Place of Birth:
Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Date of Birth:
1/15/1965
James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher, like his father, so began a degree in French at the University of Ulster. He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof (1987, 1989) to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). Nesbitt got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama Cold Feet (1998–2003), which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer "Pig" Finn in Waking Ned (1998). With the rest of the starring cast, Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In Lucky Break (2001), he made his debut as a film lead playing prisoner Jimmy Hands. The next year, he played Ivan Cooper in the television film Bloody Sunday, about the 1972 shootings in Derry. A departure from his previous "cheeky chappie" roles, the film was a turning point in his career. He won a British Independent Film Award and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. Nesbitt has also starred in Murphy's Law (2001–2007) as undercover detective Tommy Murphy—a role that was created for him by writer Colin Bateman. The role twice gained Nesbitt Best Actor nominations at the Irish Film & Television Awards (IFTA). In 2007, he starred in the dual role of Tom Jackman and Mr Hyde in Steven Moffat's Jekyll, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2008. Nesbitt has since appeared in several more dramatic roles; he starred alongside Liam Neeson in Five Minutes of Heaven (2009), and was one of three lead actors in the television miniseries Occupation (2009) and The Deep (2010). He also starred in the movies Outcast (2010) and Emilio Estevez's The Way (2011), and has been cast in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit (2012/13). Nesbitt is married to former actress Sonia Forbes-Adam, with whom he has two daughters. He is a patron of numerous charities and in 2010 accepted the ceremonial position of Chancellor of the University of Ulster.
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Bloody Sunday
Millions
Cherrybomb
Lucky Break
Welcome to Sarajevo
Matching Jack
Five Minutes of Heaven
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Blessed
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Trenches of Hell
The Coronation Concert
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Way
Quite Ugly One Morning
Coriolanus
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Women Talking Dirty
Resurrection Man
Wall of Silence
Occupation
Big Dippers
Match Point
Virtuoso
The Heist Before Christmas
Wild About Harry
Gold
Jude
Ireland's Rugby Number 10
Go Now
Waking Ned
Hear My Song
Outcast
The End of the World Man
Love Lies Bleeding
James Nesbitt Presents Eat My Goal
Here Comes the Summer: The Undertones Story
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
Lost Lives
This Is the Sea
James Nesbit: A Game of Two Halves
The Cry
River Deep, Mountain High: James Nesbitt in New Zealand
The Most Fertile Man in Ireland
Alex Higgins: The People's Champion
The James Gang