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Danny John-Jules

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Danny John-Jules
John-Jules in 2008
Born
Daniel John-Jules

(1960-09-16) 16 September 1960 (age 64)
Paddington, London, England
EducationRutherford School, Paddington
Occupations
  • Actor
  • dancer
  • singer
Years active1975–present
Known forRed Dwarf
Maid Marian and Her Merry Men
Blade II
Death in Paradise
M.I. High
SpousePetula Langlais
Children2
FamilyTyreece John-Jules (nephew)

Daniel John-Jules (born 16 September 1960)[1] is a British actor, singer and dancer. He is best known for playing Cat in the sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, Barrington in the comic children's series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, and policeman Dwayne Myers in the crime drama Death in Paradise.[2] He was also a protagonist in the hit CBBC children's spy drama M.I. High, in which he portrayed Lenny Bicknall, the caretaker.

Early life

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John-Jules was born in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, brought up in Notting Hill[3] and attended Rutherford School, Paddington, from 1972 to 1977. There he learnt gymnastics.[3]

Both his parents are from Dominica, and arrived in the UK aboard HMT Empire Windrush.[4][5] His mother worked in the courts; he has a brother who is a barrister.[3]

Career

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John-Jules has played the role of Cat in the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf since its inception in 1988. He also starred in the children's spy series M.I. High and played Barrington in the children's series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. In addition to his acting career, he has made various appearances both as a dancer and a singer.[6]

Before his television and film work, he was a dancer in a group called 'second generation'[3] and in many productions in West End theatres. He was a member of the original cast of Starlight Express, playing a boxcar called Rocky I. In 1993, he released a song from Red Dwarf, "Tongue Tied", as a single, which entered the top 20, eventually reaching a high of 17. John-Jules featured his Red Dwarf co-stars and backing singers in the video. For this release, he was billed as simply "The Cat"; a CD-EP release was also issued featuring this song along with a version of the Red Dwarf theme song.

Among other productions, John-Jules was the dancer from the crowd in the Wham! video for "The Edge of Heaven". He gets up partway through the instrumental section and dances alongside George Michael. John-Jules also danced on the Lena Zavaroni TV Series in 1981, and has made a tribute to her on her website.[7]

On television, John-Jules is best known for his portrayal of Cat and Cat's geeky alter ego Dwayne Dibbley in the British comedy series Red Dwarf. He got the part of Cat by turning up half an hour late for his audition, dressed in his father's old zoot suit. He was unaware that he was late and hence did not appear at all concerned about it. The producers immediately decided he was cool enough to be "the Cat". Craig Charles said at a Red Dwarf convention that John-Jules was a lot like the Cat in that he had a lot of clothes. He said, "Danny John-Jules could change his clothes every four seconds for a year and he still wouldn't run out of clothes." Along with Charles, John-Jules is the only other cast member to appear in every episode of Red Dwarf to date.

John-Jules and Chloë Annett aka Kristine Kochanski from Red Dwarf in 2009

His first acknowledged television and film roles were in Roy Minton's critically acclaimed Scum, where he played one of the inmates. The TV version, which was part of the Play for Today strand, was banned prior to broadcast.

He has also played the parts of Barrington in Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Byron Lucifer in The Tomorrow People and Milton Wordsworth, the original presenter of The Story Makers on CBeebies.

Since 1999, he has had several guest appearances as himself in shows such as Comedy Connections, RI:SE and Night Fever.

Between 2002 and 2004 he played Milton Wordsworth in the CBeebies series The Story Makers, an educational children's television programme that was broadcast for four series. He appears in every series except series 2.

He has also appeared in at least one episode of CBBC's sitcom Kerching!, playing Michael's father, Trevor and appeared as Lenny Bicknall in series 1 and 2 of M.I.High, also on CBBC. He has also appeared in The Crouches.

On 8 November 2009, he made a brief appearance during BBC Two's coverage of the 2009 Valencian Moto Grand Prix.

