Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film Close My Eyes (1991) before earning international attention for his performance as a struggling writer in Croupier (1998). In 2005, he won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the drama Closer (2004).
Owen has played leading roles in films such as Sin City (2005), Derailed (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), and The International (2009). In 2012, he earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role in Hemingway & Gellhorn. He played Dr. John W. Thackery on the Cinemax medical drama series The Knick, for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination. In 2021, Owen starred in the psychological romance horror miniseries Lisey's Story and also portrayed President Bill Clinton in the third season of American Crime Story. He then had further television roles in A Murder at the End of the World (2023) and Monsieur Spade (2024).
Early life Owen was born in Keresley, Coventry (then in Warwickshire), the fourth of five sons born to Pamela ( Cotton) and Jess Owen. His father, a country and western singer, left the family when Owen was three years old, and despite a brief reconciliation when Owen was 19, they have remained estranged. He has described his childhood as "rough".
While initially opposed to drama school, he changed his mind in 1984, after a long and fruitless period of searching for work. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he worked at the Young Vic, performing in several Shakespearean plays.
Career
Early career Initially, Owen's career was in television. In 1988, he starred as Gideon Sarn in a BBC production of Precious Bane and the Channel 4 film Vroom before the 1990s saw him become a regular on stage and television in the UK, notably his lead role in the ITV series Chancer, followed by an appearance in the Thames Television production of Lorna Doone.
He won critical acclaim for his performances in the Stephen Poliakoff film Close My Eyes (1991) about a brother and sister who embark on an incestuous love affair. He subsequently appeared in The Magician, Class of '61, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native and a Carlton production called Sharman, about a private detective. In 1996, he appeared in his first major Hollywood film The Rich Man's Wife alongside Halle Berry, followed by an unforgettable lead performance as Max in Bent in 1997. He then found international acclaim in a Channel 4 film directed by Mike Hodges called Croupier (1998). In Croupier, he played the title role of a struggling writer who takes a job in a London casino as inspiration for his work, only to get caught up in a robbery scheme. In 1999, he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second, his first BBC production in about a decade.
Owen starred in The Echo, a BBC1 drama, before starring in the film Greenfingers, about a criminal who goes to work in a garden. He appeared in the BBC1 mystery series Second Sight. In 2001, he provided the voice-over for Walk On By, a BBC2 documentary about popular music, as well as starring in a highly acclaimed theatre revival of Peter Nichols' play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, about a couple with a severely disabled daughter.
Subsequent work
Owen became known to North American audiences in the summer of 2001 after starring as "The Driver" in The Hire, a series of short films sponsored by BMW and made by prominent directors. He appeared in Robert Altman's Gosford Park. He appeared in the 2002 film The Bourne Identity. In 2003, he reteamed with director Mike Hodges in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. He starred in Beyond Borders as well as King Arthur in King Arthur, for which he learned to ride a horse.
He appeared in the Royal National Theatre debut of the hit play Closer, by Patrick Marber, which was produced as a film in 2004. He played Dan in the play, and played Larry in the film version. His portrayal of Larry in the film received very favourable reviews, as well as the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He noted that the expectations of him since the Oscar nomination have not changed the way he approaches film-making, stating "I try, every film I do, to be as good as I can and that's all I can do."
After Closer, he appeared in Derailed alongside Jennifer Aniston, the comic book thriller Sin City as the noir antihero Dwight McCarthy and as a mysterious bank robber in Inside Man. Despite public denials, Owen had been rumoured to be a possible successor to Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond. A public opinion poll in the United Kingdom in October 2005 by SkyNews found that he was the public's number one choice to star in the next instalment of the series. In that same month, however, it was announced that fellow British actor Daniel Craig would become the next James Bond. In an interview in the September 2007 issue of Details, he claimed that he was not offered or approached concerning the role.
In 2006, Owen spoofed the Bond connection by making an appearance in the remake of The Pink Panther in which he plays a character named "Nigel Boswell, Agent 006" (when he introduces himself to Inspector Clouseau, he quips that Owen's character is "one short of the big time").
In 2006, Owen starred in Children of Men. The film was nominated for various awards, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Owen worked on the screenplay, although he was uncredited. The next year he starred alongside Paul Giamatti in the film Shoot 'Em Up and appeared as Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I of England in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in the Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant show Extras.
Owen starred in The International (2009), a film which he described as a "paranoid political thriller". He played the lead in The Boys Are Back, an Australian adaptation of the book The Boys Are Back in Town by Simon Carr.
In June 2010, it was announced that Owen and Nicole Kidman would star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. James Gandolfini served as executive producer to the film, written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl. The film was directed by Philip Kaufman and released in 2012. Owen played the lead in Shadow Dancer, a joint UK/Ireland production about a young mother who is involved with Irish republicanism. It co-starred Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson, and Aidan Gillen, and was directed by James Marsh. In April 2010, he was cast as the lead in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror-thriller Intruders.
Owen starred in the film Blood Ties, directed by Guillaume Canet, alongside French actress Marion Cotillard. It was released in June 2013 at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Owen made his Broadway debut in a revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre. He was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
In October 2017, Owen returned to Broadway as Rene Gallimard in a revival of David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly at the Cort Theatre in New York City.
