Guests

Hugh Grant

Season 8, Episode 813

Original Airdate: May 12, 2002

Born September 9, 1960, in London, England, Hugh Grant grew up in West London with his mother and father, a carpet salesman and a teacher respectively, and his older brother James. He studied English literature at England's famed Oxford University and made his first film, Privileged (1982) while still in school.

In 1987, he won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role as a young man learning to accept his homosexuality in Maurice, based on the novel by E.M. Forster and directed by James Ivory. Grant became a household name with the release of 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral, co-starring Andie MacDowell. The role of Charles was written specifically for Grant by screenwriter Richard Curtis.

The next year, he continued to charm Hollywood with roles in Sense and Sensibility and Nine Months. Other film credits include An Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995),the hugely successful Notting Hill (1999), co-starring Julia Roberts, and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001).

Hugh Grant began a highly publicized romance with supermodel and actress Elizabeth Hurley in 1987. In 1995, Grant pleaded guilty to a charge of lewd conduct, after being arrested off Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a prostitute. Although his relationship with Hurley rebounded after the incident, the couple eventually parted ways in 2000. They continue to work together on projects for the film development company they co-founded, Simian Films.