James McAvoy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James McAvoy
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McAvoy at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
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| Born | 21 April 1979 Glasgow, Scotland
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| Education | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (BA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1995–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Joy McAvoy (sister) |
James McAvoy (born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He started acting when he was a teenager in the film The Near Room (1995). For a while, he mostly appeared on television. His film career began to take off around 2003.
Some of his well-known TV roles include the thriller State of Play (2003) and the drama series Shameless (2004–2005).
McAvoy became widely known for playing Mr. Tumnus in the fantasy movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). He also played an assassin in the action film Wanted (2008). His acting in the historical dramas The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Atonement (2007) earned him nominations for the BAFTA Award.
In 2011, he lent his voice to characters in the animated films Arthur Christmas and Gnomeo & Juliet. He also played Charles Xavier (Professor X) in the superhero movie X-Men: First Class. He continued this role in later X-Men films. McAvoy was praised for his roles in the crime film Filth (2013) and as a man with many different personalities in Split (2016) and Glass (2019). From 2019 to 2022, he played Lord Asriel in the fantasy series His Dark Materials. He also starred as Bill Denbrough in the horror film It Chapter Two (2019).
On stage, McAvoy has performed in many West End plays. These include Three Days of Rain (2010), Macbeth (2013), The Ruling Class (2015), and Cyrano de Bergerac (2020). For these roles, he received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.
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Growing Up in Glasgow
James McAvoy was born on April 21, 1979, in Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a bus driver and builder, and his mother was a nurse. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.
When he was seven, his parents separated. They divorced when he was eleven. Because his mother had health issues, James went to live with his grandparents, Mary and James Johnstone, in Drumchapel, Glasgow. His mother sometimes lived with them too. James has a younger sister, Joy, and a younger half-brother, Donald. He has not been in touch with his father since he was a child.
James went to St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, a Catholic school in Glasgow. For a short time, he thought about becoming a priest. In an interview, he said he considered it because missionary work seemed like a way to see the world. While he was in school, he also worked at a local bakery.
McAvoy was accepted into the Royal Navy. However, he was also offered a spot to study acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). He chose acting. After finishing his studies in 2000, he moved to London.
Starting His Acting Career
First Roles and TV Shows
James McAvoy's first acting job was at age 15 in the 1995 film The Near Room. He later said he wasn't very interested in acting at first. But he was inspired to study acting after meeting his co-star, Alana Brady. He continued acting with the PACE Youth Theatre.
After graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2000, he started making guest appearances in TV shows. He also began working in films.
In 2001, James appeared in Band of Brothers. This was a long World War II TV series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. In 2002, he gained attention for his role in White Teeth. This was a four-part TV drama based on the book by Zadie Smith.
In 2003, McAvoy was in the miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. This show was very popular on the Sci Fi Channel. He also played a reporter in the TV drama State of Play. This show was well-received for its cast's performances. In 2003, he also appeared in the film Bollywood Queen, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2004, he acted in the romantic comedy Wimbledon with Kirsten Dunst. He also voiced a character named Hal in the English version of the fantasy film Strings. Another film from 2004 was Inside I'm Dancing, an Irish movie where he played a character with duchenne muscular dystrophy. McAvoy finished 2004 by appearing in the first two seasons of Shameless. He played Steve McBride, a main character in the BAFTA-winning show.
Becoming a Star in the 2000s
James McAvoy's public profile grew in 2005. This was when Walt Disney Pictures released The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. McAvoy played Tumnus, a faun who becomes friends with Lucy Pevensie (played by Georgie Henley). Tumnus joins Aslan (Liam Neeson)'s side in the film. The movie was very successful around the world.
In 2006, he took on the main role of Brian Jackson in Starter for 10. Brian is a smart university student who joins a quiz team in the 1980s.
McAvoy was suggested for the role of Nicholas Garrigan in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. He played a Scottish doctor who becomes the personal doctor to dictator Idi Amin (played by Forest Whitaker) in Uganda. The story is based on Amin's rule, but McAvoy's character is fictional. McAvoy won Best Actor at BAFTA Scotland for this role. The film also won several awards, including Best British Film.
After that, he played Irish lawyer Tom Lefroy in Becoming Jane (2007). This historical film was inspired by the early life of writer Jane Austen. Next, he was in Penelope, which also starred Christina Ricci.
A very important role in McAvoy's career was in Atonement (2007). This film was directed by Joe Wright and based on the novel by Ian McEwan. McAvoy said he really wanted the part. The film was shown at major film festivals and received many awards nominations. Both McAvoy and Keira Knightley were nominated for their acting. Critics praised their performances.
His next big role was with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in Wanted (2008). This action film was about a young man named Wesley Gibson who discovers he comes from a family of assassins. McAvoy was initially not chosen because the studio wanted a more typical action hero. But they later decided they wanted someone "geeky." While filming, he got some injuries, but he said he had a "good time." The film was a big success.
