Danny John-Jules is stealing the show on Strictly Come Dancing at the moment while performing his best moves with his professional dance partner, Amy Dowden. But just how much do you know about the man himself? Find out everything you need to know about the actor right here, from his brilliant acting career to his family life…
About Danny John-Jules
Danny is 58-years-old, and was born in Paddington before moving and growing up in Notting Hill in London. The actor was a gymnast as a teenager, and his parents are from Dominica. Speaking about filming Death in Paradise in Guadeloupe, he told Cult Box: "My parents come from Dominica, which is the next island along, so I visited my dad and I introduced my kids to him, I hadn't seen him for seven years. So with all that in mind, the biggest thing was that there was a character in the script that had room for development." He also has a brother who is a barrister.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDanny with his wife, Petula
Red Dwarf and acting career
Danny is perhaps best known for his role of Cat in the popular sci-fi show Red Dwarf. The show, which aired for 11 years from 1988, followed a spaceship technician, Dave Lister, who finds himself to be the only human left in the universe after being kept in suspended animation and lives on the ship with a hologram, Arnold Judas Rummer, and Danny's character Cat, the last of a race of human cats who evolved from Lister's cat. Following Red Dwarf, Danny also starred in the popular children's show M.I.High and Maid Marian and her Merry Men. Speaking about his co-star Craig Charles, who plays Lister, previously joked: "Danny John-Jules could change his clothes every four seconds for a year and he still wouldn't run out of clothes." It was also revealed that Danny was given the role after showing up late to the audition dressed in a zoot suit.
Death in Paradise role
Danny has played Officer Dwayne Myers in the series since 2011 before leaving ahead of season eight. In the series, he played an unambitious but dedicated officer in the Saint Marie police force, and often uses questionable tactics to get the job done. Danny opened up about leaving the show, explaining that he left to return to performing on stage. He told TV Times: "I left Death in Paradise because I wanted to get back on stage. I needed a bit more razzmatazz in my life, and then along came Strictly! I haven't done a [stage] show for more than 20 years, so this is as close as I'm going to get to doing the jazz hands again. I've also been working on my one-man show about Sammy Davis Jnr, that's why I'm always wearing a bowler hat!"
Strictly Come Dancing
Danny announced that he was joining Strictly back in August. He said: "I'm ready to embrace the spandex, the glitter and all the razzmatazz… Dancing is special about Strictly. I love dancing. I've been asked a million people, 'Why don't you do Strictly?' and I said, 'No it's not going to happen!' And it did! Strange." He added: "I'm looking forward to doing the Foxtrot because that's the dance people will least expect I'll like." Danny wowed the judges with the Paso Doble during Movie Week, with Bruno Toniolo saying: "Respect! Taking on Hugh Jackman and that size of number, I'm telling you you've sold it. Great number, great night, great dancing, and I have to say, hair, make-up, costumes, excuse me! How good? Fantastic!" Shirley added: "It was a wonderful showman for the best show on Earth for Strictly. You did amazing. There are moments where you collided a little bit, it does need to go a little bit smooth. A very, very good try, I loved the command of your whole being."
© Photo: BBCDanny was praised in Movie Week of Strictly
Personal life and family
Danny is married to Petula Langlais, who has been supporting the star on social media during his Strictly stint. In an Instagram post, she wrote: "@amy_dowden you were amazing and are doing such a fantastic job in keeping @dannyjohnjules grounded and bringing out his best. Thank you. Then we paid a visit to the amazing ACLT BALL where we managed to have so much fun in such a short time... You could tell their evening went well from the lovely positive vibes we got as soon as we walked in the door… I have to give big props to my @dannyjohnjules because after all that and getting in at 3:30am, he was up at 7am and drove to Nottingham for the Red Dwarf Dimension Jump and was singing Tongue Tied by 10am... Heart of a soldier and grit of a lion." The couple share two children, Danté Langlais-John-Jules and Danaè Langlais-John-Jules.
© Photo: InstagramAmy Dowden shared a snap of 'Team Damy + 3'
