Grant Hugh Biography

Actor. Born September 9, 1960, in London, England. Grant had a modest upbringing in West London; his father ran a carpet business and his mother was a teacher. A bright and scholarly youth, Hugh attended Oxford as an English major, but turned to acting as a creative outlet in his final year. In 1982, Grant made his screen debut in Privileged while still a student. He went on to do theatre and television work, but it was not until 1987’s Merchant-Ivory production of Maurice that Grant received international recognition. He won the Venice Film Festival’s Best Actor Prize for his portrayal of a young man confronting his homosexuality at the turn-of-the-century. Although Grant went on to play more memorable roles as the terminally shy and sickly Chopin in James Lapine’s Impromptu and as a journalist in 1993’s James Ivory production of The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, it was his next role in 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral that propelled him to Hollywood stardom. Richard Curtis, a friend of Grant’s and a Four Weddings’ writer, wrote the part with him in mind, so Grant embodied the character with charismatic grace and ease. His portrayal of a young, charmingly disheveled aristocrat who falls for a glamorous American, played by Andie MacDowell, appealed to audiences everywhere and made him an international star. Grant met his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, in 1987 while working on Rowing in the Wind in Madrid. He was playing Lord Byron and she, Claire Clairmont. They went on to form the development company Simian Films together, in partnership with Castle Rock Entertainment. Their first production, the medical thriller Extreme Measures, achieved neither critical nor box office recognition. In 1995, Grant, apparently determined to test the show biz maxim that there is no such thing as bad publicity, was arrested off Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a prostitute named Divine Brown. Grant pleaded guilty to lewd conduct; however, he managed to deflect the barrage of negative press through his characteristic self-effacing wit, laughing off the incident on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Both Grant’s career and his relationship with Hurley survived the sordid incident, although Hurley said at first that Grant should be “horsewhipped.”

Also in 1995, Grant appeared as Edward Ferrars in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and as a neurotic father-to-be in Chris’ Columbus’ Nine Months.

He also continued to work on non-Hollywood productions including Sirens, An Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain, and the British comedy An Awfully Big Adventure, directed by Mike Newell. After several years away from the Hollywood spotlight, Grant returned to the big screen with 1999’s Notting Hill, written and produced by the Four Wedding and a Funeral team and co-starring Julia Roberts. The British/American combination proved an infallible recipe once again, and Notting Hill was a box office success. Grant’s other 1999 projects included Mickey Blue Eyes, which is the second release from Simian Films.

Grant and Hurley announced their separation during the summer of 2000, but they continue to live and work together on the Simian Films venture.