Playing Under the Piano From Downton to Darkest Peru

A The Times (UK) and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year

A moving, laugh-out-loud memoir from one of today’s best-loved British actors, whose credits include Downton Abbey, Notting Hill, and Paddington.

From getting his big break as Third Shepherd in the school nativity play, to mistaking a Hollywood star for a real estate agent, Hugh Bonneville creates a brilliantly vivid picture of a career on stage and screen. What is it like working with Judi Dench and Julia Roberts, or playing Robert De Niro’s right leg, or not being Gary Oldman, twice? A wickedly funny storyteller, Bonneville also writes with poignancy about his father’s dementia and of his mother, whose life in the secret service emerged only after her death.
    Whether telling stories of working with divas, Dames, or a bear with a penchant for marmalade, this account of his life as an actor is richly entertaining.

Hugh Bonneville began his acting career as a member of the National Youth Theatre and made his professional debut at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, in 1986. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1991, appearing in Two Gentlemen of Verona as well as playing Laertes to Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. He is best known for playing Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in Downton Abbey. Over its six seasons, Downton Abbey won dozens of awards worldwide, and Bonneville received one Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for his performance. He is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and The National Youth Arts Trust. He lives in West Sussex with his wife.