My favorite brit actors
by angmar_6 | created - 30 Jan 2011 | updated - 23 May 2014 | Public
1. Bill Nighy
Actor | Love Actually
Bill Nighy is an award-winning British character actor. He was born William Francis Nighy on December 12, 1949 in Caterham, Surrey, England, to Catherine Josephine (Whittaker), a psychiatric nurse from Glasgow, and Alfred Martin Nighy, who was English-born and managed a garage in Croydon.
At school,...
"Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free! " "Let's get pissed and watch porn" Billy Mack
2. John Simm
Actor | Human Traffic
John Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and grew up in Nelson, Lancashire. He attended Edge End High School, Nelson, Lancashire, followed by Blackpool Drama College at 16 and the Drama Centre, London, at 19. He lives with his wife, actress Kate Magowan, and their children Ryan ...
Saxon is your man
3. Philip Glenister
Actor | Kingdom of Heaven
Philip Glenister was born on February 10, 1963 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Life on Mars (2006) and Cranford (2007). He has been married to Beth Goddard since 2006. They have two children.
"Don't Move !You're surrounded by armed bastards !!"
4. Michael Fassbender
Actor | Shame
Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor who was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when ...
5. James McAvoy
Actor | Filth
McAvoy was born on 21 April 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland, to James, a bus driver, and Elizabeth (née Johnstone), a nurse. He was raised on a housing estate in Drumchapel, Glasgow by his maternal grandparents (James, a butcher, and Mary), after his parents divorced when James was 11. He went to St ...
6. Christian Bale
Actor | The Dark Knight
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries ...
7. Benedict Cumberbatch
Actor | The Imitation Game
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born and raised in London, England. His parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (born Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch), are both actors. He is a grandson of submarine commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, and a great-grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold ...
8. David Tennant
Actor | Doctor Who
Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish ...
9. Matt Smith
Actor | Doctor Who
Matt Smith is an English actor who shot to fame in the UK aged 26 when he was cast by producer Steven Moffat as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC's iconic science-fiction adventure series Doctor Who (2005).
Matthew Robert Smith was born and raised in Northampton, the son of Lynne (Fidler) and David ...
Not David Tennant, but not that bad as The Doctor after all...
10. David Morrissey
Actor | The Walking Dead
David Morrissey started acting at Everyman's Youth Theatre in Liverpool, where he was born and raised. He made an auspicious debut in One Summer (1983), a series about two Liverpool runaways. Following a degree at RADA, he worked with the theatre company Cheek By Jowl. He has also worked at theatre...
11. Marc Warren
Actor | Wanted
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles. His roles have included Albert Blithe in Band of Brothers, Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice, Dominic Foy in State of Play, Rick in Mad Dogs, the Comte DE Rochefort in The Musketeers and the Gentleman in ...
12. Andrew Garfield
Actor | Hacksaw Ridge
Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother, Lynn, and American father, Richard Garfield. When he was three, he moved to Surrey, U.K., with his parents and older brother. He is of English and Polish Jewish heritage. Andrew was raised in a middle class family, ...
13. Mark Gatiss
Actor | The League of Gentlemen
Mark Gatiss is an accomplished author, actor and playwright. Originally from Sedgefield, County Durham, he graduated from Bretton Hall Drama College with a BA (honors) in Theatre Arts.
He was one-quarter of the award-winning comedy team The League of Gentlemen (1999), and became heavily involved in ...
14. Martin Freeman
Actor | Black Panther
Martin Freeman is an English actor, known for portraying Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, Tim Canterbury in the original UK version of sitcom mockumentary The Office (2001), Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama Sherlock (2010) and Lester Nygaard in the dark ...
15. Arthur Darvill
Actor | Doctor Who
Thomas Arthur Darvill, known professionally as Arthur Darvill, is an English actor and musician. He is perhaps most recognized as Rory Williams, one of the Eleventh Doctor's companions in Doctor Who (2005), and as Rev. Paul Coates in Broadchurch (2013). In 2013-2014 he appeared in the lead role in ...
16. Jamie Bell
Actor | Billy Elliot
Described by top film critic Mark Kermode as an "unbelievably versatile" actor, Jamie Bell was born in 1986 in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, UK, to Eileen (Matfin) and John Bell, a toolmaker. He comes from a family of dancers including his grandmother, mother, aunt, and ...
17. Peter Capaldi
Actor | Doctor Who
Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Nancy (Soutar) and Gerald John Capaldi. His parents owned an ice cream business. He is of Italian (from his paternal grandfather), Scottish, and Irish descent. Capaldi attended drama classes and was accepted into the Glasgow School of Art. After ...
