Darren Day

Early life

Day's paternal grandfather had a comedy acrobatic strongman act and was once a warm-up act for George Formby. Day attended Sir Charles Lucas Arts College, and undertook drama classes at evenings and weekends until he was 13, when he turned his attention to snooker. He became a professional snooker player at 17, but found himself drawn to entertainment.

Career

Day started his career as part of a comedy cabaret trio when he was just 17. He also worked as a Butlin's redcoat for a season. He later went solo and auditioned for BBC's talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1987 and appeared on the show in 1988, introduced by host Bob Monkhouse. He won several heats and came fourth in the final.

Darren Day made his breakthrough as an actor in London's West End theatre, starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when he replaced the departing Phillip Schofield. He then starred in many West End shows, such as Grease, Summer Holiday and Godspell and went on to develop a career as a television presenter, presenting programmes such as You Bet!, and Don't Try This at Home!. In 1991, Day presented the Classic Nursery Rhymes video.

Day has appeared in many touring stage musicals, including Summer Holiday, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, Hello Dolly and Great Expectations. In 2007, Day made a guest appearance in July on ITV's police drama The Bill.

In 2001, he appeared in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank, and in 2002, he appeared in the first series of the reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Autumn 2007 saw him take over from Mark Little in the UK tour of Defending the Caveman before returning to pantomime at the Lowry, Salford as King Rat in Dick Whittington. In 2009 he changed management and was then cast in the musical, We Will Rock You, alongside Kevin Kennedy, which toured the UK. From October 2010 to January 2011, Day played soap villain Danny Houston in the popular series Hollyoaks.

In early 2012, Day took on the role of American author Paul Sheldon in a production of Misery. The production was nominated for a Time Out Theatre Award. In Autumn 2012, he played HIV-positive gospel singer Gideon in the European premiere of the award-winning USA musical "The Last Session", for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the Off West End Awards ("The Offies"). In September 2013, he starred in the new musical comedy "Stand Up" with Lionel Blair and Billy Pearce. In 2014, he revisited his cabaret roots when he stepped in for his old friend, Joe Longthorne, who was ill. He then guested on the Holby City Christmas Special, playing panto dame Michael Evans. In 2015, he toured his solo cabaret internationally.

In February 2016, his new album, 'This is the Moment' was released. This is his first ever album of favourite musical theatre songs. He joined the tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in February 2016, sharing the role of Tick/Mitzi with Duncan James and Jason Donovan. Thee feature film White Island in which he plays villain Rik Searle was premiered in London on 10 October 2016.

On 5 January 2016, Day entered the Celebrity Big Brother house as a housemate. On 5 February, he reached the final and finished in third place. On 27 July 2016 it was announced that Day would head the cast of the new Robert J. Sherman musical Bumblescratch at the Adelphi Theatre on 4 September 2016. The event was in aid of Variety and Day was named a Celebrity Ambassador for the charity. Also in 2016, the film White Island was released, in which he plays gangster Rik Searle

In 2017, he toured in Grease in March 2017 in the role of Teen Angel, a revival of the show in which he had previously played Danny Zuko

Personal life

Day is a father of three. He has a son, Corey, with actress Suzanne Shaw, and two children with his wife, actress Stephanie Dooley, Madison and Dalton. He is also a stepfather to Jordan.

Singles

Albums