In 2019, Owen played the role of the defrocked Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in the West End theatre production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana at the Noël Coward Theatre. Also in 2019, he played Dovidl Rapaport in The Song of Names. He played Bill Clinton in the miniseries Impeachment: American Crime Story.
Personal life Owen met his wife, Sarah-Jane Fenton, in 1988, when they were in a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Young Vic Theatre in London. They began dating shortly after and married in March 1995.
Owen became a patron of the Electric Palace Cinema in Harwich, Essex, and launched an appeal for funds to repair deteriorating elements of the historic building. The cinema is local to his second home at Wrabness.
Owen is a supporter of Liverpool FC and narrated the fly on the wall documentary series Being: Liverpool.
Filmography
Film YearTitleRoleNotes1990VroomJakefilm debut1991Close My EyesRichard1993CenturyPaul Reisner1995The TurnaroundNick Sharman1996The Rich Man's WifeJake Golden1997BentMax1998CroupierJack Manfred2000GreenfingersColin Briggs2001AmbushThe Driver1st season of The Hire short film series for BMWChosenThe FollowStarPowder KegGosford ParkRobert Parks2002The Bourne IdentityThe ProfessorHostageThe Driver2nd season of The Hire short film series for BMWTickerBeat the Devil2003I'll Sleep When I'm DeadWillBeyond BordersNick Callahan2004King ArthurArthurCloserLarry Gray2005Sin CityDwight McCarthyDerailedCharles Schine2006The Pink PantherNigel Boswell/Agent 006uncreditedInside ManDalton RussellChildren of MenTheo Faron2007Shoot 'Em UpSmithElizabeth: The Golden AgeSir Walter Raleigh2009The InternationalLouis SalingerDuplicityRay KovalThe Boys Are BackJoe Warr2010TrustWill2011Killer EliteSpikeIntrudersJohn Farrow2012Shadow DancerMac2013Blood TiesChrisWords and PicturesJack Marcus2015Last KnightsRaiden2016The ConfirmationWaltThe EscapeThe Driver3rd season of The Hire short film series for BMW2017Killer in RedFloydShort filmValerian and the City of a Thousand PlanetsCommander Arun Filitt2018OpheliaClaudiusAnonSal Frieland 2019Gemini ManClay VarrisThe Song of NamesDovidlThe InformerKeith Montgomery 2020Romantic Guide to Lost PlacesBenno 2021LuiJasonVoice 2025CleanerMarcus Blake TBA KristallnachtWilhelm Krützfeld Filming
Television YearTitleRoleNotes1987Rockliffe's BabiesPC ParslewTelevision debutEpisode: "Up the Down Escalator"1988BoonGeoffEpisode: "Peacemaker"1989Precious BaneGideon SarnTelevision film1990Lorna DooneJohn Ridd1990–1991ChancerDerek Love/Stephen CraneSeries regular; 20 episodes1993Class of '61Devin O'NeilTelevision filmThe MagicianDetective Conservative George ByrneTelevision film1994Nobody's ChildrenCorneliu BratuAn Evening with Gary LinekerBillDoomsday GunDovThe Return of the NativeDamon Wildeve1995–1996Screen TwoPaul/Diggory Venn2 episodes1996SharmanNick SharmanSeries regular; 4 episodes1998The EchoDeaconTelevision miniseries; 2 episodes1999Split SecondMichael AndersonTelevision filmSecond SightDCI Ross Tanner2000Second Sight: ParasomniaSecond Sight: Kingdom of the BlindSecond Sight: Hide and Seek2007ExtrasHimselfEpisode: "The Extra Special Series Finale"Hypnose homeeTelevision short2012Hemingway & GellhornErnest HemingwayTelevision filmBeing: LiverpoolNarratorEpisode: "Silver Shovel"2014–2015The KnickDr. John W. ThackerySeries regular; 20 episodes2020Curb Your EnthusiasmHimselfEpisode: "Insufficient Praise"2021Lisey's StoryScott LandonMain cast; 8 episodesImpeachment: American Crime StoryBill ClintonMain cast; 10 episodes 2023A Murder at the End of the WorldAndy RonsonMain cast 2024Monsieur SpadeSam SpadeLead role
Theatre YearTitleRoleDirectorVenueRef.1991The PhilandererMr Joseph CuthbertsonBrian CoxHampstead Theatre, London The Doctor's DilemmaUnknownJames MaxwellRoyal Exchange Theatre1994Design for LivingAlfred LuntSean MathiasDonmar Warehouse, London 1997CloserDanPatrick MarberRoyal National Theatre, London 2001A Day in the Death of Joe EggBriLaurence BoswellNew Ambassadors Theatre, London2015Old TimesDeeleyDouglas HodgeAmerican Airlines Theatre, Broadway2017M. ButterflyRene GallimardJulie TaymorCort Theatre, Broadway 2019The Night of the IguanaRev. T. Lawrence ShannonJames Macdonald Noël Coward Theatre, West End 2025–2026End Alfie Rachel O'Riordan Royal National Theatre, London
Video games YearTitleRoleNotes1996Privateer 2: The DarkeningLev ArrisLive-action cutscenes