James McAvoy
James McAvoy
James McAvoy is a Scottish actor. He made his acting début as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until 2003, when his feature film career began and he continued to work in both areas from then on. His notable television work includes the drama show State of Play, the adult comedy-drama Shameless, and the science fiction show Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. Besides screen acting, McAvoy has performed in several West End...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth21 April 1979
CityGlasgow, Scotland
I considered becoming a priest very seriously. I wanted to travel the world. By the time I turned 16, I realized I was only in it for selfish reasons. And, more importantly, I didn't want to sacrifice the ladies!
I did 'Narnia' because it was a good opportunity and all that, but really? I wanted to play Mr. Tumnus because he's my favourite children's character. That was awesome.
As an actor sometimes you can be a bit emotional and forceful, and that's not always the way to be.
As I get older, I want to do more films for kids because they're the best audience around. Just putting a smile on a kid's face is the best thing.
I am a nerd, but I don't dive head-first into any fiefdom of nerdiness, except for maybe 'Star Trek.'
I really liked 'Starter For Ten' because I grew up watching 1980s teen films like 'St. Elmo's Fire' and 'The Breakfast Club' and I've always wanted to play the underdog lead hero in a 1980s-inspired film.
I've done enough for a while and people get fed up of seeing you, but apart from that, although I'm young, I need a bit of rest. You could say I have become a house husband. It's not a new man thing, it's just largely a boring man who doesn't mind staying in the house thing.
I was brought up by my grandparents. So people go, 'Oh, what was that like? That must have been hard.' And you go: 'No, it wasn't.' It was just completely actually normal because the new norm seems to be whatever you make of it, doesn't it?
I wanted to be a doctor at one point and I also wanted to be a pilot. I think if you grow up in a dodgy area, reality often beats down those ambitions as you get older. But with me that never really happened.
I try to keep my life low key, and I don't like going to parties unless they're thrown by a friend of mine, or they're to do with a project I'm in, or it's because I've been nominated for an award.
I don't want to be all worthy about it, but I don't do red carpets, I don't do events and I don't accept freebies that much.
Film sets are a strange place, but an exciting place. I do love my work; I really enjoy going to work. But if you just spend all your time on film sets or even on stage, you can become a Michael Jackson figure, living in your own little universe.
I've seen beautiful actresses get spat at or just someone trying to get a rise out of them so they can get an extra hundred bucks for a photo. It's really rough.
I kind of embarked on a fruitless search to find information about my character, Frederick Aiken. And it was fruitless, unfortunately, because there's so little about him.