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Damian Lewis

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Damian Lewis
Born (1971-02-11) 11 February 1971 (age 53)
St. John's Wood, Westminster, England
Occupation(s)actor, film producer
Years active1993–present
SpouseHelen McCrory (m. 2007–present)
Children2

Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor and producer. His acting roles include Soames Forsyte in the ITV remake of The Forsyte Saga, Detective Charlie Crews in the NBC drama Life and Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. He currently stars as Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the award-winning Showtime series Homeland.[1]

Early life

I went to English boarding schools and grew up around people very much like Soames and in a milieu very much like the Forsytes's.

— Damian Lewis (2002)[2]

Lewis was born in St John's Wood, London, the son of Watcyn and Charlotte Lewis.[3][4] His paternal grandparents were Welsh, and Lewis says that his father "is Welsh", despite Watcyn being born in London.[5] His maternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London Ian Frank Bowater and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the royal family), author Kathryn Hoare and philanthropist Alfred Yarrow.[3][6]

Lewis made several visits to the United States to visit relatives during his summers as a child.[7][8] He first decided to become an actor at age 16.[4] He was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in the village of Forest Row in East Sussex and at Eton College and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993, after which he served as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his time with the RSC, he played Borgheim in Adrian Noble's production of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, as well as Posthumus in William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. He has also starred in another of Ibsen's plays, Pillars of the Community.

Career

Lewis once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarms, a job he detested.[9]

Lewis appeared in the 1997 film Robinson Crusoe, playing Patrick Conner. Lewis also appeared in Jonathan Kent's production of Hamlet, playing Laertes opposite Ralph Fiennes' Hamlet. This production was seen by Steven Spielberg, who subsequently cast Lewis as Richard Winters in the HBO/BBC World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, his first role of several that required a credible American accent.[7]

Subsequently, Lewis has played Soames Forsyte in the ITV series The Forsyte Saga (later shown as a Masterpiece Theatre miniseries), which earned him rave reviews and further exposed him to a US audience.[10] He returned to the US to star in Dreamcatcher, a Stephen King film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent.[7] On the heels of this role, he starred in Keane as a Manhattanite with a fragile mental state who is searching for his missing daughter. Despite the film's poor box-office performance, the role won Lewis rave reviews.[11][12][13]

He played Jeffrey Archer in the satirical TV special Jeffrey Archer: The Truth. Since 2004, he has appeared in a number of films, as well as the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, as part of the ShakespeaRe-Told season. Lewis played the role of Yassen Gregorovich in the film Stormbreaker.

In 2006 he appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC drama Friends and Crocodiles.

On 10 November 2006, 1 May 2009, 18 November 2010 and 27 April 2012, he was the guest host on BBC's Have I Got News For You.

In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the US television series Life on NBC. The show premiered in the US on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season's shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series.[14] Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night. With its high production costs, the show was cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for the much less expensive daily program The Jay Leno Show.

Lewis appeared, the following year, in the lead role in The Baker, a film directed by his brother, Gareth Lewis, and also took the supporting role of Rizza in The Escapist, which he also helped produce.

Lewis led the cast in Martin Crimp's version of Molière's comedy, The Misanthrope, which opened in December 2009 at the Comedy Theatre, London.[15] Other cast members included Tara FitzGerald, Keira Knightley and Dominic Rowan.

As of 2011, Lewis has a starring role as Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime psychological thriller series Homeland.[16]

Charity work

In March 2010, he became a trade justice ambassador for Christian Aid, a UK charity. In 2006, he was a player for England in Soccer Aid in late May, and golfed for Europe in the All*Star Cup, in late August, both shown on ITV.

Lewis is involved with a number of charities, including being one of three patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.[17] He participated in Soccer Aid 2010, which supported the charity UNICEF. During the first half he hit the crossbar after lobbing former Arsenal and German national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann with a shot from 25 yards. He also scored in the penalty shoot-out. Lewis himself is a devoted Liverpool F.C. fan, attending as many games as his schedule allows. He stars as Gareth, the father of an 11-year old Liverpool fan (Will), in a 2011 British sport drama titled "Will", and played a part in convincing the current Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish to get involved in the movie, after Dalglish had expressed doubts over his involvement in the movie due to his convictions about whether the movie was proper or not.[18]

Personal life

On 4 July 2007, Lewis married actress Helen McCrory; together they have a daughter, Manon (born 8 September 2006), and a son, Gulliver (born 2 November 2007).[19] They live in Tufnell Park and Los Angeles.