Next, he was in The Last Station (2009), a movie about the last months of writer Leo Tolstoy. His wife at the time, Anne-Marie Duff, also starred in it. In 2009, McAvoy voiced Maurice Mouseling in the TV series Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps. He also performed on stage in Three Days of Rain.
Roles in the 2010s
In 2011, he voiced the main male character in Gnomeo & Juliet. This was an animated movie based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. He also played an idealistic war hero in The Conspirator, a historical drama directed by Robert Redford. Critics praised his acting in this film.
In 2010, McAvoy was chosen to play Professor X in X-Men: First Class. Professor X is a telepathic superhero and the leader of the X-Men. He joined other actors like Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. This film was a prequel to the film series. It showed how Professor X and Magneto became friends and then enemies. McAvoy was a fan of the X-Men cartoon as a child. First Class was very popular and McAvoy's performance was highly praised.
In 2011, he started filming Welcome to the Punch, a British thriller. That same year, he voiced the main character in the animated holiday film Arthur Christmas. He also played the lead role in the Danny Boyle film Trance.
In 2012, McAvoy played Bruce Robertson in Filth, a movie based on a novel. He won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for this role in 2013. He also co-starred with Jessica Chastain in a two-part film project called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. He also performed in radio plays based on Neil Gaiman's stories, like Neverwhere.
McAvoy starred in Shakespeare's Macbeth on London's West End in early 2013. In 2015, he won the Best Actor award at London's Evening Standard Theater Awards for his role in The Ruling Class.
He played Professor X again in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Both films were very successful. In 2016, he starred in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Split. He played Kevin Wendell Crumb, a character with many different personalities. His acting in this film was highly praised by critics.
In 2018, McAvoy voiced Hazel in the BBC miniseries Watership Down. In 2019, he returned as Kevin Crumb in Glass and as Professor X in Dark Phoenix.
McAvoy played the adult Bill Denbrough in the horror film It Chapter Two (2019), which was a sequel to It (2017). Also in 2019, McAvoy starred as Lord Asriel in the TV show His Dark Materials.
Recent Work in the 2020s
In 2020, it was announced that Audible would turn Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman into an audio drama. McAvoy voices the main character, Dream.
McAvoy starred in a stage production of Cyrano de Bergerac in London's West End in 2022. He won an award for Best Performer for this role. He also performed the show in New York City.
In November 2024, he began filming his first movie as a director, called California Schemin', in Scotland.
Personal Life and Interests
While working on Shameless, James McAvoy started dating his co-star Anne-Marie Duff. They got married on November 11, 2006. Their son was born in 2010. McAvoy and Duff announced their divorce in May 2016. To make things easier for their son, they continued to share a home in north London when they weren't working.
McAvoy later started a relationship with Lisa Liberati. He met her on the set of Split (2016), where she was a personal assistant to the director. In early 2022, he confirmed that they had secretly gotten married.
McAvoy considers himself a spiritual person, but he no longer practices Catholicism. He enjoys fantasy stories, which he said started when he was 11 and read The Lord of the Rings.
He is a big fan of Celtic FC, a Scottish football team. He once said his dream acting role would be to play Celtic player Jimmy Johnstone. He used to be very addicted to video games like The Legend of Zelda and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He stopped playing when it started affecting his life. He even recalled burning his Oblivion game disc to help himself quit.
In 2011, McAvoy shared his thoughts on British films. He believed that some British filmmakers try to make their movies too simple to please American audiences. He also said that 3D films were a "waste of money." He felt film studios used 3D to get more money from people watching movies.
Helping Others
In 2011, James McAvoy did a "terrifying" BASE jump from the world's tallest hospital building. He did this to help raise money for Retrak, a charity for children in Uganda. This charity helps children who live on the streets. He continues to support Retrak.
He is also a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross. He traveled to Uganda with them to help people learn about their projects there. He got involved with the charity after spending several months filming The Last King of Scotland in Uganda. He was very affected by what he saw. In February 2007, he visited northern Uganda to see the projects supported by the British Red Cross.
In 2015, McAvoy promised £125,000 to a 10-year scholarship program at his old drama school, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In March 2020, McAvoy donated £275,000 to a fundraising campaign. This campaign helped the NHS (National Health Service) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Acting Credits
Awards and Nominations
James McAvoy has received many awards and nominations throughout his career.
- He won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2006.
- He has won multiple British Academy Scotland Awards for Best Actor in Film and Television.
- He won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards in 2013 for Filth.
- He has won Empire Awards for Best Actor.
- He has won Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Actor for his stage work.
- He has been nominated four times for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, one of the highest honors in British theatre.
- He won the London Critics Circle Film Awards for British Actor of the Year twice.
- He won a San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Male Actor for Split.
- He also received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor for Atonement.
Images for kids
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McAvoy at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
See also
In Spanish: James McAvoy para niños
