously played Danny Zuko. In October 2017, he joined the cast of the Sky 1 show, '' Stella'', playing new family member Will Morgan.
Currently 2021 touring in Chicago playing lawyer Billy Flynn

Darren returned to pantomime in 2022 starring in Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Regent Theatre, Ipswich

Personal life

In the 1990s, Day was engaged to Anna Friel, Tracy Shaw and Isla Fisher. In the 2000s, he was engaged to Adele Vellacott and later Suzanne Shaw. In 2007, he wed actress Stephanie Dooley and divorced in 2019.

In April 2010, Day was found guilty of his second drink-driving offence in two years, and banned from driving for five years, and also of possessing an offensive weapon, namely a kubotan-style keyring, by a court in Edinburgh.

In August 2020, Day got engaged to Sophie Ladds, an actress and disclosed his borderline personality disorder.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Singles

*"Young Girl" (1994), No.42 UK
*"Summer Holiday Medley" (1996), No.17 UK
*"How Can I Be Sure?" (1998), No.71 UK
*"Only The Good Die Young" (2011), For The Soldiers Charity

Albums

*''Summer Holiday'' (1996)
*''Darren Day'' (1998), No.62 UK
*''The Last Session'' (2013)
*''This Is The Moment'' (2016)

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Darren
Living people
People from Colchester
English male singers
English television presenters
English male musical theatre actors
English male film actors
English male television actors
Butlins Redcoats
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants
People with borderline personality disorder
Year of birth missing (living people)