Age: 52
male
Ioan Gruffudd (Welsh: [ˈjɔan ˈɡrɪfɪð]; /ˈjoʊɑːn ˈɡrɪfɪθ/; born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh-American actor. He is known for his roles in film and television series in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. He was first noted for his portrayal of Harold Lowe in Titanic (1997) and for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the Hornblower series of television films (1998–2003). Subsequent roles have included Lancelot in King Arthur (2004), Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006), Tony Blair in W. (2008), and Adam Lockwood in Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). Description above from the Wikipedia article Ioan Gruffudd, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes. During the following year Eliot resumed work, fusing together several stories into a coherent whole, and during 1871–72 the novel appeared in serial form. The first one-volume edition was published in 1874, and attracted large sales. Subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life", the novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during the period 1830–32. It has a multiple plot with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, and education. The pace is leisurely, the tone is mildly didactic (with an authorial voice that occasionally bursts through the narrative), and the canvas is very broad.
