50 Fun Facts About Hugh Grant

In which city was Hugh Grant born?

He grew up in Chiswick, West London, where his father ran a carpet business and painted watercolours.

Grant played the British Prime Minister in which 2003 ensemble comedy?

Grant reportedly pushed to make the character more authoritative and less haplessly charming than earlier Curtis leads.

Grant starred opposite Julia Roberts in which 1999 film?

With $363 million worldwide it overtook Four Weddings as the biggest British hit in cinema history at the time.

Which 1994 comedy made Grant an overnight international star?

He was 32 and on the brink of quitting acting when the script arrived; it won him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

Grant plays womanising publisher Daniel Cleaver in which film series?

He returned to the part in 2004 and again in 2025's Mad About the Boy, a script he said made him cry.

Grant read English literature at which university?

He later turned down a PhD place in art history at the Courtauld Institute because he could not get funding.

Grant began a 13-year relationship with which actress in 1987?

They split in May 2000; he later made her head of development at his production company and is godfather to her son.

Grant played what kind of character in Wonka (2023)?

Director Paul King said he re-read Dahl's cynical, sarcastic Oompa-Loompa poems and thought, 'That's sort of a bit like Hugh!'

Which 2024 A24 horror film earned Grant a BAFTA nomination?

Variety called it yet another 'wildly against-type' role in the second half of his career.

Who was Grant's co-star in Two Weeks Notice (2002)?

He played a spoiled billionaire property developer; Grant has since named Bullock among the co-stars he genuinely liked.

Which author created Daniel Cleaver, the cad Grant played in 2001?

The Washington Post found him perfectly cast as 'a cruel, manipulative cad, hiding behind the male god's countenance'.

Who wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995) alongside Grant?

Her screenplay won the Oscar; Grant played the shy Edward Ferrars.

In which year was Hugh Grant born?

That made him 33 when Four Weddings came out, older than the eternal bachelor he seemed to be playing.

Who co-starred with Grant in Music and Lyrics (2007)?

Grant later admitted they did not get on during filming, though he thought the tension gave the chemistry 'a good crackle'.

Which football club does Grant support?

As a young man he worked as an assistant groundsman at the club, and he also follows Italian side Como.

About a Boy was adapted from a novel by which author?

The film also marked the end of his trademark floppy hair; critics noted he looked older and 'it looked good on him'.

Who starred opposite Grant in HBO's The Undoing?

His slippery doctor accused of murder earned him Golden Globe, SAG and Critics' Choice nominations.

What is the name of Grant's villain in Paddington 2?

IndieWire ranked the washed-up actor with a closet of disguises as the 22nd greatest film performance of the 2010s.

Grant played St. Clair Bayfield opposite which star in Florence Foster Jenkins?

Pundits widely predicted his first Oscar nomination for the role; it never came.

Who directed Grant in The Gentlemen (2019)?

They teamed up a third time for Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre in 2023.

Who directed Sense and Sensibility (1995)?

It was the Taiwanese director's first English-language film, made before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Grant's 1995 arrest came two weeks before the release of which Julianne Moore comedy?

He kept his Tonight Show booking and told Jay Leno simply: 'I did a bad thing. And there you have it.'

Grant played which politician in A Very English Scandal (2018)?

It was his first TV role in a quarter of a century and brought him a Primetime Emmy nomination.

Which screenwriter's romantic comedies is Grant most associated with?

Grant found it an inside joke that audiences assumed he shared the personality of the writer, who famously writes about himself.

In The Gentlemen, what is the job of Grant's character Fletcher?

He based the character on tabloid reporters who, he said, 'used to be my enemies and now they're my friends'.

How many characters did Grant play in Cloud Atlas (2012)?

One was a cannibal 2,000 years in the future; he recalled standing on a German mountaintop in a cannibal skirt thinking 'Just give me a witty line!'

Grant's first leading film role, in 1987, adapted a novel by which author?

He played Clive Durham, the Cambridge friend who retreats into a conventional marriage.

Grant played which composer in Impromptu (1991)?

Critics later cited the 'very quiet, dignified' performance as proof he could do straight drama.

Who co-starred with Grant in the 2009 flop Did You Hear About the Morgans?

He has said its failure is what finally pushed him out of romantic comedies: 'I got old and ugly... which has been a great blessing.'

Grant married which Swedish TV producer in 2018?

Three of his five children are with her; the wedding came 31 years after he first became a tabloid fixture.

Grant played which character in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)?

Critics said the film only perked up when he reappeared for the last half-hour.

What is the name of Grant's con-artist villain in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves?

Chicago Reader said 'none of the cast holds a fireball' to his goofball performance.

Grant shared the Volpi Cup at Venice for which 1987 film?

It remains the only major festival acting prize of his career, won years before he was famous.

In the Spanish film Remando al viento, Grant played which poet?

He met his future partner on that set; she played Claire Clairmont, the poet's former lover.

Grant's 1999 mob comedy, which he also produced, was called what?

Roger Ebert thought him wrong for the part; the LA Times countered that he could have saved the Titanic.

In American Dreamz, Grant's TV host was modelled on which Idol judge?

The 2006 satire flopped, but the Boston Globe called it possibly 'the great comic role that has always eluded Hugh Grant'.

Grant's has-been pop star in Music and Lyrics was loosely based on a member of which duo?

The model was Andrew Ridgeley, the half of the band who was not George Michael.

How many children does Grant have?

All five were born between 2011 and 2018, when he was in his fifties.

In The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill…, what is Grant's profession?

A tabloid falsely claimed he abused a young extra on that set; he won damages in 1996.

Which director made both Four Weddings and An Awfully Big Adventure with Grant?

In the second film he played a sleazy repertory-theatre director in post-war Liverpool, the 'road not taken' in his career.

Grant donated a phone-hacking settlement to which press campaign group?

His 2011 New Statesman exposé, in which he secretly taped a tabloid journalist, helped ignite the scandal.

Which American actor did Grant say 'took one look at me and wanted to kill me'?

Downey responded on Twitter to make amends, and Grant accepted.

What was the name of Grant's 1980s sketch-comedy group?

A Nativity sketch told as an Ealing comedy made them a hit at the 1985 Edinburgh Fringe.

What was Grant's 1982 feature film debut, financed by his university?

A talent agent approached him at a BAFTA screening; he said no, then reconsidered to save money for a postgraduate degree.

Which Andy Warhol print did Grant sell in 2007 for £13 million?

A sixfold return in six years, which may be the best investment of his career.

Grant attended which Hammersmith school on a scholarship?

He played first XV rugby, cricket and football there.

Grant represented his school on which TV quiz show?

So he has form at this sort of thing.

Grant joined which theatre company for a year to earn his Equity card?

He had lost a part in The Bounty, with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, for lack of the card.

Who directed Grant in the 1988 horror film The Lair of the White Worm?

Grant later dismissed much of his early work as 'Europuddings' with French scripts, Spanish directors and English actors.

What is Grant's unusual third given name?

Genealogists trace his Anglo-Scottish family tree back to Sir Walter Raleigh.