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Barnard, from the Ogmore Vale, was born on 8 May 1987 and graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2008.

During his time at drama school he undertook roles in productions including West Side Story, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Hobson's Choice, The Importance Of Being Earnest and Dawns Y Cynhaeaf.

He has starred in television series including Casualty, Shameless and Y Pris - alongside Welsh stars Mark Lewis Jones, Nia Roberts and Matthew Gravelle. He has also appeared in short television films The Big Day, Owl Creek Bridge and Night On The Tiles.

In February 2010 he was nominated for an Olivier Award in the best actor in a musical or entertainment category for his role as Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening - a musical adaptation of German playwright Frank Wedekind's controversial play of 1890/1.

He beat the likes of seasoned stage performers Rowan Atkinson, Bob Golding, Tony Sheldon and Alexander Hanson to the award, in a ceremony in London's Grosvenor House Hotel on 21 March 2010.

His co-star in Spring Awakening and fellow Welsh actor, Iwan Rheon, also picked up an Olivier Award in the best supporting performance category.

Barnard appeared in the 2011 medieval action film Ironclad with a host of British actors including James Purefoy, Derek Jacobi and Brian Cox. The film was shot at - dubbed Valleywood - at Llanilid, outside Bridgend.

He is also set to star in the forthcoming film adaptation of Kevin Sampson's novel Powder; Guinea Pigs, a film in which volunteers find themselves fighting for their lives when a drug trial goes wrong; Welsh director Marc Evans' latest offering Hunky Dory and Ciaran Foy's Irish horror film Citadel.