Jeremy Northam

Jeremy Philip Northam (born 1 December 1961) is an English actor. After a number of television roles, he earned attention as Mr. Knightley in the 1996 film adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. He has appeared in the films An Ideal Husband, Gosford Park, Amistad, The Winslow Boy, Enigma, and Martin and Lewis, amongst others. He also played Thomas More in the Showtime series The Tudors. From 2016 to 2017 he appeared as Anthony Eden in the Netflix series The Crown.

Early life and education

Northam was born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, the youngest of four siblings. His mother, Rachel (née Howard), was a potter and professor of economics, and his father, John Northam, was a professor of literature and theatre, as well as being an Ibsen specialist and lecturer (first at Clare College, Cambridge and later at Bristol). He has described his upbringing as not wealthy, but warm.

Northam was educated at King's College School, Cambridge, Bristol Grammar School and Bedford College, London (B.A. English, 1984) now part of Royal Holloway, University of London, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

Screen and stage

Northam performed at the Royal National Theatre – he replaced Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of Hamlet (1989) and won the Olivier Award in 1990 for "most promising newcomer" for his performance in The Voysey Inheritance.

He has appeared frequently in British films such as Carrington (1995), Emma (1996), The Winslow Boy (1999), An Ideal Husband (1999), Enigma (2001) and as Welsh actor and singer Ivor Novello in Gosford Park (2001). He made his American film debut in The Net (1995).

In 2002 he starred in the film Cypher. That same year, he portrayed singer Dean Martin in the CBS film Martin and Lewis and golfer Walter Hagen in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius in 2004. In 2007 and 2008, he portrayed Thomas More on the Showtime series, The Tudors. He played John Brodie Innes in the 2009 film Creation, based on the life of Charles Darwin. In the 2015 film The Man Who Knew Infinity, he portrayed the philosopher Bertrand Russell. He played British Prime Minister Anthony Eden in the 2016 Netflix drama series The Crown.

Other work

His audiobook work includes The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis for Harper Audio and A Death Divided by Clare Francis for Macmillan. For SilkSoundBooks, he recorded The Real Thing and Other Short Stories and The Aspern Papers, both written by Henry James. In 2007 he recorded Gerard Manley Hopkins poems for "The Great Poets" edition for Naxos Audiobooks. In 2009, he recorded Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene for CSA Word. He recorded the audio book Dark Matter, a ghost story by Michelle Paver, in September 2010; it was released on 21 October 2010, by Orion.

In the Gosford Park soundtrack, Northam sings the Ivor Novello songs "And Her Mother Came Too", "What a Duke Should Be", "Why Isn't It You", "I Can Give You the Starlight" and "The Land of Might Have Been" accompanied by his brother Christopher on piano.

Theatre

• Edward Voysey, The Voysey Inheritance, National Theatre Company, Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1989
• Also appeared in productions of School for Scandal and The Shaughraun, National Theatre Company.
• Osric, then later title role, Hamlet, National Theatre Company, Olivier Theatre, London, 1989
• The Three Sisters, 1991
• The Way of the World, 1992
• Philip, The Gift of the Gorgon, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (theatre), London, 1992
• Elomire, La Bête, Really Useful Theatre Company, 1993
• Berowne, Love's Labour's Lost, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1994
• Mr. Horner, The Country Wife, Royal Shakespeare Company, Pit Theatre, 1994
• Obstetrician, Certain Young Men, Almeida Theatre, London, 1999
• Old Times, Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London, 2004
• Richard Greatham, Hay Fever, Noël Coward Theatre, London, 2012

Personal life

Northam married Canadian film/television make-up artist Liz Moro in April 2005, though they later divorced.

He has said he wished he took life less seriously.