Darren Day
Born (1968-07-17) 17 July 1968
Colchester, Essex, England
Occupation(s)Actor, singer and television presenter
Spouse
Stephanie Dooley
​
​
(m. 2007; div. 2019)​
Children3

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

Early life

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.[1]

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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

In 2001, he appeared in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank,[4] 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.[5] In 2009 he changed management and was then cast in the musical, We Will Rock You, alongside Kevin Kennedy, which toured the UK.[6] From October 2010 to January 2011, Day played soap villain Danny Houston in the popular series Hollyoaks.[7][8]

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.[9] He then guested on the Holby City Christmas Special, playing panto dame Michael Evans.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]

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.[13] In the 2000s, he was engaged to Adele Vellacott and later Suzanne Shaw. Day is the father of Shaw's first child, a son named Corey MacKenzie Shaw-Day, (born 16 December 2004). In 2007, he wed actress Stephanie Dooley and divorced in 2019.[14]

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.[15]

In August 2020, Day got engaged to Sophie Ladds, an actress[14] and disclosed his borderline personality disorder.[16]

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes
1991 Classic Nursery Rhymes Himself Direct to video
2002 Alice Jonathan Short film
2004 Hellbreeder Sam Feature film, directed by James Eaves & Johannes Roberts
2015 Rudy Tom Feature film, directed by Shona Auerbach
2016 White Island Rik Searle Feature film, directed by Benjamin Turner
2017 Dangerous Game Demetri Feature film, directed by Richard Colton
2018 The Krays: Dead Man Walking Don Dunn Feature film, directed by Richard John Taylor

Television

Year Show Role Notes
1996-97 You Bet! Presenter 2 series; 20 episodes
2001 Doctors David Wilde Recurring; 8 episodes
2002 I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Himself Campmate
2004 French and Saunders Inman/Jude Law 2 episodes
2007 The Bill Jeff Slade 1 episode: Copy Cat Killer
2010 Hollyoaks Danny Houston Recurring; 26 episodes
2010 Come Dine with Me Himself Celebrity Special
2012 Crime Stories Graeme Watts 1 episode; Episode 5
2014 Holby City Michael Evans 1 episode; Christmas Special
2016 Celebrity Big Brother 17 Himself Housemate, third place
2017 Stella Will Morgan 3 episodes

Discography

Singles

  • "Young Girl" (1994), No.42 UK
  • "Summer Holiday Medley" (1996), No.17 UK
  • "How Can I Be Sure?" (1998), No.71 UK[17]
  • "Wired For Sound" (2007), No.66 UK
  • "Only The Good Die Young" (2011), For The Soldiers Charity

Albums

  • Summer Holiday (1996)
  • Darren Day (1998), No.62 UK[17]
  • The Last Session (2013)
  • This Is The Moment (2016)

References

  1. 1 2 Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – Darren will let Alfie do the talking, bbc.co.uk; retrieved 29 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Amazon.co.uk: LOVEFiLM By Post". Lovefilm.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Darren Day snaps up role in 'The Bill'". Digital Spy. 27 March 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Series 1, Episode 5". Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 4 February 2016. ITV. Repeated 24 August 2016 on Challenge TV.
  5. ↑ "It's take Rat for Darren", Manchester Evening News; accessed 13 June 2007.
  6. ↑ "Queen musical We Will Rock You Hits Edinburgh". United Kingdom: Scottish Television. 31 October 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Darren Day to play bad boy in Hollyoaks". What's on TV. 21 September 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Darren Day to be Hollyoaks bad boy". The Mirror. 11 September 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Archived 9 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Holby City | TV Guide 23 12 14 |". Whatsontv.co.uk. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Casting announced for Bumblescratch". Officiallondontheatre.co.uk.
  12. ↑ "White Island features impressive performances, but Ibiza is the star of the show". Dailyrecord.co.uk. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  13. ↑ "WHY ARE THEY FAMOUS?: Darren Day". Independent.co.uk. 21 March 1999.
  14. 1 2 "Darren Day engaged for the seventh time after asking girlfriend to marry him".
  15. ↑ "Actor Darren Day guilty of offensive weapon charge". BBC News. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  16. ↑ "Celebrity Big Brother's Darren Day discusses BPD diagnosis". Digital Spy. 11 August 2020.
  17. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 143. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
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