In 2014, he played Nigel Rogers in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern. In May 2015, it was announced that he would, again, be returning to Red Dwarf for the eleventh and twelfth series.[8]

In 2004, Jules played a character on the SF comedy Starhyke, but the series remained in post-production for five years, being shown only privately in 2009, the rights finally being bought by Amazon.com in 2015 and released in 2016.

He appeared in the BBC One series Death in Paradise as policeman Dwayne Myers[2] from its start until 2018. He returned as a guest star for the Christmas Special in 2021.

It was announced that John-Jules plays the lead as Sir Leigh Teabing in the stage version of hit novel The Da Vinci Code's 2022 UK tour.[9]

Film

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John-Jules' film career began in 1975 playing Frog in the short film Seven Green Bottles, which was produced in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police and warned of the dangers and consequences of juvenile crime. He supplied the voice for two characters in Labyrinth (1986), then appeared in the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), and Blade II (2002). He has also appeared, uncredited, in the 1979 British film Scum, playing a look-out during a fight scene.

He has appeared in the 2008 British films The Grind and Sucker Punch. He has a small role as Rachel Weisz' manager in the Lincoln, Nebraska police force in the 2010 film The Whistleblower.

John-Jules also played one of the dancers in the 1981 movie The Great Muppet Caper, which, like Little Shop Of Horrors, was directed by Frank Oz. He is among the dancers in the restaurant where Kermit and Miss Piggy are dancing.

Other work

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John-Jules provided his voice for the character of Gex in the UK and European release of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko.[10] For several years in the late 1990s he appeared in the annual Christmas pantomime at Aldershot's Princes Hall theatre, playing his Cat character. John-Jules has also provided voices for the British Canadian animated series Chop Socky Chooks for Cartoon Network, Teletoon and Aardman Animations and the 2015 remake of the British children's animated series Bob the Builder.

John-Jules participated in the 16th series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Amy Dowden. In week 5 he topped the leaderboard with a total of 37 points for his jive. The couple were awarded the first 10 score of the series when Darcey Bussell marked their Jive to "Flip, Flop and Fly" in week 5. The couple were eliminated in Week 8 after losing a dance off to Graeme Swann and Oti Mabuse, their elimination came days after controversial bullying allegations, with tabloids reporting that John-Jules had reduced Dowden to tears.[11]

Personal life

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John-Jules is married to Petula Langlais; the couple have two children, both of whom have had minor acting roles alongside their father.[12] He is also an avid motorcyclist and regularly participates in charity rides.[13]

His nephew is former Arsenal and current Crawley Town footballer Tyreece John-Jules.[14]

In November 2008 John-Jules was convicted of assaulting two bin men. He was ordered to perform 120 hours of community service. After the court hearing, John-Jules maintained he had a "clear conscience", saying "I've been doing community service for over 30 years, this is just another day."[15]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1979 Scum Baldy's Lookout Uncredited
1981 The Great Muppet Caper Street Dancer
1986 Labyrinth Firey 3 and 4 (voice) [16]
1986 Little Shop of Horrors Doo-Wop Street Singer
1991 London Kills Me Black Man at Party
1992 In Dreams Gary
1998 Can't Smeg Won't Smeg Duane Dibbley/Cat
1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Barfly Jack
2002 Blade II Asad Credited as Danny John Jules
2006 A Goat's Tail Member of Parliment
2007 Underground Lamont Gaines
2008 Sucker Punch Harley
2010 Freestyle Collis
2010 The Whistleblower Duke
2011 Arthur Christmas Elf (voice) [16]
2012 The Grind Phil
2013 Voodoo Magic Wyclef
2017 Amoc Dr.Stevens
2021 Creation Stories Maurice [17]

