Danny John-Jules

Danny John-Jules
John-Jules in 2008
Born	Daniel John-Jules (1960-09-16) 16 September 1960 Paddington, London, England
Other names	Daniel
Occupation	Actor, singer and dancer
Years active	1975–present

Daniel "Danny" John-Jules (born 16 September 1960) is an English actor, singer and dancer. He is best known for portraying Cat in the television programme Red Dwarf. He appears in the BBC One series Death in Paradise as policeman Dwayne Myers.^[1] He was also a protagonist in the hit kids spy drama on CBBC called M.I. High, in which he portrayed Lenny Bicknall, the caretaker.

Early life

John-Jules was born in Paddington, London and attended Rutherford Comprehensive School from 1972 to 1977. Both his parents are from Dominica^[2] and are ethnically Ghanaian.

Career

Danny John-Jules has played the role of Cat in the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf since its inception in 1988. He also starred in the children's spy series M.I.High and played Barrington in the children's series "Maid Marian and Her Merry Men". In addition to his acting career, he has made various appearances both as a dancer and a singer.^[3]

Before his television and film work, he was a dancer in many productions in West End theatres. He was a member of the original cast of Starlight Express, playing a boxcar called Rocky I. In 1993, he released a song from Red Dwarf, "Tongue Tied", as a single, which entered the top 20. John-Jules featured his Red Dwarf co-stars and backup singers in the video. For this release, he was billed as simply "The Cat"; a CD-EP release was also issued featuring this song along with a version of the Red Dwarf theme song.

Among other productions, John-Jules was the dancer from the crowd in the Wham! video for "The Edge Of Heaven". He gets up partway through the instrumental section and dances alongside George Michael. John-Jules also danced on the Lena Zavaroni TV Series in 1981, and has made a tribute to her on her website.^[4]

On television, John-Jules is best known for his portrayal of Cat and Cat's geeky alter ego Duane Dibbley in the British comedy series Red Dwarf. He obtained the part of Cat by turning up half an hour late for his audition, dressed in his father's old zoot suit. He was unaware that he was late and hence did not appear at all concerned about it. The producers immediately decided he was cool enough to be "the Cat". Craig Charles said at a Red Dwarf convention that John-Jules was a lot like the Cat in that he had a lot of clothes. He said, "Danny John-Jules could change his clothes every four seconds for a year and he still wouldn't run out of clothes." Along with Charles, John-Jules is the only other cast member to appear in every episode of Red Dwarf to date.

His first acknowledged television and film roles were in Roy Minton's critically acclaimed Scum, where he played one of the inmates. The TV version, which was part of the Play for Today strand, was banned prior to broadcast.

He has also played the parts of Barrington in Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Byron Lucifer in The Tomorrow People and Milton Wordsworth, the original presenter of The Story Makers on CBeebies.

Since 1999, he has had several guest appearances as himself in shows such as Comedy Connections, Casualty, RI:SE and Night Fever.

He has also appeared in at least one episode of CBBC's sitcom Kerching!, playing Michael's father, Trevor and appeared as Lenny Bicknall in series 1 and 2 of M.I.High, also on CBBC. He has also appeared in The Crouches.

On 8 November 2009, he made a brief appearance during BBC Two's coverage of the 2009 Valencian Moto Grand Prix.

He is currently appearing in the BBC One series Death in Paradise as policeman Dwayne Myers^[1] and on Dave in his role as The Cat in repeats of Red Dwarf X, after first reprising the role in 2009's Red Dwarf: Back to Earth. In 2014, he played Nigel Rogers in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern. In May 2015, it was announced that he would, again, be returning to Red Dwarf for the eleventh and twelfth series.^[5]

Film

John-Jules' film career began in 1975 playing Frog in the short film Seven Green Bottles, which was produced in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police and warned of the dangers and consequences of juvenile crime. He supplied the voice for two characters in Labyrinth, then appeared in the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Blade II. He has also appeared, uncredited, in the 1979 British film Scum, playing a look-out during a fight scene.

He appeared in the 2009 independent film The Tournament, produced by Shakabuku Films. He has also appeared in the 2008 British films The Grind and Sucker Punch. He has a small role as Rachel Weisz' manager in the Lincoln, Nebraska police force in the 2010 film The Whistleblower.

John-Jules also played one of the dancers in the 1981 movie The Great Muppet Caper. He is among the dancers in the restaurant where Kermit and Miss Piggy are dancing.

Other work

John-Jules provided his voice for the character of Gex in the UK and European release of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. For several years in the late 1990s he appeared in the annual Christmas pantomime at Aldershot's Prince's Hall theatre, playing his Cat character.

Personal life

On 13 November 2008 John-Jules was convicted at Brent Magistrates Court for assaulting two refuse collectors for not emptying his recycling bin. He was sentenced to 120 hours community service and told to pay £350 costs and £75 compensation to each victim. John-Jules denied the attack and said he had a clear conscience.^[6]

John-Jules is an avid motorcyclist and regularly participates in charity rides.^[7]

References

External links

• Official website
• Danny John-Jules at the Internet Movie Database
• Danny John-Jules Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com