Julian Ovenden is an award winning actor and singer who has built a reputation over the last twenty years as one of the most versatile performers of his generation, in constant demand across the globe on stage, screen, concert hall and recording studio. He is perhaps most well known to audiences around the world for his work on the musical stage and in hit TV shows such as Downton Abbey and Bridgerton.
His acting career began in a production of King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by the visionary Yukio Ninagawa. He was then cast by Michael Grandage to star in two Olivier Award winning hit shows at the Donmar Warehouse: Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along and Grand Hotel. He subsequently starred in Adrian Noble's A Woman Of No Importance at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Richard Jones' Annie Get Your Gun opposite Jane Horrocks at The Young Vic as well as originating the role of Armand in Michel Legrand's Marguerite in the West End opposite Ruthie Henshall. He made his Broadway debut opposite Nathan Lane in Simon Gray's Butley and created the title role in Maury Yeston's Death Takes A Holiday for The Roundabout Company in New York City. Other notable stage work includes a hit run at The Donmar and West End transfer of My Night With Reg, starring in Harvey Weinstein's first foray into stage musicals with Finding Neverland, playing Georges Seurat in the first French production of Sunday in The Park With George, at the Chatelet in Paris, The Treatment for Lyndsey Turner at The Almeida and more recently opposite Gillian Andersen in Ivo Van Hove’s smash hit All About Eve in the West End and South Pacific at Chichester Festival which arrived at Sadler’s Wells Summer 2022 and for which he recently received an Olivier nomination. His latest play was starring in Power of Sail at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
As well as his stage work, Julian is well known to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his wide body of work in TV, most notably in the worldwide phenomenon Downton Abbey and Bridgerton. He played Andrew Foyle in the hugely popular wartime series Foyle's War. He has starred in many other TV shows including Netflix’s The Crown, Steven Spielberg's Smash, Person of Interest, The Forsyte Saga, The Assets, The Royal, Any Human Heart, Poirot, Charmed, Related, Cashmere Mafia, A Christmas Carol and Family Guy. In 2015 he starred as Captain Von Trapp in a live to air movie of The Sound of Music, the first foray into live musicals for British TV. Recently Julian starred for two seasons as William De Nogaret in Knightfall for HBO and The History Channel. He appeared opposite Rupert Everett and Hayley Squires in the Channel 4 mini-series smash Adult Material and in Armando Ianucci’s Avenue 5 for HBO. His latest TV work sees him working alongside Vicky McClure in ITV’s smash hit Trigger Point, in season 2 of the BAFTA award winning comedy Juice for the BBC and starring in a new NCIS show premiering this fall on CBS and Paramount +.
Recent film work has seen hm appear alongside Alison Janney, Kristen Bell and Ben Platt in People Who You Hate At The Wedding for Amazon and Made In Italy with Liam Neeson.
As a vocalist, Julian has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras including The New York Philharmonic, The Royal Philharmonic, The Royal Concertgebouw, The LPO, The New York Pops, The Gothenburg Symphony, The Australian Symphony Orchestra,, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Swedish Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys a special relationship with the John Wilson Orchestra and the Londin Sinfonia. He has headlined at many of the world’s leading music venues including Carnegie Hall, The Alice Tully Hall, The Appel Hall, Lincoln Centre, The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, Sydney Opera House, The Royal Opera House, The Wigmore Hall, The Chatelet, Birmingham Symphony, The Bridgewater Hall, The Concertgebouw, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, The Jazz Cafe, The Hippodrome, The Palladium, Theatre Royal Drury Lane etc
In 2013, Julian recorded a debut album for Decca records entitled If You Stay and has since recorded Rogers and Hammerstein at the Movies with John Wilson for Warner Classics and Christmas at Downton Abbey for Warner Music that went double platinum earlier in 2016. In late 2015, he signed a multiple record deal with East West/Warners and the album Be My Love was released in April 2016. His latest recordings are a selection of Broadway duets with Sierra Boggess Together at A Distance released by Concord Records and Carousel with the London Sinfonia.
Julian is proud to have performed at many Royal Command performances, in particular for HRH Queen Elizabeth’s 90th Birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle and for the King at Buckingham Palace. He is proud to be a SAG award winner.
