Who is Greg Wise and who is he married to? All you need to know about him and his famous wife as he's confirmed for Strictly 2021

Who is Greg Wise and who is he married to? Here's all you need to know about the star as he is confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing 2021.

As the BBC begin to reveal who is on Strictly Come Dancing 2021, actor and producer Greg Wise has been confirmed for the upcoming series. But who is Greg Wise and who is he married to?

Who is Greg Wise?

Greg Wise is an actor, writer and producer who is competing in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

He starred in popular Netflix drama The Crown, playing Lord Louis Mountbatten in 2016, while having played Sir Charles Maulver in the 2007 five-part series of Cranford.

His breakout performance was playing the role of John Willoughby in 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, in which he starred alongside actress Emma Thompson.

Having been born in Newcastle in the late 1960s, Greg, 55, studied Architecture in Edinburgh while performing at Bedlam Theatre. He then went on to study drama at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

His many film credits include Walking on Sunshine, Johnny English, and Military Wives.

And his author credits are for Not That Kind of Love, which he wrote with his late sister Clare Wise.

Who is Greg Wise married to?

Greg Wise is married to actress Emma Thompson. The pair met back in 1995 on the set of the film Sense and Sensibility, a film they starred in together.

Emma's relationship with her husband at the time, Kenneth Branagh, deteriorated and she was "depressed" and living alone when she started a relationship with her co-star Greg.

Speaking about how Greg had "saved" her, Emma told BBC Radio 4, "Work saved me and Greg saved me. He picked up the pieces and put them together again."

Do Emma Thompson and Greg have kids?

Emma and Greg became parents to a daughter called Gaia, after Emma had IVF when she was 39.

They married in 2003 in Dunoon, Scotland and later that year they informally adopted a 16-year-old Rwandan orphan who was a former child soldier called Tindyebwa Agaba. They had met at a refugee council event and Emma invited him to spend Christmas at their home.

"Slowly he became a sort of permanent fixture, came on holiday to Scotland with us, became part of the family," explained Emma.

He became a British citizen in 2009.

And their family home is in West Hampstead, London - on the same road as Emma's childhood home. But last year they indicated their intention to move to Italy permanently after they were sworn in as honorary citizens of Venice, and became legal residents as a result. They own a house in the city and retain a base in London.

Greg teamed up with his wife Emma to write the box-office hit film Last Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpnf-dGzbx4

What is the age difference between Emma Thompson and Greg Wise?

Greg Wise is 55 and his wife Emma Thompson is 62 - making it a seven-year age gap.

Emma previously spoke out on the idea that older women can't sleep with younger men on screen, as he told CultureBlast podcast, "It’s very interesting with this woman I’m about to play. This young man says, ‘You’re perfectly attractive, why can’t you find another chap?’ And she says, 'Because the only people willing to sleep with me are people my age, and I want to sleep with someone younger than me'."

She continued to explain, "Now I’ve never heard a woman say that on-screen. With men, it’s completely acceptable. It’s completely acceptable for George Clooney - who is delightful - to have someone who is 30 years younger than him. If I have someone playing opposite me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone, because I’m 61 now. Do you see what I mean? It’s completely and utterly unbalanced."

She revealed that she was keen to break down these age barriers.

"If Leo Grande, the film that we make, speaks to people and people aren’t averse to seeing someone who’s 61 largely naked with a very much younger person, it’s going to be very interesting. We’ve got to keep being brave about that," she added.