December 9, 2007
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James Andrew McAvoy (21 April 1979) is a BAFTA-winning Scottish actor, best known for his roles as Steve McBride in Shameless, Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and as Robbie Turner in Atonement.
McAvoy was born in Scotstoun, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth (née Johnstone), a psychiatric nurse, and James McAvoy, a builder. His sister, Joy McAvoy, is a singer. McAvoy's parents divorced when he was seven, and he subsequently lived with his maternal grandparents, Mary and James Johnstone. He attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill, Glasgow, a Catholic school, and considered becoming a priest. He was in the Pace Youth Theatre for over six years, trained by Mhari Gilbert, and graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2000. He once lived in a London houseshare with Jesse Spencer. He is married to his Shameless co-star, Anne-Marie Duff. In his spare time, McAvoy enjoys sci fi, and is a fan of Celtic Football Club.
McAvoy's first roles were in David Hayman's The Near Room in 1995 and then as Anthony Balfour in Pat Barker's Regeneration in 1997. McAvoy got his first big international break with a role in the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries Band of Brothers. His first international starring role was as Leto Atreides II in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Children of Dune (adapted from Frank Herbert’s novels) which aired in 2003, and the same year he co-starred in Paul Abbott's acclaimed thriller serial State of Play. In 2004 he starred as Steve McBride in another Abbott-written drama series, Shameless on Channel 4, for which he was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Best TV Newcomer. In 2005, he played Ben in the Royal Court Theatre's production Breathing Corpses, as well as the role of Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in Disney and Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also starred in Wimbledon as Carl Colt and as Macbeth in Shakespeare Retold. In 2006, he starred alongside Forest Whitaker in an adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel The Last King of Scotland based on the (factual) events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s regime as seen by his (fictional) personal physician during the 1970s. He took the lead, Brian Jackson, in Starter for Ten (the adaptation of the David Nicholls novel of the same name). McAvoy won the new Mary Selway/Orange Rising Star Award at the 2006 BAFTA Awards. In 2007 he appeared in two critcally acclaimed films - Becoming Jane and Atonement, the latter of which is based on Ian McEwan's 2001 novel. McAvoy recently finished work on the film adaptation of Wanted. He workshopped scenes for the movie Three Way Split for directors Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger[7], but will not take part in the actual film. He is rumoured to be appearing in the movie Frost Flowers, Channel 4 mini series The Devil's Whore[8] and starring as Kurt Cobain in an upcoming biopic about the Nirvana singer.
Hollywood Life magazine reports:
The brightest rising stars gathered in Hollywood last night for the Breakthrough of the Year Awards.
Scrubs star Donald Faison hosted the event at the Music Box at the Fonda on Hollywood Blvd. Donald, who dates Jessica Simpson’s former assistant Cacee Cobb, gave Simpson’s new man Tony Romo his seal of approval on the red carpet saying, “He’s a great guy.”
Josh Duhamel presented a Breakthrough Award to his Transformers co-star Megan Fox who looked scorchingly sexy in a Dolce & Gabbana corset dress. Also on hand were the Superbad boys, Jonah Hill and McLovin’ himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who lamented that he wasn’t old enough to drink the special Cabo Wabo cocktail of the night named after his character.
Heroes Masi Oka revealed on the red carpet that his co-star Milo Ventimiglia was “the maestro” and advises him on everything from dealing with the press to picking up chicks.
