Skip to main content

Famous people of North Wales

Nerys Hughes, actress from Rhyl, North Wales

  • Person's Name: Nerys Hughes
  • Fame as?: Actress from Rhyl, North Wales
  • Fame Hilite: Rhyl-born actress known for The Liver Birds and The District Nurse.
  • Birth info: Born 8 November 1941, Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales.
  • Body Text 2:

    Hughes has continued to work in audio drama, returning to the Doctor Who universe through Big Finish Productions as the Fourth Doctor's companion Margaret Hopwood. In the theatre she has appeared in productions ranging from Shakespeare with the Royal Shakespeare Company to Dylan Thomas's 'Under Milk Wood' in 1995.
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Starred as Sandra Hutchinson in the BBC sitcom The Liver Birds (1969-1978, and 1996).
    • Career Highlight: Won the Variety Club Television Actress of the Year Award for The District Nurse (1984-1987), a series written for her.
    • Career Highlight: Appeared in Doctor Who ('Kinda', 1982) and Torchwood ('Something Borrowed', 2008).
  • Show Comment Form: No, don't show form
  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Born and raised in Rhyl, Denbighshire; Welsh was her first language, learned at home before she started school.
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 53.3183,-3.4924
Nerys Hughes was born on 8 November 1941 in Rhyl, Denbighshire. Her parents, Myfi and Ted Kerfoot-Hughes, raised her as a Methodist, and she attended Howell's School in Denbigh, where she developed an early interest in drama. Welsh was her first language, and she has said that it was only in...

Russell Crowe, actor with family from Wrexham

  • Person's Name: Russell Crowe
  • Fame as?: Actor with family from Wrexham
  • Fame Hilite: Oscar-winning New Zealand actor whose paternal grandfather, John Crowe, was born and raised in Wrexham, north Wales.
  • Birth info: Born 7 April 1964 in Strathmore Park, Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Body Text 2:

    Crowe's Welsh grandfather, John Crowe, played water polo for Grove Park School in Wrexham in the 1920s before his emigration. Alongside his Welsh ancestry, Crowe's family background also includes Scottish, English, Irish and M\u0101ori heritage through his mother's side.
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Academy Award for Best Actor for Gladiator (2000)
    • Career Highlight: Academy Award nominations for L.A. Confidential (1997) and A Beautiful Mind (2001)
    • Career Highlight: Paternal grandfather John Crowe was born and raised in Wrexham, north Wales
  • Show Comment Form: No, don't show form
  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: His Welsh connection is through his father's side: paternal grandfather John Doubleday Crowe was from Wrexham, where the wider Crowe family ran a fruit and vegetable business before emigrating.
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Wrexham, Wales (ancestral connection)
  • Connection Place Map: 53.0478,-3.0166
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: LifeOnMars , This Comment: Please bless us, people who like to dream with movies. Bless us with another movie.
Russell Ira Crowe was born on 7 April 1964 in Strathmore Park, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, to film and television set caterers Jocelyn and John Alexander Crowe. His Welsh connection comes through his father's side of the family: his paternal grandfather, John Doubleday Crowe, was born...

Sara Sugarman, actress and director born in Rhyl, Denbighshire

  • Person's Name: Sara Sugarman
  • Fame as?: Actress, Director and Screenwriter
  • Fame Hilite: Actress and film director, known for Very Annie Mary, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Vinyl.
  • Birth info: Born on 13 October 1962 in Rhyl, Denbighshire.
  • Body Text 2:

    Sugarman began her acting career on British television before moving into film directing, becoming one of relatively few Welsh women to direct major Hollywood studio productions.
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Directed Very Annie Mary (2001)
    • Career Highlight: Directed Disney's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
    • Career Highlight: Wrote and directed Vinyl (2012), filmed largely in Rhyl
  • Show Comment Form: No, don't show form
  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Born and raised in Rhyl, Denbighshire
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 53.3184,-3.4934
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: sarajay , This Comment: She has appeared on British TV in the ITV police drama The Bill and Minder as well as the BBC's Grange Hill and Juliet Bravo.
Sara Sugarman was born on 13 October 1962 in Rhyl, Denbighshire. She moved to London at fourteen to train as an actor, later enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 1989. As an actress she appeared on British television in the ITV police drama The...