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"Julian Ovenden has joined the cast of NBC&amp;#039;s musical drama Smash. The Foyle&amp;#039;s War star will play actor Simon, who is cast as John F Kennedy in the show&amp;#039;s Marilyn Monroe musical. English-born Ovenden will appear in multiple episodes of season two, TVLine reports. His past credits include roles on UK series Any Human Heart and Midsomer Murders, while guest stints on Charmed and ABC&amp;#039;s 2008 series Cashmere Mafia are among his US TV credits. As a young man, he won a music scholarship to Eton College and later studied at the University of Oxford on a choral scholarship, before performing extensively in musical theatre. Other actors who have joined NBC&amp;#039;s revamped Smash for season two include Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, Hairspray&amp;#039;s Nikki Blonsky, Law &amp;amp; Order&amp;#039;s Jesse L Martin and Liza Minnelli. New showrunner Josh Safran recently claimed that fans of Smash should not be concerned about the drama&amp;#039;s cast overhaul and new creative direction. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think it&amp;#039;s changed that much,&amp;quot; he argued. &amp;quot;The stuff you love from last year, that is still there.&amp;quot; Smash returns to NBC on Tuesday, February 5, with new episodes airing on Sky Atlantic in the UK from July. &amp;gt; Steven Spielberg defends Smash: &amp;#039;It&amp;#039;s succeeding admirably&amp;#039; &amp;gt; Rosie O&amp;#039;Donnell to cameo in NBC&amp;#039;s Smash Watch a promo for Smash season two below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/smash/news/a449227/smash-adds-foyles-war-actor-julian-ovenden/>