John Barrowman born 11 March 1967John Barrowman is a Scottish American actor, musical performer, dancer, singer, and TV presenter who has lived and worked both in the United Kingdom and the United States. He currently lives in the UK. He became a United States citizen in 1985, and holds dual US/UK citizenship.
Barrowman is best known on British television for his acting and presenting work on theatre. His most prominent television role has been as Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood. He has featured in such light entertainment shows as Live & Kicking and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do as well as appearing on the celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice.
Openly gay, he was voted the 2006 Stonewall 'Entertainer of the Year' and was third in Broadcast magazine's 'Hottest Commodity' poll in November 2006.
Barrowman was born in Mount Vernon, Glasgow, where he spent the first eight years of his life. His father worked for the Caterpillar heavy machinery company. In 1975 the family was relocated to America with his father's work.
He spent the next few years of his life in Joliet, Illinois, where his father was a manager at the Caterpillar tractor factory. Barrowman was graduated from Joliet West High School in 1985. While still in high school, he won parts in several musical productions while still a freshman. Between 1983 and 1985 he performed in productions of Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Camelot, Li'l Abner and Anything Goes. He attended university in San Diego, and returned to the United Kingdom in 1990.
He has appeared in several West End musicals, including Anything Goes (both 1989 and 2003 productions), Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Matador, Hair, Grease, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera (as Raoul).
He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1998 for his role in The Fix. He has also appeared in the West End in non-musical dramas, such as Rope and the 2005 production of A Few Good Men, in which Barrowman starred opposite Rob Lowe.
He has played the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard in the West End and, briefly, on Broadway. His only other Broadway credit is the Stephen Sondheim revue Putting It Together (1999–2000). In 2002, he appeared in the central role of Bobby in Sondheim's Company in the Kennedy Center's Stephen Sondheim Celebration. He is probably best known in the United States for starring roles in several short-lived prime-time soap operas such as Titans with Yasmine Bleeth in 2000 and Central Park West, as well as the low-budget cult film Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.
Barrowman was under consideration for the role of Will in the popular US series Will and Grace but the producers felt he was 'too straight' and the role went to straight actor Eric McCormack instead.
He appeared in five episodes of the BBC One science fiction television series Doctor Who (2005) as Captain Jack Harkness. Barrowman is now continuing the role of Jack Harkness, starring in Torchwood (an anagram of 'Doctor Who'), set in modern-day Cardiff and investigating alien activities and crime. In both shows the character is portrayed as omnisexual. Barrowman is also scheduled to make occasional returns to Doctor Who.
Barrowman's musical abilities have been featured in film: he had a duet with Kevin Kline in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely, and he sang Springtime for Hitler in the film of Mel Brooks' The Producers, based on the Broadway adaptation of the original movie. He also recently performed in and co-presented another new BBC One series for Saturday nights, entitled The Sound of Musicals, in which performers from West End musicals sing songs from the shows.He has made many other appearances on television either taking part, presenting or as a guest judge.
Barrowman has been with his partner, British designer Scott Gill, since 1991 when they met during a production at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The couple have homes in London and the Bay Area, Cardiff. He and Gill became civil partners on December 27, 2006.
Barrowman's autobiography, entitled Anything Goes, was published in January 2008. It was named after the Cole Porter song and musical of the same name. His sister - English professor and journalist - Carole Barrowman wrote the book using her brother's dictations.
In a 2010 interview in Attitude magazine Barrowman revealed that he kept his youthful appearance not only with botox around the eyes but that his natural hair colour is now 'completely white' and that he dyes it dark brown.