"Baby from Eraserhead"
18. John Barrowman
Actor | Torchwood
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Joliet, Illinois. He returned to the UK, for a 6 month Shakespeare semester with the United States International University of San Diego, but left to star in the musical production of "Anything Goes," with Elaine Paige. He went on to star in "Miss Saigon," "...
"I can't die. Ever"
19. Gareth David-Lloyd
Actor | Torchwood
Gareth is an actor and singer. He fronts the metal progressive band called Blue Gillespie (previously known as "A Breath of Blue Fire").
Their first EP was "Cave Country" (December 2008) EP: "Cave Country Part 2" (August 2009) Album (debut): "Synesthesia" (May 2010) Album "Seven Rages of Man" (May ...
"Lots of things you can do with a stopwatch"
20. Colin Firth
Actor | A Single Man
Colin Andrew Firth was born into an academic family in Grayshott, Hampshire, England. His mother, Shirley Jean (Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at the Open University, and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, lectured on history at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfred's...
21. Rupert Graves
Actor | Sherlock
Britain's Rupert Graves made his professional stage debut in 1983 in The Killing of Mr. Toad and went on to co-star with Harvey Fierstein in the London production of Torch Song Trilogy. By the mid-80s he was a presence in quality films and TV, including Merchant Ivory films Room With A View where ...
22. Steven Moffat
Writer | Doctor Who
Steven Moffat was born on November 18, 1961 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (2010) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). He has been married to Sue Vertue since 1999. They have two children. He was previously married to Maggie.
He's not an actor but his stories are just too good to let him behind.
23. Bradley James
Actor | The Liberator
British-American actor, Bradley James, won his first role on the BBC pilot Dis/Connected. Show creators were so impressed with his work that they would go on to cast him as the young King Arthur in the hit show Merlin (2008) which aired on BBC & NBC. Of the eventual cast, James was the only cast ...
24. Colin Morgan
Actor | Belfast
Colin Morgan is a Northern Irish film, television, theater and radio actor who attended Integrated College Dungannon, winning the 'Denis Rooney Associates Cup' for best overall student in the third year, before gaining a National Diploma in Performing Arts from the Belfast Institute of Further and ...
25. Alan Rickman
Actor | Die Hard
Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...
26. Tom Hiddleston
Actor | The Avengers
Thomas William Hiddleston was born in Westminster, London, to English-born Diana Patricia (Servaes) and Scottish-born James Norman Hiddleston. His mother is a former stage manager, and his father, a scientist, was the managing director of a pharmaceutical company. He started off at the preparatory ...
27. Derek Jacobi
Actor | Gosford Park
Preeminent British classical actor of the first post-Olivier generation, Derek Jacobi was knighted in 1994 for his services to the theatre, and, in fact, is only the second to enjoy the honor of holding TWO knighthoods, Danish and English (Olivier was the other). Modest and unassuming in nature, ...
28. Ewan McGregor
Actor | Moulin Rouge!
Ewan Gordon McGregor was born on March 31, 1971 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, to Carol Diane (Lawson) and James Charles McGregor, both teachers. His uncle is actor Denis Lawson. He was raised in Crieff. At age 16, he left Morrison Academy to join the Perth Repertory Theatre. His parents ...
The hills are alive with the sound of music !
29. Jim Broadbent
Actor | Moulin Rouge!
One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent was born on May 24, 1949, in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of furniture maker Roy Laverick Broadbent and sculptress Doreen "Dee" (Findlay) Broadbent. Jim attended a Quaker boarding school in Reading before successfully applying for a ...
30. Matthew Macfadyen
Actor | Succession
David Matthew Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to Meinir (Owen), a drama teacher and actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil executive. He is of Scottish and Welsh descent. Because of his father's career, he spent at least part of his childhood in Indonesia, before finishing his ...
31. Andy Serkis
Actor | War for the Planet of the Apes
English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), ...
This guy is just awesome. He definitely should have won an oscar already
32. Rowan Atkinson
Actor | Johnny English
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on 6 January, 1955, in Consett, Co. Durham, UK, to Ella May (Bainbridge) and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm, where Rowan grew up with his two older brothers, Rupert and Rodney. He attended Newcastle University and Oxford University where he earned degrees ...
33. Tony Robinson
Producer | Time Team
Tony Robinson was born on August 15, 1946 in London, England, UK. He is a producer and actor, known for Time Team (1994), Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (1989) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). He has been married to Louise Hobbs since June 27, 2011. He was previously married to Mary Shepherd.
