John Barrowman (photo ©Eva Rinaldi) was born on March 11, 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland. When he was 8 years old, his family moved to the USA where he started getting passionate about acting and music. He started getting involved in various musicals while still a high school student and after graduation he went to study performing arts at the United States International University in San Diego.
In 1989 John Barrowman returned to the UK to study Shakespeare for six months and began his professional acting career on stage. In later years, he appeared in several stage plays and especially in musicals both in the UK and the USA, on Broadway. At the same time, he also started making various experiences on television as a host in TV shows such as “Live & Kicking” and “The Movie Game” and as an actor in TV shows such as “Central Park West” and “Titans”.
HIs activities in many musicals led John Barrowman to also get involved in music productions. Over the years he participated in several recordings of that kind coming at some point to produce two music albums of cover songs: “Another Side” in 2007 and “Music Music Music” in 2008.
In 2005 John Barrowman started playing what is still his most famous role, that of Captain Jack Harkness, in the new “Doctor Who” series. After being the Ninth Doctor‘s companion for a few episodes, the character became one of the protagonists of the spinoff “Torchwood“.
Jack Harkness also appeared in some more episodes in subsequent seasons of the parent show. John Barrowman has also appeared in the comedy “The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot”, one of the homage products created on the occasion of “Doctor Who” 50th anniversary.
In those years, John Barrowman also participated in other TV programs as an actor or host and had various roles in stage plays but also occasionally in some movies such as “The Producers” (2005), the remake of Mel Brooks 1968 movie.
Despite his young age, in 2008 John Barrowman published his first autobiographical book, “Anything Goes”, written with the help of his sister Carole Barrowman. In 2009 he published another memoir book, “I Am What I Am”, which contains details about his work in television and reflections on fame. In 2012, the two of them also published the fantasy novel “Hollow Earth”.
In 2012 John Barrowman started playing the role for which he’s most famous in recent years, that of Malcolm Merlyn, who originally appeared in the TV show “Arrow.” In later years his character appeared on several occasions also in the two sisters shows “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow”.
John Barrowman is openly gay and is in a stable relationship with architect Scott Gill, who met in 1993. The two of them got legally married in California in 2013.
Many fans are hoping that “Torchwood” comes back on television, in the meantime John Barrowman reprised the role of Jack Harkness in some audio adventure. In one way or another, he keeps on playing the characters that made him famous and pursues new artistic projects of various types.