As well as being a passionate Liverpool F.C. supporter, Lewis has also shown interest in international rugby union, where he supports the team of his paternal grandparents' nationality, Wales, as opposed to the country of his birth.

Filmography

Film

Actor
Year Title Role Notes
1997 Robinson Crusoe Patrick
2003 Dreamcatcher Gary "Jonesy" Jones
2004 Keane William Keane Nominated—Gotham Award for Breakthrough Performance
2004 Nyfes Norman Harris
2005 Chromophobia Marcus Aylesbury
2005 An Unfinished Life Gary Winston
2006 The Situation Dan Murphy
2006 Stormbreaker Yassen Gregorovich
2008 The Baker Milo
2008 The Escapist Rizza
2011 Your Highness Boremont
2011 Will Gareth
2012 The Sweeney
Producer
Year Title Role Notes
2008 The Baker Producer

Television

Actor
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Micky Love Clive
1995 "Hickory Dickory Dock" in Agatha Christie : Poirot Leonard Bateson
1996 "Deep Waters" in A Touch of Frost Adam Weston
1999 Warriors Lt. Neil Loughrey
2000 Life Force Kurt Glemser
2000 Hearts and Bones Mark Rose
2001 Band of Brothers Maj. Richard D. Winters Golden FIPA for Best Actor – Series and Serials
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2002 The Forsyte Saga Soames Forsyte
2002 Jeffrey Archer: The Truth Jeffrey Archer
2003 The Forsyte Saga: To Let Soames Forsyte
2005 Colditz Cpl/Lt. Nicholas McGrade
2005 Friends and Crocodiles Paul
2005 Much Ado About Nothing Benedick
2007–2009 Life Charlie Crews
2007-present Have I Got News for You Himself (Guest host) November 10, 2006
May 1, 2009
November 18, 2010
April 27, 2012
2011 Stolen D.I. Anthony Carter
2011-present Homeland Nicholas Brody Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor – Drama Series, 2011
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, 2011

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Damian Lewis

Golden Globe Awards

Television awards

# Year Category Title Result Lost to
1 2001 Best Actor – Miniseries of Television Film Band of Brothers Nominated James Franco (James Dean)
2 2011 Best Actor – Television Series Drama Homeland Nominated Kelsey Grammer (Boss)

References

  1. ^ Damian-Lewis.com, fansite
  2. ^ "An Interview with Damian Lewis". Public Broadcasting Service. 2002. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  3. ^ a b Person Page – 17574. thePeerage.com. (accessed 2009-01-14)
  4. ^ a b Interview. Sunday Express, 25 May 2003. accessed 22 December 2008.
  5. ^ Mottram, James. Damian Lewis Interview. Marie Claire, 25 February 2008. accessed 14 January 2009.
  6. ^ Fascinating Fact 4144. Contact Music. 21 October 2007. accessed 14 January 2009.
  7. ^ a b c Iannotti, Lauren. "Esquire Style". Esquire, April 2003, 139 (4):120.
  8. ^ "Fighting Talk". New Woman, November 1999. republished at Damian-Lewis.com. accessed 22 December 2008.
  9. ^ Prato, Alison. (October 2008), "Out on the Town with This Season’s Breakout Stars". Maxim. republished at Damian-Lewis.com. accessed 2008-12-15.
  10. ^ Kelleher, Terry (2002-10-14), "The Forsyte Saga". People. 58 (16):36
  11. ^ Rozen, Leah (2005-09-19), "Keane". People. 64 (12):40
  12. ^ Kauffmann, Stanley (2005-09-19), "Heights and Depths". New Republic. 233 (12):28–29
  13. ^ Travers, Peter (2005-10-06) "Keane". Rolling Stone. (984):164
  14. ^ "AFI Awards 2008". American Film Institute. 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
  15. ^ The Misanthrope's London production
  16. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (21 December 2010). "Damian Lewis Cast As The Male Lead In Showtime's Pilot 'Homeland'". Deadline. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  17. ^ "Scene & Heard – Who We Are". sceneandheard.org. 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  18. ^ "Why we chose LFC and Istanbul". 2 November 2011.
  19. ^ "Actors Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory welcome a son". People.

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