Once upon a time, there was a little sausage called Baldrick
34. Stephen Fry
Actor | Gosford Park
Writer, actor, comedian, doer of good works, excellent good friend to the famous and not, Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. Famous for his public declaration of celibacy in the "Tatler" back in the 1980s, Emma Thompson has characterised her friend as "90 ...
35. Hugh Laurie
Actor | House M.D.
Hugh was born in Oxford, England on June 11, 1959, to Patricia (Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, a doctor, both of Scottish descent. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Son of an Olympic gold medalist in the sport, he rowed for the England youth team (1977) and for ...
36. Richard Armitage
Actor | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Richard Crispin Armitage was born and raised in Leicester, England, to Margaret (Hendey), a secretary, and John Armitage, an engineer. He attended Pattison College in Binley Road, Coventry, where he discovered his love for acting. He took part in many theatre productions all over the UK, from ...
37. Rufus Sewell
Actor | Dark City
Rufus Sewell was born on the 29th of October 1967 in Twickenham, England. His mother, Jo, was Welsh, and was an artist and painter. His father, Bill Sewell, was an English-Australian animator who was born in Australia to English parents and died when Rufus was 10. He has one brother, Caspar. He ...
38. Andrew Scott
Actor | All of Us Strangers
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor who started his career at a very young age. He made his first appearance on television in an advertisement for a brand of porridge at the age of 6.
He was born into an Irish family where his father, Jim, worked in a recruitment agency and his mother, Nora, taught art. ...
39. Simon Pegg
Actor | The World's End
English actor, writer, and comedian Simon Pegg was born Simon John Beckingham in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, to Gillian Rosemary (Smith), a civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a jazz musician. His parents divorced when he was seven. He later took his stepfather's surname "Pegg." He was ...
40. Nick Frost
Actor | The World's End
Nick Frost is an English actor, screenwriter and comedian. He is known for his work in the series of British comedic genre films The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013). He also co-starred in Paul (2011), with frequent collaborator ...
41. Sean Connery
Actor | The Rock
The tall, handsome and muscular Scottish actor Sean Connery is best known as the original actor to portray James Bond in the hugely successful movie franchise, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. Some believed that such a career-defining role might leave him unable to escape it, but he ...
42. Ian McKellen
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery ...
"You shall not pass"
43. Gary Oldman
Actor | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...
44. Paddy Considine
Actor | Dead Man's Shoes
Paddy (Patrick) Considine was born on September 5, 1973 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire in the U.K. As a teenager, Considine studied a drama course at Burton College where he met with now friend and director Shane Meadows, who cast Considine in his first role in a feature film as the disturbed ...
45. Damian Lewis
Actor | Band of Brothers
Damian Lewis was born on February 11, 1971, in St. John's Wood, London, England, to Charlotte Mary (Bowater), from an upper-class background, and J. Watcyn Lewis, a city broker whose own parents were Welsh. He was raised on Abbey Road in London until the age of 8 with his siblings Gareth, William, ...
46. Timothy Dalton
Actor | The Living Daylights
At a consistently lean 6' 2", green-eyed Timothy Dalton may very well be one of the last of the dying breed of swashbuckling, classically trained Shakespearean actors who have forged simultaneous successful careers in theater, television and film. He has been comparison-shopped roundly for stepping...
47. Rupert Penry-Jones
Actor | Spooks
Rupert Penry-Jones was born on September 22, 1970 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for MI-5 (2002), Match Point (2005) and The Four Feathers (2002). He has been married to Dervla Kirwan since August 2007. They have two children.
48. Matthew Goode
Actor | Stoker
Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is an English actor. His films include Chasing Liberty (2004), Match Point (2005), Imagine Me and You (2006), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Watchmen (2009), A Single Man (2009), Leap Year (2010), Stoker (2013) and The Imitation Game (2014). Goode also ...
49. David Bowie
Soundtrack | Labyrinth
David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest ...
50. Kevin McKidd
Actor | Trainspotting
Kevin McKidd was born and raised in Elgin, Scotland, the son of Kathleen, a secretary, and Neil McKidd, a plumber. He was a member of the Moray Youth Theatre, before going on to study Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. While at the university, Kevin became involved with Bedlam Theatre, the...
51. James Purefoy
Actor | Rome
James Brian Mark Purefoy was born and brought up in Taunton, Somerset, England, the son of Shirley (Taylor), who ran an employment agency, and Anthony Chetwynd Purefoy. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he took a succession of different jobs, including working on a pig farm and as a ...
