Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor and model. He is best known for his roles as Will Graham in the television series Hannibal for which he was nominated for two Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and as Prince Charmont in Ella Enchanted. In 2006, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of the Earl of Essex in the Channel 4 miniseries Elizabeth I.
Dancy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and raised in Newcastle-under-Lyme. His mother, Sarah Ann Dancy (née Birley), works in academic publishing. His father is philosophy professor Jonathan Dancy, who teaches at the University of Reading and at the University of Texas at Austin.
Hugh is the oldest of three children, followed by brother Jack Dancy (born 25 May 1977), who is co-director of the travel company Trufflepig Travel, and sister Katharine Sarah Redman (née Dancy, born 5 March 1980). From the age of 5 to the age of 10, Dancy was educated at Edenhurst Preparatory School in Newcastle-under-Lyme. At age 10, Dancy attended boarding school at the Dragon School in Oxford, then, at 13 at Winchester College. At age 18, he acted in the Winchester College Players production of Twelfth Night, which was performed in both Winchester and at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. He went on to study English under poet and playwright Francis Warner at St Peter's College, Oxford.