James Mcavoy

James McAvoy was born on April 21, 1979, in Glasgow, Scotland. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his parents divorced when he was 11. He attended St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Glasgow. At 16, a visit from actor David Hayman to his school sparked an interest in acting. Hayman offered him a role in his film, “The Near Room” (1995). Although he enjoyed the experience, McAvoy did not initially pursue acting as a serious career path, instead applying to the Royal Navy. He was accepted into the Royal Navy but also received an offer to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), where he ultimately chose to enroll. He graduated from the RSAMD in 2000 and subsequently moved to London.

McAvoy accumulated a steady stream of television and film work in the early 2000s. His performance as a gay hustler in the 2001 play “Out in the Open” garnered attention and led director Joe Wright to offer him various film parts, though they would not collaborate until later. He appeared in the miniseries “Band of Brothers” (2001) and gained further recognition in 2004 for his role as Steve McBride in the UK TV series “Shameless,” which ran for its first two seasons. His international breakthrough occurred in 2005 when he portrayed Mr. Tumnus in Disney’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” This was followed by a critically acclaimed performance as a Scottish doctor in “The Last King of Scotland” (2006). His career continued to advance with “Atonement” (2007), directed by Joe Wright, based on Ian McEwan’s novel, earning him a BAFTA Award nomination.

Since then, McAvoy has engaged in significant theatre work, including starring in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (2013), for which he received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2015, he was awarded the London Evening Standard Theatre Award’s Best Actor for his role as Jack Gurney in “The Ruling Class.” On screen, notable roles include corrupt cop Bruce Robertson in “Filth” (2013), which earned him a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor. He reprised his role as Professor Charles Xavier in multiple “X-Men” films, including “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2014) and “X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016). McAvoy also portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb in M. Night Shyamalan’s thrillers “Split” (2016) and “Glass” (2019), demonstrating his range in various film genres. In 2019, he starred as Bill Denbrough in “It: Chapter Two.”