Darius Danesh

Current Role

Darius Danesh is currently starring as Rhett Butler in the musical version of Gone With the Wind. Taking the part immortalised by Clark Gable in the classic 1939 film, Darius is aiming to inject the West End with little of the class of the golden age of Hollywood movie-making. Following the turbulent love affair of the beautiful Scarlet O'Hara and the dashing Rhett Butler, the exciting narrative of Gone With the Wind plays against the tumultuous backdrop of the American Civil War. Under the expert direction of Sir Trevor Nunn, the musical version of Gone With the Wind promises to be a theatrical event not to be missed.

Early Life

Born in Glasgow in 1980, Darius Danesh always dreamt of pursuing a career in music and on stage. Darius's first brush with fame came when he applied for a completely new kind of television show. Popstars first aired on ITV in 2001 and was designed to show the formation of a pop band right in front of a television audience. Showing footage of the behind-the-scenes audition phases, Popstars went on to inspire an entirely new format that has lead to Pop Idol, American Idol and X Factor

Though Darius didn't make it into the final band, he was certainly popular with the public and had a second bite at celebrity stardom by auditioning for the series' successor, Pop Idol

Again Darius was unsuccessful but, on the back of this show, was offered a record contract and began releasing albums and singles. Darius's first release, Colourblind topped the UK singles chart in 2002 and remains one of his best-loved songs.

Career Highlights

Darius's theatre career began in 2005 when he took the role of Billy Flynn in the West End version of Chicago. Last year Darius took over from Hollywood A-listar Ewan McGregor as Michael Grandage in the award winning production of Guys and Dolls

Interesting Facts

• Darius really shot to fame when the producers of Popstars released the footage of his unexpected version of Britney Spears's Hit Me Baby One More Time
• Being offered the role of the romantic lead in Chicago at only 25 made him the youngest ever actor to star as Billy Flynn.

Awards

• Darius was nominated for a Great Scot Award by The Mail on Sunday