James McAvoy

James McAvoy has built a career on sharp turns. Born in Glasgow on 21 April 1979, the Scottish actor has moved between film, television, theatre and voice work without allowing any one kind of role to define him. McAvoy made his screen debut at 15 in The Near Room, later trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and moved to London after graduating in 2000. Early television work included Band of Brothers, White Teeth, State of Play and Shameless, where he played Steve McBride. In Inside I’m Dancing, he took one of the principal roles as a young man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy; in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he brought warmth to the faun Mr Tumnus. His breakthrough arrived with Joe Wright’s Atonement. As Robbie Turner, McAvoy carried the romantic tragedy alongside Keira Knightley, earning a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Wanted then gave him the chance to shift into fast-moving action as Wesley Gibson, while Filth pushed him toward something more corrosive as Bruce Robertson, a performance that won him Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards. For a wider blockbuster audience, McAvoy became the younger Professor X in X-Men: First Class, returning in Days of Future Past, Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Split offered a very different showcase through Kevin Wendell Crumb, a role he reprised in Glass. His other screen work has ranged from Starter for 10 and The Last King of Scotland to It Chapter Two and the television adaptation of His Dark Materials. The stage has remained an important part of his career. His credits include Macbeth, The Ruling Class and Cyrano de Bergerac, with his performance in The Ruling Class winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor. He has also voiced characters in Arthur Christmas, Watership Down and an audio adaptation of The Sandman. In November 2024, he began principal photography in Scotland on his directorial debut, California Schemin’, adding another direction to an already varied career.