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1975 Seven Green Bottles Frog Television short
1983–1984 The Hot Shoe Show Dancer
1984 Danger: Marmalade At Work Roy Lee Episode: "Shame"
1988–2020 Red Dwarf Cat 74 episodes
1989–1994 Maid Marian and Her Merry Men Barrington 26 episodes
1991 Jackanory Storyteller Episode: "Surprises"
1991 Spatz Captain Electric Episode: "Loot"
1992 Runaway Bay Lord Frittas Episode: "Taking the Rap"
1993 Comic Relief: The Invasion of the Comic Tomatoes The Cat
1994 The Bill Andy Brown Episode: "Backlash"
1994 Red Dwarf: Smeg Ups Cat
1995 The Tomorrow People Byron Lucifer The Living Stones
1995 Red Dwarf: Smeg Outs Cat
1996 The Demon Headmaster Eddy Hair 2 episodes
1999 Let the Good Times Roll Neville Television short
2002 Sleep Paul Television short
2002 The Meeting The Teacher Television short
2002–2004 The Story Makers Milton Wordsworth 74 episodes
2003 The Video Tape Off Licence Owner Television short
2003–2005 The Crouches Ed 11 episodes
2004 Casualty Leon Episodes: "Emotional Rescue: Parts 1 & 2"
2006 Doctors Bradley Patterson Episode: "Junk Soul Brothers"
2007 Fallen Angels Wife Beater Television short
2007 Chute! Lenny Bicknall Credited as Danny John Jules
2007-2008 Chop Socky Chooks Voice role
2007–2008 M.I. High Lenny Bicknall 23 episodes
2009 Starhyke Admiral Lenovo Episode: Disordered
2011–2018, 2021, 2024– Death in Paradise Officer Dwayne Myers 60 episodes
2012 Swap Peter Television short
2014 The Life of Rock with Brian Pern Nile Rodgers Episode: "Middle Age of Rock"
2015 Top Coppers Captain Woods Episode: "The Passion of the Chris"
2015–2018 Bob the Builder Curtis (voice) UK/US versions
2016 Bucky Wayne Television short
2016 Drunk History: UK Angel Gabriel Episode: "Christmas Special"
2017 Urban Myths Don King Episode: "The Greatest. Of All Time."
2017 Tim Vine Travels Through Time Christmas Special Cardinal Wolsey
2018–2022 Robozuna Niven & Spark (voice) UK/US versions
2022 Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators Ben Lovedon Episode: "If Music Be the Food of Love"
2022 Dodger Mr. Rossini Episode: "Carnival"
2023 The Kemps: All Gold Paul Human

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko Gex UK and European release[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "BBC One – Death in Paradise, Episode 1". BBC. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d carpoolUK (20 April 2009), Danny John Jules | Carpool, retrieved 4 September 2018
  4. ^ Raffray, Nathalie (17 August 2018). "Kensal Rise's Danny John-Jules gets ready for Strictly Come Dancing". Kilburn Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  5. ^ Martin, William (17 October 2011). "Danny John-Jules ('Death in Paradise') interview". Cultbox.
  6. ^ Morgan, David (7 October 2013). "Galaxy of roles for Red Dwarf star Danny John Jules (From Warrington Guardian)". Warrington Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  7. ^ Danny John-Jules Tribute Archived 16 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine. lenazavaroni.net. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  8. ^ Debnath, Neela (3 May 2015). "Red Dwarf returns: Craig Charles quits Coronation Street to return to comedy sci-fi series". The Independent. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Cast portraits released for The Da Vinci Code tour | WhatsOnStage". www.whatsonstage.com. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  10. ^ "GEX: Deep Cover Gecko out now on PlayStation Network". Square Enix. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  11. ^ Hogan, Michael (11 November 2018). "Strictly Come Dancing 2018, week 8 results: Danny John-Jules eliminated in wake of bullying allegations". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  12. ^ "Death in Paradise: Danny John-Jules' actor children and famous footballer nephew". 26 December 2021.
  13. ^ Smith, Cameron (8 January 2013). "Danny John-Jules Exclusive Interview". Female First. FemaleFirst Ltd.
  14. ^ "Arsenal reward Tyreece John-Jules with new deal". Daily Cannon. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Red Dwarf actor's attack sentence". BBC News. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  16. ^ a b c "Danny John Jules (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. 16 September 1960. Retrieved 3 June 2019. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  17. ^ Fear, Helen (10 March 2024). "Danny John-Jules returns as Dwayne Myers in Death in Paradise". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
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