He is the grandson of Jacob Sylvanus Bruce-Vanderpuye, a Barrister-at-Law, Djastse and Ga Mantse (Paramount Chief) of The Otubluhun Stool, Jamestown, Accra, Ghana, formerly the British colony of the Gold Coast.

[citation needed] Vanderpuye studied at the Corona Theater-Academy with Nicholas Lyndhurst and Ray Winstone and took exams at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

[1] He voiced the Hutu radio DJ in the multi-Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda and characterized Phillip the dog in the BAFTA- and Oscar-winning film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Laundrette), One Foot in the Grave, Scum, Touching Evil, The Last Detective, Casualty, and Holby City more recently as Tom Hilton in "Death in Paradise" on British television.

Animations as a voice-over include Budgie the Little Helicopter The Greedysaurus Gang A Monkeys Tale and the BBC's "Fun with Phonics,[2] Vanderpuye's theater-performances include Reggae Britannia at the Royal Court Theatre, The Great White Hope, Tramway Road with Freddie Jones and Richard E. Grant, and an appearance with Lily Savage in Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens the off-Broadway production about AIDS.

[citation needed] Inspired by the Kurosawa Akira-film Seven Samurai, Vanderpuye began studying Shotokan-Karate at the age of 13 earning a brown belt in the discipline.