Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for playing Robert Crawley in the ITV period drama series Downton Abbey from 2010 until 2015.
Early life and education
Bonneville was born in Blackheath, London, to a nurse mother and a urological surgeon father. He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School and Sherborne School, an independent school in the market town of Sherborne, Dorset.
Following secondary education, Bonneville read Theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He left Cambridge with a 2:2 in theology and has since said that he tended to do more acting than academic work.
Bonneville is also an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre.
Acting
Bonneville's first professional stage appearance was at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In 1987, he joined the National Theatre where he appeared in several plays, then the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1991, where he played Laertes to Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1992–1993). He played Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bergetto in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Kastril and later Surly in The Alchemist.