Dubbed Britain's "very own Leonardo DiCaprio" after his position as the set sail officer who rescues Kate Winslet in Titanic, Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced "Yo-cadaverous Griffiths") went from relative unknown to in a trice ascending Hot Young Thing in just a few short years. Bearing the friendly of looks that affirm more than a only one intense fantasies, the arrestingly photogenic actor has proved to be the hottest Welsh export since Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hailing from Car... diff, where he was born October 6, 1973, Gruffudd enjoyed a adequately gratified babyhood.

Raised as sole of three children by parents who were Welsh language educators, he developed an at the crack incite in performing. This pastime was directed at music, rather than acting, and Gruffudd developed into an consummate oboist and singer while he was growing up. At the age of eleven, he unwavering 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 undying, and he was accepted at London's Splendid Academy of Dramatic Art when he was eighteen.

He wilful there for three years, and, following graduation, he landed a part on the current 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 pass‚ of the Atlantic in Titanic, he managed to assertive an impression on more than a few viewers. In 1998, Gruffudd again went out to Davy Jones's locker, in the acclaimed BBC series Horatio Hornblower.

His call role in the series, adapted from C.S. Forester's 18th century tales of on the high seas, made him a brilliant in the UK, and speedily there was no shortage of articles detailing the whole from his physical attributes to his offensive life. Hence, it was merely a thing of time before Gruffudd got his head starring role on the obese screen, and a year later, he did unbiased that.

1999 saw him star in Solomon and Gaenor, a love story between a Jewish man and a Welsh cleaning woman display a build in wind-of-the-century Wales. Gruffudd won muscular notices for his show, and that despite the fact year he earned additional raves in the interest of his plough in the BBC telly adaptation of Great Expectations. He then exchanged period etiquette seeking contemporary perversion with his part in the BBC miniseries Love in the 21st Century, playing a man whose obsessive tempt in masturbation threatens his relationship with his bride. 2001 saw Gruffudd showing off the mark his American accent in the critically-acclaimed cinematic retelling of the bloody Battle of Mogadishu.

The obscure cast him alongside several other up-and-comers such as Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana. Following roles in smaller fare like Pleased as Punch Now and This Girl's Life, Gruffudd was chuck opposite Clive Owen and Keira Knightly as Sir Lancelot in captain Antoine Fuqua's gritty Crowned head Arthur.