Biography
James McAvoy (born April 21, 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller State of Play, science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune and the channel 4s BAFTA award-winning series Shameless (British TV series)
He has performed in several West End productions and has received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, and has also done voice work for animated films including Gnomeo & Juliet, its sequel Sherlock Gnomes, and Arthur Christmas.
In 2003, McAvoy appeared in a lead role in Bollywood Queen, then in another lead role as Rory in Inside I'm Dancing in 2004. This was followed by a supporting role, as the faun Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). His performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama The Last King of Scotland (2006) garnered him several award nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The critically acclaimed romantic drama war film Atonement (2007) earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination and his second BAFTA nomination. He later appeared as a newly trained assassin in the action thriller Wanted (2008).
In 2011, McAvoy portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). McAvoy starred in the crime comedy-drama film Filth (2013), for which he won Best Actor in the British Independent Film Awards. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass (2019). Since 2019, he has portrayed Lord Asriel Belacqua in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.
Filmography (94)
Pose
2026
California Schemin'
2026
The Claudia Winkleman Show
2026
The Space Between Attack and Decay
2025
Lions Uncut: Australia 2025
2025
Speak No Evil
2024
The Book of Clarence
2024
Hot Ones Versus
2024
Svensken bakom Hollywoodkroppen
2023
The Bubble
2022
The Sandman
2022
The Sands Between
2021
My Son
2021
Together
2021
National Theatre Live: Cyrano de Bergerac
2020
One World: Together at Home
2020
The Gruffalo and Me: The Remarkable Julia Donaldson
2020
The Magical World of Julia Donaldson
2020
The Bridge: Race to a Fortune
2020
Dark Phoenix
2019
Glass
2019
It Chapter Two
2019
The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends
2019
His Dark Materials
2019
Sherlock Gnomes
2018
Submergence
2018
Once Upon a Deadpool
2018
Deadpool 2
2018
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
2018
Watership Down
2018
Split
2017
Atomic Blonde
2017
The Making of 'Split'
2017
X-Men: Apocalypse
2016
Victor Frankenstein
2015
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014
Muppets Most Wanted
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
Trance
2013
Welcome to the Punch
2013
Filth
2013
X-Men: First Class 35mm Special
2012
The Conspirator
2011
Gnomeo & Juliet
2011
X-Men: First Class
2011
Arthur Christmas
2011
Children of the Atom - Filming X-Men: First Class
2011
Conan
2010
The Last Station
2009
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
Wanted
2008
Becoming Jane
2007
Atonement
2007
Penelope
2007
The Graham Norton Show
2007
The Last King of Scotland
2006
Starter for 10
2006
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2005
ShakespeaRe-Told: Macbeth
2005
ShakespeaRe-Told
2005
Strings
2004
Inside I'm Dancing
2004
Wimbledon
2004
Shameless
2004
Bright Young Things
2003
Early Doors
2003
State of Play
2003
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune
2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
Bollywood Queen
2002
White Teeth
2002
Foyle's War
2002
Top Gear
2002
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
2002
White Teeth
2002
The Pool
2001
Lorna Doone
2001
Murder in Mind
2001
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
2001
Band of Brothers
2001
Lorna Doone
2000
The Near Room
1997
Regeneration
1997
The Daily Show
1996
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
Saturday Night Live
1975
The Oscars
1953
Control
Faith