John Barrowman

John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer.

John Scot Barrowman was born in Mount Vernon, Glasgow, on 11 March 1967, the youngest of three children.

His older sister, Carole, later became a university professor.

He lived in Glasgow for the first eight years of his life.

His mother was a singer who also worked in a record shop, while his father was employed by the Caterpillar heavy machinery company in nearby Uddingston.

In 1975, his father's company relocated the family to the United States, where his father managed the Caterpillar tractor factory in Aurora, Illinois.

The family settled in Joliet, Illinois, where Barrowman attended Joliet West High School in the heart of a "quintessentially middle-class conservative town".

His high school music and English teachers changed the future course of his life, with his music tutor instilling in him a love for performing, and his English teacher encouraging him to rise to his true artistic potential.

His English teacher moved him into a programme for gifted children and coached him for the school's speech team.

With the support of his teacher, he competed with other schools in statewide speech competitions, where he sharpened his skills reading scenes from plays.

After his classmates mocked his native Scottish accent, Barrowman learned to speak with a General American accent which also hinted at a Mid-Atlantic accent.

As a freshman, he won parts in several musical productions; from 1983 to 1986, he performed in such musical productions as Oliver!, Camelot, Hello, Dolly!, Li'l Abner, and Anything Goes.

Among his classmates in high school, who also participated in theater with him, were Anthony Rapp and Andy Dick.

Rapp is reportedly a close friend of Barrowman.

Barrowman has acknowledged that, without the support he received in high school, he would most likely "not now be appearing in royal command performances in the West End in front of the Royal family or having Stephen Sondheim ask [him] to play opposite Carol Burnett".

Barrowman spent his senior year shovelling coal for an Illinois power company.

His father had arranged the job (and similar jobs for his brother and sister) to give him the experience of manual labour.

His father told him, "If you want to do manual labour for the rest of your life, you'll know that when you do it; it's a choice. But if you don't like it, you'll understand the importance of educating yourself and–if you decide what you want to do–being good at your craft or your skill."

Barrowman worked for the power company for the entire summer, but did not like the job.

Eventually, he convinced the company to move him to work in the storeroom.

After appearing in Sam Mendes' production of The Fix, he was nominated for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and, in the early 2000s, returned to the role of Billy Crocker in the revival of Anything Goes.

Alongside his theatrical career, Barrowman has appeared in films such as the musical biopic De-Lovely (2004) and musical comedy The Producers (2005).

He is known for his roles as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who (2005–10; 2020–21) and spin-off Torchwood, (2006–11) and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrowverse (2012–19).

Born in Glasgow, Barrowman moved to the US state of Illinois with his family at the age of eight.

Encouraged by his high school teachers there, he studied performing arts at the United States International University in San Diego before landing the role of Billy Crocker in Cole Porter's Anything Goes in London's West End.

Since his debut, he has played lead roles in various musicals both in the West End and on Broadway, including Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, and Matador.

Before venturing into British television, he featured in the American television dramas Titans and Central Park West, but is better known for his acting and presenting work for the BBC; this includes his work for CBBC in its earlier years, his self-produced entertainment programme Tonight's the Night, and his BAFTA Cymru-nominated role of Captain Jack Harkness in the 2005 revival of the sci-fi series Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood.

Barrowman has also had a number of guest roles in television programmes both in the US and the UK.

He appeared as a contestant on the first series of celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice while his theatrical background allowed him to become a judge on Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical talent shows How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I'd Do Anything.

In 2006, he was voted Stonewall's Entertainer of the Year.

Barrowman is also featured on more than 12 musical theatre recordings, including cover tunes found on his 2007 album Another Side and 2008's Music Music Music.

He has published two memoirs and autobiographies, Anything Goes (2008) and I Am What I Am (2009), with his older sister Carole as co-author.

The siblings also teamed up to write a series of young-adult fantasy novels, Hollow Earth.

His most recent West End credit was in the 2009 production of La Cage aux Folles.

Both albums accrued places on the UK Albums Chart, as did his self-titled John Barrowman (2010), which reached No. 11, his highest chart placing to date.

He hosted the BBC One quiz show Pressure Pad in 2013 and 2014.

Barrowman starred in The CW's Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as Malcolm Merlyn.

The second book in the series, Bone Quill, was released 2013, with the third, Book of Beasts published in 2014.

A second trilogy, The Orion Chronicles, followed with Conjuror published in 2016, Nephilim in 2017, and Inquisitor in 2018.

With this experience, he joined the judging panel of Dancing on Ice for the 2020 to 2021 series.