Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Barrowman and his family moved to Illinois when his salesman father was transferred to the States. Initially teased because of his thick Scottish burr, he quickly learned to adapt which sowed the seeds for a budding career as an actor. As a young adult, Barrowman briefly performed at Opryland USA but headed back to his native United Kingdom in 1989 where he soon became established as a musical comedy leading man. He first garnered notice when he replaced American Howard McGillan in the role of Billy Crocker in the acclaimed revival of "Anything Goes" in 1989. Over the next several years, Barrowman excelled at playing the romantic male ingenue, often in musicals composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He toured Ireland in "Aspects of Love" and assumed the role of Raoul in "The Phantom of the Opera". In 1991, Barrowman starred opposite Stephanie Powers in the ill-fated "Matador", but he did enjoy a hit single with "I Was Born to Be Me". In a change of pace, he undertook a rare dramatic stage role alongside Anthony Head and Alexis Denisof in a staging of "Rope" at the Chichester Festival in 1993.

After briefly reprising the male lead in "Miss Saigon" in London, Barrowman was tapped to co-star as screenwriter Joe Gillis to Betty Buckley's Norma Desmond in the London production of "Sunset Boulevard". While he was enjoying that personal success (most critics deemed him the best performer to undertake the role), he was also doing double duty as a "presenter" on the British children's TV series "Live and Kicking" and as host of "The Movie Game". When Darren Star was casting for his new primetime series "Central Park West" in 1995, he felt he had found the perfect actor in Barrowman, tapping him for the JFK Jr-like part. Unfortunately, the role as written was rather bland and hardly tapped into the performer's capabilities. It didn't help that the much-hyped drama failed to attract an audience and was summarily "retooled". The troubled series barely eked out a season but even before it had been officially cancelled, Barrowman was back on the boards, making his Broadway debut in a two-week stint reprising Joe Gillis opposite Buckley in "Sunset Boulevard".

The actor returned to London and co-starred as yet another scion of a Kennedyesque family in the 1997 world premiere of the musical "The Fix", which marked the first original musical directed by Sam Mendes. The following year, he was back in the States, this time in L.A., in a featured role in "Putting It Together", a review of Stephen Sondheim songs that starred Carol Burnett. In between reprising his turn in a Broadway staging of "Putting It Together", Barrowman took on the role of the Beast in the British production of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast". Having now conquered the stages of London and New York, he now set his sights on tackling Hollywood and primetime. Playing against his boyish attractiveness, Barrowman seemed poised to break out as the nefarious son of a wealthy Beverly Hills family fractured by divorce in "Titans".

• Born:
  on 03/11/1968 in Glasgow, Scotland
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Singer, TV host

Education

• Joliet West High School, Joliet, Illinois, 1986
• DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
• University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• United States International University, San Diego, California

Milestones

• 1977 Moved with family from Scotland to Illinois
• 1989 Made British stage debut replacing Howard McGillan as Billy Crocker in the revival of "Anything Goes", starring Elaine Paige
• 1989 Moved to London
• 1991 Released first record, a CD single "I was Born to Be Me/I'll Dress You in Mourning"
• 1991 Starred opposite Stephanie Powers in the musical "Matador"
• 1992 Cast as Raoul in the London production of "The Phantom of the Opera" (date approximate)
• 1993 Briefly reprised Chris in "Miss Saigon"
• 1993 Co-starred with Anthony Head and Alexis Denisof in a staging of "Rope" at Chichester
• 1993 Played leading role of Claude in the 25th anniversary staging of "Hair" in London
• 1994 Starred as Joe Gillis to Betty Buckley's Norma Desmond in the Lloyd Webber musical "Sunset Boulevard"; Elaine Paige replaced Buckley when she became ill (dates approximate)
• 1996 Made Broadway debut recreating his role of Joe Gillis opposite Betty Buckley's Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Sunset Boulevard"
• 1997 Created a leading role in the musical "The Fix" which premiered at London's Donmar Warehouse under Sam Mendes direction
• 1998 Had featured role in the musical "review" of Stephen Sondheim's work, "Putting It Together"; premiered at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum
• 1998 Performed a number from "The Fix" in the televised tribute "Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh"
• 1999 Starred as the Beast in the London stage musical of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast"
• 2000 Had featured role on the fall NBC drama serial "Titans"
• 2002 Starred as Bobby in the Kennedy Center production of "Company"
• "Putting It Together" remounted with minor cast changes on Broadway
• As a child, performed in nursing homes and sang in a church choir
• Assumed role of Chris in London production of "Miss Saigon"
• Born in Glasgow, Scotland
• Cast as Peter Fairchild in the CBS primetime serial "Central Park West/CPW"
• Hosted the British TV series "The Movie Game"
• Performed briefly at Opryland USA
• Played Che in a Norwegian production of "Evita"
• Presented "Electric Circus" as part of the BBC weekly chidren's series "Live and Kicking"
• Toured Ireland as Alex in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Aspects of Love"