Jeremy Sheffield

Jeremy Sheffield
Born
Jeremy Sheffield

(1966-03-17) 17 March 1966 (age 57)
Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK
Occupation(s)Actor and former ballet dancer
Years active1983–present

Jeremy Sheffield (born 17 March 1966) is an English actor and former ballet dancer. He is most noted for his roles in Holby City, Murder in Suburbia and Hollyoaks on television, as well as in the films Creep and The Wedding Date.

Life and career

Sheffield was born in Chelmsford, Essex. The second son of Brenda (née Dare) and Barry Sheffield, Sheffield trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet School, graduating into the Royal Ballet, and also dancing with Northern Ballet Theatre. Roles with the Royal Ballet included Aria in The Spirit of Fugue, Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Benno in Swan Lake, He in My Brother, My Sisters, Wilfred in Giselle, Rakitin in A Month in the Country and Mouse King in The Nutcracker.[1]

He appeared as a dancer in Queen's music video for "I Want to Break Free" in 1984, performing in a pastiche of the ballet L'après-midi d'un faune. However, his ballet career ended at the age of 27 due to a broken toe and torn ligament. He had a prominent (non-dancing) music video role several years later when he played the male lead in the video for Natalie Imbruglia's debut single "Torn" in 1997.

Since then, Sheffield has been in the BBC medical drama series Holby City where he played Alex Adams from 2000 to 2003, as well as Lancelot in the 1998 television drama Merlin. He had a supporting role in the 2005 film The Wedding Date alongside Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. Subsequently, he made a cameo appearance in the final episode of Green Wing, playing a character that Sue White (played by Michelle Gomez) was dating.

In 2005, he appeared in the British and Irish Renault Clio advert "France vs. Britain," directed by Ridley Scott's daughter Jordan Scott, who also directed the 2007 follow-up spot "More Va Va Voom," again starring Sheffield as Ben and French actress Annelise Hesme as Sophie. He regularly featured on the BBC's Holiday programme in which he visited Mexico, Egypt, Sichuan, South Africa and Bermuda. In 2006 travelled to South Africa where eight celebrities competed to become rangers in a South African reserve, for the 2007 series of BBC2's Safari School. In the final, Sheffield came second to singing coach Carrie Grant.

In 2007, Sheffield made an appearance in New Tricks. 2008 was a busier year for him with a role in Hotel Babylon and movies Miss Conception, The Children and Last Chance Harvey.

In January 2010, he took part in ITV show Dancing on Ice alongside professional skater Susie Lipanova. He was the third person to be voted off (therefore finishing the contest in 12th place) after losing in the skate-off.[2]

In October 2011, it was announced that Sheffield would be joining Coronation Street and would portray Danny Stratton. Sheffield's Coronation Street stay was only short as he was part of a storyline that saw Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) depart.[3]

In October 2012, it was announced that he would be joining the cast of Hollyoaks to portray Patrick Blake, the biological father of twins Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) and Dodger Savage (Danny Mac).[4] Sheffield left the cast in 2015, with Patrick's exit scenes airing in January 2016.

Personal life

Sheffield is gay, but rarely gives interviews on the subject as he feels it's irrelevant to his career, stating: "I don't feel anybody should have to wear their sexuality on their sleeve, but 99% of the time people make a projection onto me that I'm straight, and I feel that if I just allow them to run with that projection, then it's sort of as if I'm lying. It's a strange position to be in, because I shouldn't have to say anything, but I often do feel like I have to get it into the conversation. It's a shame, but that's how it is."[5]

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1995 Safe Haven Sean
1997 Anna Karenina Boris
2003 The Confidence Trick Walter
2004 Creep Guy
2005 The Wedding Date Jeffrey
2008 Miss Conception James
The Children Robbie
Last Chance Harvey Matt
2010 StreetDance 3D Michael
The Long Lonely Walk JD Short film
The Power of Three Film Star
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1991 Dark Season Guard Episode 1.4
1995 The Governor Dr. Anthony Thomas 6 episodes
1998 Merlin Lancelot Television miniseries TV film
Her Own Rules Lucas Kent TV film
2000–03 Holby City Alex Adams Cast member
2002 Linda Green Stan Peterson 1 episode Blind Date
2003 The Afternoon Play Tom Rourke 1 episode Coming up For Air
Grease Monkeys Mark Miller 1 episode Last Man Standing (BBC TV series)
Hearts of Gold Dr. Andrew John BBC TV film won BAFTA Cymru Awards for Best Costume and Best Sound
2004–05 Murder in Suburbia DCI Sullivan Cast member
2006 Bombshell Major Nicholas Welling Cast member
Blue Murder Paul Cochran 1 episode In Deep
Green Wing Jeremy 1 episode Christmas special
2007 New Tricks Chris Parr 1 episode Fathers's Pride
2008 Hotel Babylon Adam Price 2 episodes
2009 Personal Affairs Dr. Richard Palmer
2011–12 Coronation Street Danny Stratton Recurring role
2012–16, 2024 Hollyoaks Patrick Blake Regular role (309 episodes)
Music videos
Year Title Role Noteepisodes
1984 I Want to Break Free Dancer Queen music video
1997 Torn Boyfriend Natalie Imbruglia music video

References

  1. ^ Royal Opera House performance database search Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 10 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Jeremy Sheffield voted off Dancing on Ice". BBC News. 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  3. ^ Sperling, Daniel (25 January 2012). "Corrie's Sheffield proud of Becky exit". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  4. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (7 October 2012). "'Hollyoaks' casts Dodger's real father". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  5. ^ Lester, Charley. "Should We Still Use Sexuality as a Social Descriptor?". Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.

External links