Arthur Hughes

Arthur Hughes (born 1992) is a British actor known for his roles as Ryan McDaniel in the Netflix series The Innocents and Ruairi Donovan in BBC Radio 4 series The Archers. His stage appearances include the role of Laurent in La Cage aux Folles at the Park Theatre, London, Phil in The Solid Life of Sugar Water with Graeae Theatre Company. and the title role in Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Personal life

Hughes attended Aylesbury Grammar School, and graduated in 2013 from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He has radial dysplasia affecting his right arm.

In between acting roles, Hughes has worked as a bartender, a meet and greeter, and a sales and marketing representative.

Career

After starting his career in theatre and radio, Hughes landed his first big television role in 2018 with the Netflix series The Innocents, in the series regular role of Ryan McDaniel.

In 2022, he played disability activist Alan Holdsworth in the BBC's Then Barbara Met Alan; The Independent's reviewer said that "Hughes is excellent as the emotionally unstable and tense Holdsworth". In the same year, he took the title role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Richard III, being the first disabled actor to do so. The Guardian's reviewer said that "Hughes's Richard is every bit the schemer, dead-eyed and unmoved by the body count he leaves on the way to the throne, but he also has a smarmy mischief about him, delivering news of another dispatched victim in a breezy tone of voice and eking comic asides out of his character's darkness." Other stage credits have included Our Town, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Julius Caesar, Saint Joan and Romeo and Juliet.

Hughes plays the title character in the Disney+ period drama Shardlake, which was released on 1 May 2024.

Screen International named Hughes as one of its 2023 "Stars of Tomorrow".

Filmography