first appearance on the screen was in a small role in This Year's Love (1999), but it was Sparkhouse (2002) (TV) that gave him a break-through role as the charming but a bit odd character of John Standring opposite Sarah Smart. After two guest-roles in "Cold Feet" (1997) in 2003 and "Between the Sheets" (2003), he landed a role as Steven in Frozen (2005/I), which eventually led him to play the lead role in the big hit BBC drama "North & South" (2004). Other than appearing on screen, he has also appeared on stage--in, for example, Macbeth and Hamlet.