Scottish actor James McAvoy made his acting debut as a teen in the 1995 film The Near Room with Andy Serkis. He appeared in the films Wimbledon (2004) and Inside I'm Dancing (2004), before being cast as Mr. Tumnus in the 2005 fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on C. S. Lewis's 1950 novel. The following year, he starred in director Kevin Macdonald's drama film The Last King of Scotland. He co-starred in the romance films Penelope (2006) with Christina Ricci, Becoming Jane (2007) with Anne Hathaway, and Atonement (2007) with Keira Knightley. He made his theatre debut as Riff in the West Side Story at the Courtyard Centre for the Arts Hereford. He has since performed in several West End productions, receiving four Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nominations.
In 2011, McAvoy was cast as Charles Xavier, a fictional character based on the Marvel Comics character in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011). He later reprised his role in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Dark Phoenix (2019). McAvoy starred in the 2013 crime comedy-drama film Filth, for which he won Best Actor in the British Independent Film Awards. A year later, he starred with Jessica Chastain in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, the collective title of three films, Him, Her and Them. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass (2019). He has starred in the science fiction horror film Victor Frankenstein with Daniel Radcliffe (2015), action thriller film Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron (2017), and played Bill Denbrough in the supernatural horror film It Chapter Two, the second installment of the It film series based on Stephen King's 1986 novel.
McAvoy's television work includes a minor role in the HBO war drama miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), the thriller State of Play (2003) and as Leto II Atreides in the science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003). From 2004 to 2005, he played Steve McBride in the British comedy drama Shameless. From 2019 to 2022, he portrayed Lord Asriel Belacqua in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.
Film + Year Title Role Notes 1995 1997Local boyShort film Regeneration 2001 Swimming Pool Mike 2003 Bright Young Things Bollywood Queen Jay 2004 Wimbledon Strings (voice) Inside I'm Dancing 2005 2006 Starter for 10 Penelope 2007 Becoming Jane Atonement 2008 Wanted 2009 2010 2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Gnomeo (voice) X-Men: First Class Arthur Christmas (voice) 2013 Welcome to the Punch Trance Filth 2014 Muppets Most Wanted Delivery man Cameo X-Men: Days of Future Past Shared role with Patrick Stewart 2015 Victor Frankenstein 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse Split Kevin Wendell Crumb / Dennis / Patricia / Hedwig / The Beast / Barry / Orwell / Jade 2017 Atomic Blonde Submergence 2018 Sherlock Gnomes Gnomeo (voice) Deadpool 2 Uncredited cameo 2019 Glass X-Men: Dark Phoenix It Chapter Two 2021 My Son 2022 The Bubble Himself Cameo 2023 The Book of Clarence Pontius Pilate 2024 Speak No Evil Paddy 2025 California Schemin' Anthony Also director Pose Thomas 2026 Michael Dr. Conway Post-production
Television + Year Title Role Notes 1997 Episode: "Rent" 2001 Band of Brothers Episode: "Replacements" Lorna Doone Television film Murder in Mind Episode: "Teacher" 2002 White Teeth 2 episodes Episode: "Payment in Blood" Foyle's War Episode: "The German Woman" 2003 Frank Herbert's Children of Dune Leto II Atreides 3 episodes State of Play 6 episodes Early Doors Liam 4 episodes 2004–2005 Shameless 13 episodes 2005 ShakespeaRe-Told Episode: "Macbeth" 2018 Watership Down Hazel (voice) 4 episodes 2019 Saturday Night Live Himself / Host Episode: "James McAvoy/Meek Mill" 2019–2022 His Dark Materials 9 episodes 2021 Together He Television film 2022 The Sandman Golden-Haired Man (voice) Episode: "Dream of a Thousand Cats" 2027 Felix McAveety Lead role
Stage + Year Title Role Venue 1999 West Side Story Riff Courtyard Centre for the Arts Romeo and Juliet Romeo Beauty and the Beast Adam Smith Theatre 2000 Ferdinand Brunton Theatre Gerald Traverse Theatre Lovers Joe Royal Lyceum Theatre 2001 Out In The Open Iggy Hampstead Theatre Privates on Parade Donmar Warehouse 2005 Breathing Corpses Ben Royal Court Theatre 2009 Three Days of Rain Walker & Ned Apollo Theatre 2013 Macbeth Macbeth Trafalgar Studios 2015 2019–2022 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano Playhouse Theatre Brooklyn Academy of Music
Video games + Year Title Voice role Notes 2021 Twelve Minutes Man
Audiobooks and radio + Year Title Role 2013 Neverwhere Richard Mayhew 2015 Orson Welles' Heart of Darkness Marlow 2020 The Sandman Dream 2026 Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions Mad-Eye Moody
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