Rufus Hound

Rufus Hound (born Robert James Blair Simpson 6 March 1979) is an English actor, comedian and presenter.

Hound was born on 6 March 1979, in Essex and moved to Surrey at the age of seven.

He was educated at Hoe Bridge School Woking, Frensham Heights and Godalming College, where he was elected as a Student Representative and built the college radio station.

After leaving school he began working for a PR agency but started performing comedy in the evenings.

In 2000, he left his job as an account executive for Claire's Accessories to begin working full-time as a stand-up comedian.

While working at the Edinburgh Festival he adopted the stage name 'Rufus Hound' for the first time.

Hound hosted the year 2000 edition of My Funniest Year, a look at a past year of British television, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in September 2010.

He has been a regular panelist on Celebrity Juice, hosted by Keith Lemon, and has appeared at Bright Club a number of times.

Hound hosted Destination Three, the coverage of the Glastonbury Festival and Top of the Pops in 2005 and 2006 alongside Fearne Cotton.

He presented the idiosyncratic reality show Grime Scene Investigation on BBC Three with staff and students from Aston University, and narrated BBC Two's broadcasts of MythBusters.

He has also appeared in many comedy shows and quizzes such as Street Cred Sudoku and Nevermind the Buzzcocks, as well as Celebrity Juice where he was a regular panellist.

In early 2008, Hound appeared twice on ITV's Thank God You're Here in the UK, after initially working as the warm-up act.

In late summer 2008, Hound joined the panel show Argumental as the Blue Team Captain.

Hound was the narrator for the gaming series Playr and presents What Do Kids Know? on UKTV-owned channel Watch.

He narrated the 2009 series Rocket Science and has appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired! and Richard & Judy.

He also presented Outtake TV on BBC1, replacing Anne Robinson.

Hound took part in Let's Dance for Sport Relief, dancing to Cheryl Cole's "Fight for This Love" and won the final of the series on 13 March 2010.

In January 2011, Hound participated in the former Channel 4 reality series Famous and Fearless.

He came third for the boys' team, and was referred to as "The Ruthless Hound".

In 2012, Hound was a team captain for Mad Mad World.

Since 2012, he has presented a programme on BBC Radio Four called My Teenage Diary, in which celebrities talk about the diary that they kept in their teenage years.

He also stars in the 2012 film The Wedding Video.

From October 2012 through February 2013, Hound played the lead role of Francis Henshall in the National Theatre's second touring production of One Man, Two Guvnors.

Partnered with Flavia Cacace, Hound won the 2013 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.

Following the end of the tour, he took over the role in the West End production from 4 February 2013.

In summer 2013 he played Roy in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Neville's Island by Tim Firth at the Theatre in the Park (a temporary theatre, while the Festival theatre was being refurbished).

In 2014, Hound played the role of Freddie in the West End production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels after out-of-town tryouts in Manchester and Aylesbury.

In 2015, Hound played Sam Swift in an episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who, titled "The Woman Who Lived", and appeared in the Channel 4 drama series Cucumber as an eccentric character called Rupert.

Hound contributed his vocals to the track "Tazer Beam" by The Skints from their album FM, released in March 2015.

On 22 February 2016, Hound made his debut as a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Just A Minute alongside regular Paul Merton and semi-regulars Pam Ayres and Graham Norton.

Hound plays a fictionalised version of himself in the CBBC television series Hounded as the protagonist, a normal television presenter who must constantly foil the plans of Dr Muhahaha, who plans on taking over the world.

In 2016, Hound played the part of Duncan in the sixth series of the Sky 1 sitcom Trollied.

In early 2016 he played the role of Sancho Panza in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Don Quixote, adapted by James Fenton.

In November 2017, Hound temporarily took over hosting responsibilities of Iain Lee's Talkradio show, named The Late Night Alternative as Iain Lee joined the cast of the 2017 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Since 2018 he has provided the voice of Waffle on the CBeebies show Waffle the Wonder Dog.

In 2021, Hound participated in the thirteenth series of Dancing on Ice opposite professional partner Robin Johnstone.

They were forced to withdraw from the competition in week 4 after Hound tested positive for COVID-19.

From October to November 2021, Hound appeared in four episodes of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Keith "Starbuck" Dursley.

Hound made his acting debut in the Direct-to-DVD film Big Fat Gypsy Gangster which was directed by Ricky Grover.

The production transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End for a limited season from October 2018 to February 2019.