Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1962-11-11
- Born Place: Stockport, Cheshire, England, UK
Also Known As:
Gerard James Pertwee Horan, Gerry Horan
Gerard Horan
Gerard James Pertwee Horan (born November 11, 1962) is a prolific British actor with a career spanning over four decades across theater, television, and major motion pictures. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Horan first rose to national prominence in the late 1980s as Firefighter Leslie "Charisma" Appleby in the iconic ITV drama London’s Burning. He is a frequent collaborator of director Kenneth Branagh, appearing in nearly a dozen of his projects, including the 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the Academy Award-winning Belfast (2021). Modern audiences largely recognize him for his role as the affable and slightly bumbling Terry Seymour, leader of the rival metal detecting club, in the BAFTA-winning comedy Detectorists. In the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast, Horan played a dual-layered role as Monsieur Jean Potts, the village potter. In the cursed timeline, he is a forgetful resident of Villeneuve who is revealed to be the husband of Mrs. Potts and the father of Chip, though he has lost all memory of them due to the Enchantress's spell. Beyond his Disney credits, his extensive television work includes guest roles in Doctor Who (as Mr. Clark in "Human Nature"), Outlander, Doc Martin, and Death in Paradise. On the stage, Horan has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and earned critical acclaim for his roles in West End hits like Jerusalem and The Ferryman.