52. Ray Stevenson
Actor | The Three Musketeers
An imposing figure (standing at 6'3") with intense, penetrating eyes and possessed of a larger-than-life personality, the actor George Raymond Stevenson began life as one of three sons, born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to a British pilot in the Royal Air Force. Raised near Newcastle in ...
53. Joe Gilgun
Actor | Lockout
Joe Gilgun was born on March 9, 1984 in Chorley, Lancashire, England. He is an actor who first appeared in Coronation Street (1960) when he was only ten years old. Later he became known through Emmerdale Farm (1972) and the film This Is England (2006). He also appeared in its spin-off series This ...
54. Asa Butterfield
Actor | Hugo
Asa Butterfield was born in Islington, London, England, to Jacqueline Farr and Sam Butterfield. He began acting at the age of 8, after a talent spotting casting director saw him at his local after school drama club, The Young Actors Theatre in Islington. Following on from a couple of small roles in...
55. Toby Stephens
Actor | Die Another Day
Toby Stephens began his acting career while a stagehand at the Chichester Festival Theatre, in end-of-season productions mounted by the crew. In his brief professional career, he has already won the Sir John Gielgud Prize for Best Actor and the Ian Charleson Award for his performance in the title ...
"Do you love me ?"
56. Rupert Grint
Actor | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint was born in Harlow, Essex, England, the elder son of Joanne (Parsons) and Nigel Grint, who dealt in memorabilia. The first of 5 children, Rupert has one brother and three sisters.
Rupert grew up in Hertfordshire, the English county directly to the north of London, ...
57. Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Actor | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Thomas Brodie-Sangster was born on May 16, 1990 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), The Maze Runner (2014) and Love Actually (2003).
58. Jeremy Northam
Actor | Gosford Park
Jeremy Philip Northam was born in Cambridge, England to parents John and Rachel, both university professors. John Northam is best known for his translations of Henrik Ibsen. The family moved to Bristol, in 1972, where Jeremy attended Bristol Grammar School. Jeremy graduated from Bedford College, ...
59. Anthony Hopkins
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...
60. Tony Curran
Actor | Calibre
Tony Curran was born on December 13, 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is an actor, known for Calibre (2018), Deadwood: The Movie (2019) and Outlaw King (2018). He has been married to Mai Curran since August 13, 2011.
61. Michael Caine
Actor | The Dark Knight
Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...
62. Ian McShane
Actor | Deadwood
A natural at portraying complex villains, anti-heroes, and charming heavies, Ian McShane is the classically trained, award-winning actor who has grabbed attention and acclaim from audiences and critics around the world with his unforgettable gallery of scoundrels, kings, mobsters and thugs.
And, now...
63. Idris Elba
Actor | Beasts of No Nation
An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped...
64. Andrew Lincoln
Actor | The Walking Dead
Andrew Lincoln is a British actor. Lincoln spent his early childhood in Hull, Yorkshire before his family relocated to Bath, Somerset when he was age 10. He was educated at Beechen Cliff School in Bath, and then the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His father is a civil engineer...
65. James Nesbitt
Actor | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
James Nesbitt was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to May, a civil servant, and James Nesbitt, a primary school headmaster. He was educated at Coleraine Academical Institution (also the school of Brian Campbell & Brian McAlister). He originally planned to be a French teacher. It ...
66. Steven Robertson
Actor | Kingdom of Heaven
Born in Vidlin in the Shetland Islands, Steven Robertson overcame severe dyslexia to be named Student of the Year at Fife College in Kirkcaldy in recognition of his 'journey travelled'. After completing college he came to London to study drama at the Guildhall acting school, becoming the first ...
67. Lee Ingleby
Actor | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Lee Ingleby was born on January 28, 1976 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).
68. Tom Ellis
Actor | Lucifer
Tom Ellis is a Welsh actor from Cardiff, Wales. He is best known for playing Lucifer Morningstar in the American television series Lucifer (2016-2021).
Ellis was born in Cardiff. He studied BA Dramatic Studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and...
69. Harry Lloyd
Actor | The Theory of Everything
Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Will Scarlet in the 2006 BBC drama Robin Hood, Jeremy Baines in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", Viserys Targaryen in the first season of the HBO series Game of Thrones, Peter ...
70. Rhys Ifans
Actor | The Amazing Spider-Man
Rhys Ifans was born and raised in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the son of teacher parents, Beti Wyn (Davies) and Eirwyn Evans. He was educated in two Welsh language schools - Ysgol Pentrecelyn, where his mother taught, and Ysgol Maes Garmon. During his childhood, Ifans showed an interest in...
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