Former EastEnders actor Jack Ryder has disclosed that his father is Jeremy Allan Ryder, known professionally as Jack Hues, the frontman of 1980s new wave band Wang Chung. The 44-year-old, who played Jamie Mitchell on the BBC soap from 1998 to 2002, said his father found fame confusing and that he felt similarly about his own popularity.
Wang Chung are best known for their 1986 hit 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight', which reached number two in the United States and number one in Canada, though it peaked at number 76 in the UK. Earlier singles 'Don’t Let Go' and 'Dance Hall Days' topped the US Dance Chart in 1984, and the band contributed to the soundtrack of the 1985 film The Breakfast Club.
Ryder was 16 when he joined EastEnders as Jamie Mitchell, a troubled teenager who moved in with his godfather Phil Mitchell. His storylines often centred on his on-off relationship with Sonia Fowler. Reflecting on his time as a heartthrob, Ryder said he never aligned with the label and found the attention difficult to handle.
He left the soap in 2002, with his character dying in hospital after being run over by Martin Fowler. Since then, Ryder has appeared in Radio 4’s The Archers and Holby City, and has built a career as a theatre director, working on Calendar Girls in the West End, a touring production of The Full Monty, and Gary Barlow’s musicals The Girls and The Band. In 2020, he published his first children’s book, Jack’s Secret Summer.
