Jamie Bell Biography

Andrew James Matfin Bell (born 14 March 1986) is an English actor and dancer who rose to prominence for his debut role in Billy Elliot (2000) for which he won the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He is also known for his roles in the films King Kong (2005), Jumper (2008), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), and Snowpiercer (2013), as well as starring as Abraham Woodhull in the TV series, Turn: Washington's Spies (2014). He portrayed the Thing in the 2015 film Fantastic Four.

Early life

Bell was born in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, England, where he grew up with his mother, Eileen (ne Matfin), and elder sister, Kathryn. His father, John Bell, a toolmaker, left before Bell was born. Bell began his involvement with dance after he accompanied his sister to her ballet lessons. He was a pupil at Northfield School and took performing arts classes at the local franchise of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. He was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre.

Career

In 1999, he was chosen from a field of over 2,000 boys for the role of Billy Elliot, an 11-year-old boy who dismays his working-class widowed father and elder brother by taking up ballet. He also appeared in Close and True, an ITV legal drama shown in 2000, which starred Robson Green, James Bolam, and Susan Jameson.

Bell served as Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival. In 2002, he appeared as the disabled servant Smike in an adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby and a young soldier in Deathwatch. In the following years, he portrayed a teenager on the run in Undertow, a gun-toting pacifist in Dear Wendy, a disaffected Southern California teenager in The Chumscrubber, and the young Jimmy in the 2005 film version of King Kong. Also in 2005, he starred opposite Evan Rachel Wood in the Green Day video Wake Me Up When September Ends, directed by Samuel Bayer. In 2007, he played the title character in Hallam Foe - for which he was nominated for the best actor award at the British Independent Film Awards - and appeared as himself in lonelygirl15 spin-off KateModern. He had roles in two 2008 films: the sci-fi film Jumper and the World War II drama Defiance. In the second film he plays Asael Bielski, the third of the Bielski Brothers - leaders of a partisan group that saved some 1,200 lives during the Holocaust.

In 2009, it was announced Bell would play the title role in the motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin, alongside British double act Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The film was released in 2011. He also starred in the 2011 films The Eagle as Esca and Jane Eyre as St. John Rivers. In 2013, he starred alongside James McAvoy in the film Filth and appeared as Edgar in Snowpiercer.

Since 2014, Bell has appeared as Abraham Woodhull in Turn: Washington's Spies; the fourth and final season began airing in April 2017. In 2015, he played the Thing in the Fantastic Four reboot.

Personal life

Bell began dating American actress Evan Rachel Wood after they met while co-starring in the music video for Green Day's 2005 song "Wake Me Up When September Ends". After a year together, the couple broke up in 2006. Five years later, in mid-2011, it was reported that Bell and Wood had rekindled their relationship. The couple married in a small ceremony on 30 October 2012. They have one son, born in July 2013. Bell and Wood announced that they had separated on 28 May 2014.

In late 2015, Bell began dating his Fantastic Four co-star Kate Mara and in January 2017, the couple got engaged. On July 17, 2017, the couple announced that they had gotten married.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director
2000	Billy Elliot	Billy Elliot	Stephen Daldry
2002	Deathwatch	Pvt. Charlie Shakespeare	Michael J. Bassett
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	Smike	Douglas McGrath
2004	Undertow	Chris Munn	David Gordon Green
2005	Dear Wendy	Dick Dandelion	Thomas Vinterberg
2005	The Chumscrubber	Dean Stifle	Arie Posin
2005	King Kong	Jimmy	Peter Jackson
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski	Clint Eastwood
2007	Hallam Foe	Hallam Foe	David Mackenzie
2008	Jumper	Griffin O'Conner	Doug Liman
2008	Defiance	Asael Bielski	Edward Zwick
2011	The Eagle	Esca	Kevin Macdonald
2011	Jane Eyre	St. John Rivers	Cary Fukunaga
2011	Retreat	Pvt. Jack Coleman	Carl Tibbets
2011	The Adventures of Tintin	Tintin	Steven Spielberg
2012	Man on a Ledge	Joey Cassidy	Asger Leth
2013	Snowpiercer	Edgar	Bong Joon-ho
2013	Filth	Ray Lennox	Jon S. Baird
2013	Nymphomaniac	K	Lars von Trier
2015	Fantastic Four	Ben Grimm / The Thing	Josh Trank
2017	Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Peter Turner	Paul McGuigan
2017	6 Days

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Close and True	Mark Sheedy	Episode: "Town and Gown"
2014-present	TURN: Washington's Spies	Abraham Woodhull	Main cast; 36 episodes

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)
2005	"Wake Me Up When September Ends"	Green Day

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2005	Peter Jackson's King Kong	Jimmy (voice)
2008	Jumper: Griffin's Story	Griffin O'Conner (voice)

Accolades

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2000	Billy Elliot	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
		British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer
		Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
		Empire Award for Best Debut
		Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer
		Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film
		London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year
		National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Young Actor
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance
		Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in an International Film
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
		European Film Award for Best Actor
		Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Newcomer
		Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
		Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Performance
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
		Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
2004	Undertow	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
2007	Hallam Foe	BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor
		British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
2008	Jumper	MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2013	Nymphomaniac	Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor
2016	Fantastic Four	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Combo (shared with Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller)