James Purefoy Biography

James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor best known for portraying Mark Antony in the HBO series Rome and for his current role as Dr. Joe Carroll, a professor-turned-serial-killer in the TV series The Following.

Early life and work

Purefoy was born in Taunton, Somerset the eldest son of Anthony Chetwynd Purefoy and Shirley Taylor. He was a boarder at Sherborne School, Sherborne, Dorset which he left with only one O-level. Later he went to night school and got 11 more, then took his A-levels. He worked at Yeovil District Hospital as a porter before studying acting at the British drama school the Central School of Speech and Drama, while trying to sell copies of the Socialist Worker in his spare time.

Career

Purefoy's early professional roles included Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in Leatherhead, Walter in Mary Morgan at the Riverside Studios and Alan Strang in Equus on tour.

RSC and other stage work

Purefoy subsequently joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1988 and appeared in The Constant Couple, Macbeth, The Tempest, The Man Who Came to Dinner (Gene Saks, Barbican) and King Lear as Edgar.

Elsewhere, he has also appeared as Laertes in Hamlet at the Bristol Old Vic (1991) Brian in William Gaminara's Back Up the Hearse and Let them Sniff the Flowers at the Hampstead Theatre (1992), Roland Maule in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the Globe Theatre (1993), Biff in Death of a Salesman, alongside Ken Stott and Jude Law, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds (1994), Tony in The Servant at the Birmingham Rep (1995). He returned to the RSC for Simon Callow's stage adaptation of the film classic, Les enfants du paradis at the Barbican. He also played Hugh de Morville in Paul Corcoran's Four Nights in Knaresborough at the Tricycle Theatre, (1999) and Loveless in Trevor Nunn's production of The Relapse at the National Theatre in 2001.

Between March and June 2011 he starred as Peter in Trevor Nunn's production of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, alongside Sheridan Smith and Sienna Miller, as part of the playwright Terence Rattigan's centenary year celebrations.

Film and television

He played James McCarthy, a young man accused of murdering his father, in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," in Granada's The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. One of his notable roles was as Nicholas Jenkins in the eight-part miniseries A Dance to the Music of Time for Channel 4 in 1997. He played Edward, the Black Prince in the film A Knight's Tale, Rawdon Crawley in Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon and Tom Bertram in the 1999 production of Mansfield Park.

He has played major roles in several television costume dramas, including Sharpe's Sword, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Prince and the Pauper, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Blackbeard: Terror at Sea, Beau Brummell: This Charming Man, The Tide of Life, Camelot and Rome.

Rome

He played Mark Antony in the HBO/BBC original television series, Rome. At the time there were rumours that at least one nude body in the show had been digitally enhanced. When his Wikipedia entry, which at that time referred to the rumours, was brought up in an interview with Alastair McKay, published in the January 2007 issue of Out magazine, Purefoy said, "I won't say whose it was, but there was a penis in the series that may have been slightly enhanced. But it wasn't mine. Mine's all mine."

The Philanthropist

He starred as Teddy Rist in the summer television series, The Philanthropist, which aired on NBC beginning on June 2009. His character is a billionaire playboy who decides to use his wealth and power to help others in need.

Lost roles

Purefoy was screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995 for GoldenEye, but ultimately lost the role to Pierce Brosnan. Throughout 2004 and 2005 Purefoy's name was rumoured as a possible candidate to replace Brosnan as Bond in future films.

Originally Purefoy was cast as V in V for Vendetta, but left six weeks into filming. Parts of the film contain (dubbed) scenes of Purefoy. Speculation suggested that his departure was due to an opportunity to play James Bond in the 2006 film Casino Royale. However, these rumours were proven false when Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond. In the commentary track of the A Knight's Tale special edition DVD, director Brian Helgeland stated his opinion that Purefoy would be the perfect choice to play the "next" James Bond, well before Purefoy was being considered for the Casino Royale role.

Producer William J. MacDonald announced that James Purefoy would play Simon Templar in a new TV series of The Saint. The new series was scheduled to start shooting in Berlin and Australia in April 2008. However, production ultimately did not occur and in August Purefoy was reported as negotiating with NBC to star in another series, The Philanthropist.

Personal life

Purefoy had an eleven-year relationship with actress Fay Ripley, after the two met at Brooklands Technical College in Weybridge, Surrey. Afterwards, Purefoy was married to actress Holly Aird from 1996 to 2002. They had a son together, Joseph, who was born in 1997. He has been in a relationship with the art historian and television producer Jessica Adams since 2004. Their daughter Rose was born in October 2012. He is a supporter of Yeovil Town.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Feast of July	Jedd Wainwright
1997	Jilting Joe	Joe
1998	Bedrooms and Hallways	Brendan
1999	Mansfield Park	Tom Bertram
	Women Talking Dirty	Daniel
2000	Lighthouse	Richard Spader
	Maybe Baby	Carl Phipps
	The Wedding Tackle	Hal
2001	Tomorrow	Andrew Spender
	A Knight's Tale	Edward, the Black Prince of Wales/Sir Thomas Colville
2002	Resident Evil	Spence Parks
2003	Photo Finish	James	Jury Award for Best Actor
	Lena: The Bride of Ice	Dr. Harper
2004	George and the Dragon	George
	Blessed	Craig Howard
	Vanity Fair	Colonel Rawdon Crawley
2006	Goose on the Loose	Kenneth Donnelly
2009	Solomon Kane	Solomon Kane
2011	Ironclad	Marshall
2012	John Carter	Kantos Kan
2013	Wicked Blood	Wild Bill

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1990	Coasting	Mike Baker	Lead role
1991	The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes	James McCarthy	Episode: "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
	Boon	Alan Bridges	Episode: "Houseguests"
1992	Bye Bye Baby		TV movie
	The Cloaning of Joanna May	Oliver	TV movie
	Angels	Victor
1993	Calling the Shots	Brian Summers	TV movie
	Rides	Julian	Four episodes
	Crime Story	Darius Guppy	Episode: "The Prince"
1995	Tears Before Bedtime	Jimmy Turner
	Sharpe's Sword	Captain Jack Spears	TV movie
1996	The Tide of Life	Nick Stuart	TV miniseries
	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall	Mr. Lawrence	TV miniseries
	The Prince and the Pauper	Miles Hendon
1997	Have Your Cake and Eat It	Ben	TV miniseries
	Bright Hair	David Miles	TV movie
	A Dance to the Music of Time	Nicholas Jenkins	TV miniseries
2000	Don Quixote	Sansón Carrasco	TV movie
	Metropolis	Nathan	TV miniseries
2003	The Mayor of Casterbridge	Donald Farfrae	TV movie
2005	Blackbeard: Terror at Sea	Edward Teach/Blackbeard	TV movie
2005–2007	Rome	Mark Antony	Lead role
2006	Beau Brummell: This Charming Man	Beau Brummell	TV movie
2007	Manchild	Joe	TV movie
	Frankenstein	Dr. Henry Clerval	TV movie
2008–2010	The Summit	Thom Lightstone	TV miniseries
2009	Diamonds	Lucas Denmont	TV movie
	The Philanthropist	Teddy Rist	Lead role
2011	Camelot	King Lot	Episode: "Homecoming" "The Sword and the Crown" "Lady of the Lake"
	Injustice	William Travers	TV miniseries
	Rev.	Richard	Episode: "#2.6"
	Revenge	Dominik Wright	Episode: "Doubt" "Justice"
2012	The Hollow Crown	Thomas Mowbray	Episode: "Richard II"
	Episodes	Rob	Four episodes
2013–present	The Following	Joe Carroll	Lead role