English actor James Dreyfus was BOTD in 1968. Born in London, he was educated at private schools, and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating, he pursued a stage career, winning an Olivier award for a revival of Kurt Weill’s musical Lady in the Dark and an Ian Charleson Award for his appearance in William Shakespeare‘s Julius Caesar. He rose to wider attention in TV comedies Absolutely Fabulous and The Thin Blue Line, and polarised audiences as a promiscuous queen in Jonathan Harvey‘s sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme, co-starring Kathy Burke. He is perhaps best known for his role as a hapless bookstore assistant in the Richard Curtis rom-com Notting Hill, in which his character mistakes Julia Roberts’ character for Demi Moore. His subsequent career has been largely in television, with a well-reviewed appearance as the Emcee in a 2006 revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb‘s musical Cabaret. In 2022, he claimed to have been dismissed from the radio series Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures due to his public support for anti-trans author J. K. Rowling. Openly gay since forever, Dreyfus lives in London; his current relationship status is unknown.