James Dreyfus

James Louis de Zogheb Dreyfus was born on 9 October 1968 in Islington, London.^[1] His parents divorced when he was very young.^[2][3] His mother, Margo de Zoghels, was a model.^[4] His maternal grandfather was of Syrian descent and his family immigrated to England from Damascus. He also has English, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, French and Swiss ancestry.^{[5][6][7][non-primary source needed]}

He was educated at Harrow School.^[8] He then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[9]

At the 1998 Laurence Olivier Awards, Dreyfus won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for his work in Lady in the Dark at the National Theatre. In the same year, Dreyfus won Second Prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for his 1997 performance as Caius Cassius in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Birmingham Rep.^[10]

Dreyfus's first television break came with the BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous.^[11] followed by roles as Constable Kevin Goody in Ben Elton's sitcom The Thin Blue Line and Tom Farrell, the gay flatmate of Linda la Hughes (Kathy Burke) in Gimme Gimme Gimme. Dreyfus played opposite Bette Midler in the short-lived American sitcom Bette.

Known for portraying "camp, endearing characters," Dreyfus (in a Sheengate Publishing interview) compared the character Frank Spencer from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, whom he described as a campy but married heterosexual, to Dreyfus's character Kevin Goody from The Thin Blue Line. Regarding his character Tom Farrell from Gimme Gimme Gimme, Dreyfus hypothesized that, even if the character were heterosexual, the actor would still portray Tom as camp and flamboyant.^[12] Furthermore, Dreyfus said that he felt that he became typecast due to his portrayals of "flamboyant" characters.^[12]

He played Thermoman in the BBC One comedy My Hero, a role he took over in the sixth series from Ardal O'Hanlon. Although the same character, he used the name George Monday, as opposed to O'Hanlon's character's name, George Sunday. After disappointing ratings, the show was cancelled.

Dreyfus also starred as Mr Teasy-Weasy in the 2004 comedy film Churchill: The Hollywood Years.

From 2012 to 2017, Dreyfus appeared as the Reverend Roger Jones in the Sky Living series Mount Pleasant.

In 2017, he voiced an incarnation of The Master from Doctor Who in the Big Finish Productions release The First Doctor Adventures Volume One,^[13] going on to appear as the character in 2019's "The Home Guard",^[14] 2020's "The Psychic Circus"^[15] and 2022's "Blood of the Time Lords". In an interview on SpectatorTV, Dreyfus said he was dismissed from the role following comments he made on Twitter in support of author J. K. Rowling.^[16]

Dreyfus is gay.^[17][18]