Former EastEnders actor Jack Ryder has revealed that his father is a rockstar whose band scored several chart hits in the 1980s. The 44-year-old, best known for playing Jamie Mitchell on the BBC soap from 1998 to 2002, disclosed that his dad is Jeremy Allan Ryder, who performs under the stage name Jack Hues and fronted the new wave band Wang Chung.
Wang Chung is most famous for their 1986 single 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight', which peaked at number two in the United States and number one in Canada, although it only reached number 76 in the UK. Earlier hits 'Don't Let Go' and 'Dance Hall Days' both topped the US Dance Chart in 1984. The band also contributed music to the classic 1985 film The Breakfast Club.
Ryder told The Sun that his father never enjoyed fame and found it confusing, adding, 'I think I felt much the same way.' The actor himself grappled with the attention he received as a teenage heartthrob on EastEnders, saying, 'Being a heartthrob was never something I really aligned with... I found it difficult to deal with, especially the frenzy of it all.'
After leaving the soap in 2002, his character's exit storyline—in which Jamie Mitchell died after being run over by Martin Fowler—earned a British Soap Award nomination. Since then, Ryder has appeared in Radio 4's The Archers and Holby City, and has built a successful career as a theatre director, working on West End productions and tours including Calendar Girls, The Full Monty, and Gary Barlow's musicals.
In 2020, he released his first children's book, Jack's Secret Summer. Wang Chung disbanded in 1990 but have reunited multiple times, including for a greatest hits album in 2017. Ryder was speaking on behalf of Zingo Bingo.
