Ioan Gruffudd is a Welsh actor.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he started off in Welsh language film productions, then came to international attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in the film Titanic (1997), and as Lt. John Beales in Black Hawk Down (2001). However, he is probably best known for playing the role of Horatio Hornblower in Hornblower, the British made-for-TV films (1998-2003) based on C. S. Forester's novels.

Hailing from Cardiff, where he was born October 6, 1973, Gruffudd enjoyed a fairly happy childhood. Raised as one of three children by parents who were Welsh language educators, he developed an early interest in performing. This interest was directed at music, rather than acting, and Gruffudd developed into an accomplished oboist and singer while he was growing up. At the age of eleven, he decided to give acting a whirl, and two years later, he became a professional actor with a role in the Welsh soap opera Pobol Y Cwm (People of the Valley). Gruffudd's interest in acting proved lasting, and he was accepted at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art when he was eighteen. He studied there for three years, and, following graduation, he landed a part on the popular BBC series Poldark. He made his film debut in 1997, playing one of Oscar Wilde's lovers in Wilde. That same year, in his small role dredging Kate Winslet out of the Atlantic in Titanic, he managed to make an impression on more than a few viewers.

Gruffudd's recent notable film roles include Lancelot in King Arthur (2004), Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) in Fantastic Four (2005) and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and British slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006). He played Tony Blair in W. (2008).

Selected work:

Wilde 1997 John Gray
Titanic 1997 Harold Godfrey Lowe, Fifth Officer of the RMS Titanic
Fireflies in the Garden 2008
The Secret of Moonacre 2008
W. 2008 r
The Kid (2010 film) 2010
Horrible Bosses 2011
Sanctum