Hugh Dancy Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

Hugh Michael Horace Dancy, better known as Hugh Dancy, is a celebrated English actor who is best known for his captivating roles as the Earl of Essex in the HBO drama mini-series Elizabeth I (2005) and Will Graham in the popular, critically acclaimed NBC crime series Hannibal, which aired in 2013.

HUGH DANCY BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Dancy was born on June 19, 1975 (Hugh Dancy age: 48) in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. His mother, Sarah Ann Dancy, is employed in academic publishing. His father, Jonathan Dancy, is a philosophy professor who currently teaches at the University of Reading and the University of Texas at Austin.

Dancy grew up in Newcastle-under-Lyme as the eldest of three children. His siblings are Jack Dancy and Katharine Sarah Redman. During his early years, Dancy studied at Edenhurst Preparatory School in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Upon reaching the age of 10, Dancy went to boarding school at the Dragon School located in Oxford. At 18 years old, Dancy performed in the Winchester College Players’ production of Twelfth Night. He proceeded to attend St. Peter’s College in Oxford, where he would go on to study English.

HUGH DANCY BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

Upon his graduation, Dancy relocated to London, where he encountered a stroke of serendipity. A regular conversation in a café ended up leading to Dancy becoming acquainted with renowned Irish casting director Ros Hubbard along with agent Dallas Smith, who wound up signing him. 

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Dancy revealed what it was like preparing for his role in the 2009 romance/drama film Adam.

“Well, I started from a place of total ignorance about Aspergers Syndrome,” Dancy admitted. “So I felt I had two parts, in a sense, that were really the same, which was figuring out about Aspergers Syndrome and educating myself in that way, and also figuring out who Adam was as an individual. I think that I did what anybody would do in that context. Basically, I used Google and then I read everything I could get my hands on. I kind of educated myself to the point that I felt comfortable sitting down with people that knew a lot more about Aspergers and people with Aspergers. And then when I got to a certain point, I felt comfortable going back to the script, you know, trying to hone it down, be selective. And really you’re just looking for things that trigger your imagination and bring you back to that story, and, in a way, then you start filtering things out.”

Continuing to speak about his portrayal of Adam, Dancy discussed how he managed to overcome the challenges of portraying somebody who was unable to read the emotions of others.

“Initially, with some panic,” Dancy chuckled. “It was quite daunting. There’s a lot of things that you don’t know about. You don’t know how they’re gonna work until day one when the camera starts rolling and there you are and you say, ‘Oh, I see. It’s going to work like this.’ And the first two days on any movie set, I think any actor would tell you, are pretty odd. Often you’re finding your bearings, you know? And this was doubly so. But eventually, because Adam can’t read other people necessarily, the signs that we all rely on, there’s something about him that’s very, very present. He seems detached but he’s listening very, very hard, processing everything that he hears, and, as an actor, that’s what you are meant to be doing all the time. There was something about that discipline that was ultimately quite liberating.”

Following up on this unique role, Dancy spoke a bit more about what it was like portraying someone with Asperger’s syndrome. 

“Just on a professional basis, out of professional pride, I wouldn’t have wanted to misrepresent this,” Dancy proclaimed. “But obviously beyond that, there’s millions of people who are underrepresented and I would have hated to feel that I had gone out and done them a disservice. We didn’t set out to make a movie to teach the world about Aspergers, and I think, ironically, we best served the community at large by actually just focusing on this one guy, on Adam, and letting people know that he’s an individual and everybody out there on the Autism spectrum and so on is an individual and unique. So, we were just focused and kind of contained in that way.”

When asked about the most memorable scene he shot with fellow cast member Rose Byrne, this is what Dancy had to say:

“I think that you kind of invent those things after they happen, particularly on a movie like this because we had so little time,” Dancy stated. “We had 25 days to shoot the film and what that means, practically speaking, is that you have about ten scenes every day to shoot. So, kind of, there isn’t time for something to become memorable, you know? By the time you’ve done it, you’re on to the next. There’s an amazing scene in the movie, which actually occurs about a third of the way in when Adam tells her that he has Asperger’s syndrome. It opens with his attempt to make conversation by asking her if when they were together the night before in the park if she’d been sexually excited, and that’s his kind of opening gambit, you know? He thinks he’s doing pretty well. For him, that’s good work. So, to go from that kind of comic, awkward moment and segue into him telling her about his condition and opening up to her like that, that kind of chopping and changing is exactly what you look for in a good scene.”

HUGH DANCY BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

Dancy currently resides in the West Village neighborhood of New York City with his wife and kids. Dancy was first introduced to actress Claire Danes on the set of Evening, which took place in Newport, Rhode Island. In February 2009, the couple announced their engagement. They married that year in France, where they held a private ceremony.

They currently have two sons together, Cyrus and Rowan, and have just given birth to a baby girl as well.