James McAvoy

Acting • Born 1979-04-21

Acting4Glasgow, Scotland, UK

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

95 credits

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Movie • 2005

Mr. Tumnus

The Last King of Scotland

Movie • 2006

Dr. Nicholas Garrigan

Becoming Jane

Movie • 2007

Tom Lefroy

Atonement

Movie • 2007

Robbie Turner

Strings

Movie • 2004

Hal

The Sands Between

Movie • 2021

Man

The Pool

Movie • 2001

Mike

Inside I'm Dancing

Movie • 2004

Rory O'Shea

Penelope

Movie • 2007

Johnny/Max

Wimbledon

Movie • 2004

Carl Colt

Wanted

Movie • 2008

Wesley Gibson

Starter for 10

Movie • 2006

Brian Jackson

The Last Station

Movie • 2009

Valentin Bulgakov

The Conspirator

Movie • 2011

Frederick Aiken

Bright Young Things

Movie • 2003

Simon Balcairn

Bollywood Queen

Movie • 2002

Jay

Svensken bakom Hollywoodkroppen

Movie • 2023

Himself

Gnomeo & Juliet

Movie • 2011

Gnomeo (voice)

Speak No Evil

Movie • 2024

Paddy

Control

Movie

Dr. Conway

X-Men: First Class

Movie • 2011

Charles Xavier

Trance

Movie • 2013

Simon

Arthur Christmas

Movie • 2011

Arthur (voice)

Welcome to the Punch

Movie • 2013

Max Lewinsky

Filth

Movie • 2013

Bruce

The Bubble

Movie • 2022

James McAvoy

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Movie • 2014

Charles Xavier

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them

Movie • 2014

Conor Ludlow

The Near Room

Movie • 1997

Kevin

Victor Frankenstein

Movie • 2015

Victor Frankenstein

White Teeth

Movie • 2002

Josh Malfen

Pose

Movie • 2026

Thomas

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her

Movie • 2014

Conor

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him

Movie • 2014

Conor

X-Men: Apocalypse

Movie • 2016

Professor Charles Xavier

Muppets Most Wanted

Movie • 2014

UPS Guy

The Book of Clarence

Movie • 2024

Pontius Pilate

Sherlock Gnomes

Movie • 2018

Gnomeo (voice)

California Schemin'

Movie • 2026

Anthony

Split

Movie • 2017

Dennis / Patricia / Hedwig / The Beast / Kevin Wendell Crumb / Barry / Orwell / Jade

Atomic Blonde

Movie • 2017

David Percival

Submergence

Movie • 2017

James More

Children of the Atom - Filming X-Men: First Class

Movie • 2011

Self

Regeneration

Movie • 1997

Anthony Balfour

Lorna Doone

Movie • 2001

Sergeant Bloxham

Dark Phoenix

Movie • 2019

Charles Xavier / Professor X

Glass

Movie • 2019

Patricia / Dennis / Hedwig / The Beast / Barry / Heinrich / Jade / Ian / Mary Reynolds / Norma / Jalin / Kat / B.T. / Kevin Wendell Crumb / Mr. Pritchard / Felida / Luke / Goddard / Samuel / Polly