7 Things You Need to Know About Ringer's Ioan Gruffudd

Anyone who’s seen Ioan Gruffudd knows one thing: The guy is hot. And he certainly doesn’t disappoint as Siobhan’s husband, Andrew Martin, in Ringer. Dying to learn more about this sexy CW star? Read on for seven things everyone should know about Ioan — and no, they aren’t his amazing eyes (2), thick hair, nice bod, adorable smile, swoon-worthy accent, and overall gorgeousness.

1. He’s Welsh. Ioan Gruffudd — pronounced “Yo-wan Griffith” — grew up in southern Wales, immersed a language that boasts some seriously perplexing spelling. Case in point: Ioan is the Welsh equivalent of John. Even if we can’t understand a lick of it, Welsh can sound very pretty. Listen on...

2. He got into acting when he was 13. After making his debut in 1986’s Austin, a Welsh TV movie, Ioan joined the Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) the following year. Here’s a clip of the young lad in a 1991 episode of the series:

3. He got his big break in the blockbuster Titanic. Ioan played Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in the James Cameron mega-hit.

4. Ioan’s next major role was as Horatio Hornblower in Hornblower. Ioan played the titular naval officer in this series of eight made-for-TV movies, released from 1998 to 2003. In case you’re curious, yes, he was dreamy in all eight.

5. He’s a dad! Ioan has a little girl, Ella Betsi Janet, with his wife, actress Alice Evans. The couple — who met on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000, when Alice was hookin’ up with Pablo Picasso's grandson — welcomed their daughter on September 6, 2009. Ella Betsi is only a few days older than Sarah Michelle Gellar’s daughter, Charlotte!

6. He went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London — and he partied hard. In a 2008 sit-down with Craig Ferguson, Ioan revealed that back in his school daze days, he was no stranger to shenanigans. While out with friends one night, around the time when Braveheart was taking London by storm, he grabbed a broom sitting in a wheelbarrow and charged down the street screaming, “Freeeedoooom!” He slammed the broom into a lamp post, and when it broke, the head whipped right through the window of a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. His reaction? He ran. Real fast.

7. Ioan isn’t the only sexy Welsh actor on The CW. Joseph Morgan, who steams it up as original bad-boy vamp Klaus on The Vampire Diaries, is from Swansea, Wales.