| Dec Donnelly | |
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Donnelly at the British Academy Television Awards 2009. |
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| Born | Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly 25 September 1975 Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | White British |
| Occupation | TV presenter, actor, singer |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Employer | ITV (previously BBC) |
| Spouse | Clare Buckfield (1993–2003) Georgie Thompson (2009–11) |
Declan Joseph Oliver "Dec" Donnelly (born 25 September 1975) is one half of the English acting and TV presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other being Anthony McPartlin. He came to prominence in the children's drama series Byker Grove and as one half of the pop music duo PJ & Duncan. Since then, Ant & Dec have had a very successful career as TV presenters, presenting programmes such as SMTV Live, Friends Like These, Pop Idol, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain's Got Talent, PokerFace, Push the Button and Red or Black?. They returned to acting, starring in a 2002 Tribute to The Likely Lads and the 2006 film Alien Autopsy.
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Donnelly is the youngest of seven children born to Irish emigrants, Anne and the now deceased Alphonsus Donnelly (died 2011). He has three brothers: Martin, Eamonn and Dermott (a Catholic priest), and three sisters: Patricia, Moyra and Camalia.[1] His parents hailed from Draperstown, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, migrated to Newcastle, where they bought a house in 1958. [2]
Donnelly attended St Michael's Roman Catholic Primary School and St Cuthbert's High School, which he left with 8 GCSEs.[3]
The part of Duncan on Byker Grove was Dec's first well-known TV appearance. At the age of 12, he saw an advert in a local newspaper stating that a new children's TV show would be filmed in Newcastle and was looking for young actors. It was his father who suggested that he audition. At first Dec said he didn't want to, but he later phoned the producer and asked for an audition. He was successful and it was on the Byker Grove set that he first met Ant.
Ant & Dec soon became the famous duo known today, who host Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, an entertainment show in which they compete against each other and the audience can win prizes. They also host ITV1's reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in which celebrities are placed in the jungle in Australia and have to compete to win the show. They also host another ITV1 show, Britain's Got Talent, a talent search to find an act to perform at the Royal Variety Show in front of the Royal Family and most recently Ant & Dec's Push the Button, with the same idea as Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. Most recently, they hosted Red or Black?, a game show which is based on roulette. In April 2009, Ant & Dec achieved wide international exposure after interviewing Britain's Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle, whose audition would become the most-viewed YouTube video of 2009. They also starred in the 2006 film Alien Autopsy.
At Ant's wedding to Lisa Armstrong in 2006, Dec was his best man. [4]
In 2007, Ant and Dec signed a 2½ year, £30 million contract with ITV. They are estimated to be worth around £62m each. [5]
The duo has won a considerable number of awards over the years for their television work, as well as awards for Best New Act during their singing career, including:
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