James Dreyfus

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox person James Louis de Zogheb Dreyfus (born 9 October 1968) is an English actor most notable for roles on television sitcoms The Thin Blue Line as Constable Kevin Goody, and Gimme Gimme Gimme as Tom Farrell. Dreyfus is most recently known for a role as the Reverend Roger Jones in Mount Pleasant.

In London's West End, Dreyfus starred in The Producers in 2004 as Carmen Ghia. In 2006, he starred as the Emcee in Cabaret.

Early life

James Louis de Zogheb Dreyfus was born on 9 October 1968 in Islington, London.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His parents divorced when he was very young.<ref name="Fletcher">Fletcher, Mary, Why life's looking Goody for James, TV Times, pg 31.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His mother, Margo de Zoghels, was a model.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His maternal grandfather was of Syrian descent and his family immigrated to England from Damascus. He also has English, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, French and Swiss ancestry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"Mum is staying overnight. I don’t think she’s ever actually said “hello” when she sees me. She just launches into a conversation straight away, regardless of whether I might know what the HELL she’s on about.

Today she said “My father once told me his family originally came from Damascus… so you’re part Syrian… the traffic was fucking awful…”" via X </ref><ref>To be honest, I'm a complete mongrel. Italian, Greek, English, Norwegian, French, Swiss and ,believe it or not, Syrian. But I'm British!!! via X</ref>Template:Primary source inline

He was educated at Harrow School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

At the 1998 Laurence Olivier Awards, Dreyfus won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for his work in Lady in the Dark at the National Theatre. In the same year, Dreyfus won Second Prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for his 1997 performance as Caius Cassius in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Birmingham Rep.<ref>Harlow, John. "Winning in a double act". Sunday Times. 26 April 1998. (Online reprint: [1]).</ref>

Dreyfus's first television break came with the BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous.<ref name=sheengate>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> followed by roles as Constable Kevin Goody in Ben Elton's sitcom The Thin Blue Line and Tom Farrell, the gay flatmate of Linda la Hughes (Kathy Burke) in Gimme Gimme Gimme. Dreyfus played opposite Bette Midler in the short-lived American sitcom Bette.

Known for portraying "camp, endearing characters," Dreyfus (in a Sheengate Publishing interview) compared the character Frank Spencer from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, whom he described as a campy but married heterosexual, to Dreyfus's character Kevin Goody from The Thin Blue Line. Regarding his character Tom Farrell from Gimme Gimme Gimme, Dreyfus hypothesized that, even if the character were heterosexual, the actor would still portray Tom as camp and flamboyant.<ref name=interview2010s/> Furthermore, Dreyfus said that he felt that he became typecast due to his portrayals of "flamboyant" characters.<ref name=interview2010s>Our interview with James Dreyfus Template:Webarchive. Interviewed by Rob Edwards. Sheengate Publishing. 31 January 2013.</ref>

He played Thermoman in the BBC One comedy My Hero, a role he took over in the sixth series from Ardal O'Hanlon. Although the same character, he used the name George Monday, as opposed to O'Hanlon's character's name, George Sunday. After disappointing ratings, the show was cancelled.

Dreyfus also starred as Mr Teasy-Weasy in the 2004 comedy film Churchill: The Hollywood Years.

From 2012 to 2017, Dreyfus appeared as the Reverend Roger Jones in the Sky Living series Mount Pleasant.

In 2017, he voiced an incarnation of The Master from Doctor Who in the Big Finish Productions release The First Doctor Adventures Volume One,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> going on to appear as the character in 2019's "The Home Guard",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 2020's "The Psychic Circus"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 2022's "Blood of the Time Lords". In an interview on SpectatorTV, Dreyfus said he was dismissed from the role following comments he made on Twitter in support of author J. K. Rowling.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Dreyfus is gay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Thin Ice	Greg
1995–96	The Thin Blue Line	Constable Kevin Goody	TV series (14 episodes)
	Absolutely Fabulous	Christopher	TV series (2 episodes)
1996	Boyfriends	Paul
1999	Notting Hill	Martin
1999–2001	Gimme Gimme Gimme	Tom Farrell	TV series (19 episodes)
2000	The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything	Swedish Ambassador	Two-part BBC special celebration for the new millennium.
	Gormenghast	Professor Fluke	TV
2000–2001	Bette	Oscar	U.S. TV series (18 episodes)
2004	Fat Slags	Fidor Konstantin	TV
	Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London	Gordon
	The Producers	Carmen Ghia	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
	Waking the Dead	Raymond Carstairs
2005	Willo the Wisp	All voices	Revival to original 1981 series
2006	Colour Me Kubrick	Melvyn Prescott
	My Hero	George Monday / Thermoman	TV series (8 episodes)
2006–07	Cabaret	Emcee	Lyric Theatre, London
2007	Double Time	Lawrence Nixon/George McCabe
	Nina and the Neurons	Felix (voice)
2009	Casualty	Rory	TV
2011	The Sarah Jane Adventures	John Harrison	Episode: "The Man Who Never Was"
2012	Midsomer Murders	Ralph Ford	Episode: "A Rare Bird"
	Holby City	Felix	TV
	Whitechapel	Charlie Cross	TV series, 2 episodes
2012–2017	Mount Pleasant	The Reverend Roger Jones	TV series
2013	Dandelion & Burdock	Dandelion	TV
2013–14	Candide	Dr. Pangloss	Menier Chocolate Factory, London
2013	Shameless	Edward Clayhill	Episode: "An Inspector Calls"
2015	Father Brown	Binkie Cadwaller	Episode 3.10 "The Judgment of Man"
	Scottish Mussel	Headmaster
2019	Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal	Sir Leonard Briggs	TV movie
	The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance	Lath'N
	Agatha Raisin	Harry Witherspoon	S3 E1 Episode: "Agatha Raisin and The Haunted House"
2020	Supernova	Tim
	The Hollow		TV movie
	The Harbour	Robert	Short
2021	The Kindred	Mr. Mulvaney
2022	Lips	Michael	Short<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2023	One Foot in the Grave - 30 Years Of Laughs	Himself	Documentary
2024	House of the Dragon	Lord Gormon Massey	TV series, 6 episodes
TBA	Cara	Greg Wilson	Pre-production

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0237834

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