Born on March 28 1981 Gareth David-Lloyd was born in Bettws, Newport. Having been encouraged by his aunt to take an interest in acting Gareth's first acting role was as a robot in a school play.
As a teenager, Gareth joined the Gwent Young People's Theatre in Abergavenny. Whilst there, he appeared in several plays including Henry V, in which he played the title role. When former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock saw the young David-Lloyd performing at Monmouth Castle, he sent him £250 to use towards his acting career.
Whilst studying at Coleg Gwent, Crosskeys, he appeared in various local stage productions at the Dolman Theatre in Newport and the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff (including simultaneously playing the lead roles in Marlowe's Dr Faustus and Macheath in The Threepenny Opera). He went on to train at the National Youth Theatre (reprising his role in The Threepenny Opera), before moving to Reading to pursue his acting career with The Rep College.
Whilst at The Rep College Gareth cemented his reputation as a talented actor (appearing in various plays such as Death and the Maiden) and as a promising director with numerous credits including co-directing Maret/Sade by Peter Weiss , directing After Agincourt by Peter Mottley and even turning his hand to Shakespeare directing a production of Macbeth in 2002.
After leaving college Gareth went on to play Sebastian in Twelfth Night for the English Touring Theatre and appeared in Three Women and a Piano Tuner at the Chichester Festival.
Gareth followed up his stage work with appearances in television programmes such as Absolute Power, Casualty, Rosemary & Thyme and The Bill. In 2004 Gareth appeared as a character called Yanto Jones in the comedy drama series Mine all Mine, written by Torchwood creator Russell T. Davies.
Gareth returned to Wales full time for the filming of his first regular television role as Ianto Jones in Torchwood. The character was initially meant to die early in the series but Gareth so impressed the Torchwood producers that his role was greatly expanded.
Gareth has recorded a number of audiobooks for Fantom Films.
His recordings include reading H.P. Lovecraft's stories The Nameless City and The Call of the Cthulhu. Gareth has also read M.R. James Ghost Stories including Casting the Runes and There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard. Gareth has recorded an audio interview for Fantom Films for an audio CD series 'Cult Conversations', in which he talks about his involvement with Torchwood and his acting career to date.
Thanks to Gareth David-Lloyd.co.uk for the biographical details.