In the run-up to Andrew Gower‘s 30th birthday on 8 November we tweeted a “30 Facts about Andrew Gower” countdown. In case you missed some of them (or would like to read them again), here is the complete countdown again with some trivia that you may or may not know about him yet. Enjoy!
1. Andrew Gower was born in Aintree, a small village near Liverpool, which makes him a true Scouser (Scouse is the dialect spoken in/around Liverpool).
2. Scouse is also a type of lamb or beef stew popular in the Liverpool region and (in variations) in countries around the North Sea. Think lapskaus in Norway, lapskojs in Sweden, skipperlabskovs in Denmark, and Labskaus in northern Germany.
3. He dreamed about becoming a professional football player when he was younger. He still occasionally plays with his team FC Beaujolais or for charity. He’s our #ManOfTheMatch!
4. The “love of his life” is his favourite football team, Everton. #COYB
5. If he could choose a super power, he’d want the ability to fly. We’re sure that can be arranged in a future film, TV show or play!
6. Music was his first love. He’s a self-proclaimed “obsessed” Beatles fan and would love to play John Lennon one day.
7. He was 15 years old when he formed his band Emerson with some friends and played gigs in NW England, most notably in the famous Cavern Club (where The Beatles also regularly played in their early years) in Liverpool.
8. Andrew Gower graduated from the Oxford School of Drama and was awarded the prestigious Spotlight Prize in 2010.
9. His Spotlight award winning performance was a monologue from the play Me, As a Penguin by English playwright Tom Wells.
10. He appeared with fellow OSD student Nell Hudson (Outlander‘s Laoghaire) in the school’s production of After The Fall by Arthur Miller.
11. In May 2010 he appeared in the play “Once Upon a General Election” directed by none other than Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
12. He had a small part in Jon Stewart‘s film Rosewater, alongside Gael García Bernal and Claire Foy.
13. Short films can be little gems of cinematography. One of them is Manjinder Virk‘s Out Of Darkness in which Andrew Gower appeared alongside Tom Hiddleston (among others). If you haven’t yet, you need to watch it!
14. The Gower Peninsula is a popular holiday destination in Wales, there’s a Gower Street in London and one in Los Angeles, but there’s no connection between them and our Andrew Gower.
15. He has played two medical professionals in his career so far: trainee surgeon Andrew Mullery (Monroe) & notable Dr Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein’s Wedding)
16. He does intense research when creating his characters, and even his baddie characters have a human side that makes the audience feel and root for them. #TeamEzra #TeamCutler
17. In preparation for his first professional role as trainee surgeon Andrew Mullery on medical drama Monroe, Andrew Gower watched two coronary artery bypass surgeries while standing next to the actual surgeons.
18. So far almost all his characters have had either weird love lives or creative deaths – or both. Only The Village‘s Gilbert Hankin enjoyed some kind of Happy End.
19. Five of his characters died a total of 7 deaths (6 of them on screen). None of them died of natural causes. He was shot (twice), stabbed, choked, bled and clubbed to death (twice). Ouch!
20. He played 2 supernatural characters in his career so far: a vampire (Being Human‘s Nick Cutler) and a zombie (Misfits‘ Jake), both of them back-to-back in 2012.
21. History vs. Fiction: He’s played 5 real life figures so far: Roman emperor Caligula, The White Queen‘s Lord Strange, Outlander‘s Bonnie Prince Charlie, Poldark‘s James Hadfield and musician Tommy Quickly.
22. As Bonnie Prince Charlie he muttered his (in)famous catchphrase “Mark Me” only 17 times in 9 of his 10 Outlander episodes, so less than twice per episode.
23. Carnival Row is the first time he’s acted in a fantasy setting. His other projects are split evenly between historical (12) and contemporary (12).
24. Andrew Gower is without doubt our favourite, but what are some of his? His favourite ice-cream is pistachio, his favourite comfort food is cereal and he loves the rice pudding his mom used to make for him when he was a kid.
25. Not surprisingly, he has also worked as a voice actor, taking part in two radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and lending his distinctive voice to cartoon character Mudlark in The Tall Tales Of Urchin.
26. The radio play Dark Visions: Speak references George Orwell’s 1984. Andrew Gower gave his London West End debut in a theatre adaption of the famous dystopian novel in 2016.
27. His favourite films are Back To The Future parts 1 and 2 (not 3!) (Woohoo time travel!). However, despite being a Brit, he’s never seen an episode of Doctor Who. Shocking, we know…
28. His Black Mirror episode “Crocodile” filmed in Iceland during the largest snowfall in 40 years while Carnival Row filmed in Prague during the Beast From The East. Sweden (for short film Ark) looks rather snowy, too!
29. Miss Scarlet And The Duke will be the second time he dives into the world of 19th century crime solving after playing the great detective Sherlock Holmes on Murdoch Mysteries.
30. He turns 30 years old on 8 November 2019! Happy birthday, Andrew Gower!
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