James McAvoy

Biography

James McAvoy (born April 21, 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller State of Play, science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune and the channel 4s BAFTA award-winning series Shameless (British TV series) He has performed in several West End productions and has received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, and has also done voice work for animated films including Gnomeo & Juliet, its sequel Sherlock Gnomes, and Arthur Christmas. In 2003, McAvoy appeared in a lead role in Bollywood Queen, then in another lead role as Rory in Inside I'm Dancing in 2004. This was followed by a supporting role, as the faun Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). His performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama The Last King of Scotland (2006) garnered him several award nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The critically acclaimed romantic drama war film Atonement (2007) earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination and his second BAFTA nomination. He later appeared as a newly trained assassin in the action thriller Wanted (2008). In 2011, McAvoy portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). McAvoy starred in the crime comedy-drama film Filth (2013), for which he won Best Actor in the British Independent Film Awards. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass (2019). Since 2019, he has portrayed Lord Asriel Belacqua in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

Late Night with Seth Meyers

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

The Daily Show

The Graham Norton Show

Saturday Night Live

Conan

All Movies (68)

• California Schemin'2026 · as Anthony
• Pose2026 · as Thomas
• Lions Uncut: Australia 20252025 · as Narrator
• The Space Between Attack and Decay2025 · as Narrator
• Speak No Evil2024 · as Paddy
• The Book of Clarence2024 · as Pontius Pilate
• Svensken bakom Hollywoodkroppen2023 · as Himself
• The Bubble2022 · as James McAvoy
• The Sands Between2021 · as Man
• My Son2021 · as Edmond Murray
• Together2021 · as He
• The Gruffalo and Me: The Remarkable Julia Donaldson2020 · as reader
• The Magical World of Julia Donaldson2020 · as Self - Readings
• One World: Together at Home2020 · as Self
• National Theatre Live: Cyrano de Bergerac2020 · as Cyrano de Bergerac
• The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends2019 · as Self
• It Chapter Two2019 · as Bill Denbrough
• Dark Phoenix2019 · as Charles Xavier / Professor X
• Glass2019 · as Patricia / Dennis / Hedwig / The Beast / Barry / Heinrich / Jade / Ian / Mary Reynolds / Norma / Jalin / Kat / B.T. / Kevin Wendell Crumb / Mr. Pritchard / Felida / Luke / Goddard / Samuel / Polly
• Once Upon a Deadpool2018 · as Charles Xavier / Professor X (uncredited)
• Deadpool 22018 · as Charles Xavier (uncredited)
• Sherlock Gnomes2018 · as Gnomeo (voice)
• Submergence2018 · as James More
• Atomic Blonde2017 · as David Percival
• The Making of 'Split'2017 · as Self
• Split2017 · as Dennis / Patricia / Hedwig / The Beast / Kevin Wendell Crumb / Barry / Orwell / Jade
• X-Men: Apocalypse2016 · as Professor Charles Xavier
• Victor Frankenstein2015 · as Victor Frankenstein
• Mutant vs. Machine - The Making of 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'2015 · as Self
• X-Men: Unguarded2015 · as Self
• X-Men: Days of Future Past - Kitchen Sequence2014 · as Self
• Double Take: Xavier & Magneto2014 · as Self
• X-Men: Reunited2014 · as Self
• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her2014 · as Conor
• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him2014 · as Conor
• X-Men: Days of Future Past2014 · as Charles Xavier
• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them2014 · as Conor Ludlow
• Muppets Most Wanted2014 · as UPS Guy
• Filth2013 · as Bruce
• Trance2013 · as Simon
• Welcome to the Punch2013 · as Max Lewinsky
• X-Men: First Class 35mm Special2012 · as Self
• Arthur Christmas2011 · as Arthur (voice)
• Children of the Atom - Filming X-Men: First Class2011 · as Self
• X-Men: First Class2011 · as Charles Xavier
• The Conspirator2011 · as Frederick Aiken
• Gnomeo & Juliet2011 · as Gnomeo (voice)
• The Last Station2009 · as Valentin Bulgakov
• Wanted2008 · as Wesley Gibson
• Penelope2007 · as Johnny/Max
• Becoming Jane2007 · as Tom Lefroy
• Atonement2007 · as Robbie Turner
• The Last King of Scotland2006 · as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan
• Starter for 102006 · as Brian Jackson
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe2005 · as Mr. Tumnus
• ShakespeaRe-Told: Macbeth2005 · as Joe Macbeth
• Strings2004 · as Hal
• Inside I'm Dancing2004 · as Rory O'Shea
• Wimbledon2004 · as Carl Colt
• Bright Young Things2003 · as Simon Balcairn
• Bollywood Queen2002 · as Jay
• White Teeth2002 · as Josh Malfen
• The Pool2001 · as Mike
• Lorna Doone2001 · as Sergeant Bloxham
• Regeneration1997 · as Anthony Balfour
• The Near Room1997 · as Kevin
• Control— · as Dr. Conway
• Faith— · as Michael

All TV Shows (31)

• The Claudia Winkleman Show2026 · as Self
• Hot Ones Versus2024 · as Self
• The Sandman2022 · as Golden Haired Man (voice)
• The Bridge: Race to a Fortune2020 · as Narrator
• His Dark Materials2019 · as Lord Asriel
• Watership Down2018 · as Hazel (voice)
• The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer2018 · as Self - Guest
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert2015 · as Self
• Late Night with Seth Meyers2014 · as Self - Guest
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon2014 · as Self - Guest
• Conan2010 · as Self - Guest
• Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen2009 · as Self - Guest
• The Graham Norton Show2007 · as Self - Guest
• ShakespeaRe-Told2005
• Shameless2004 · as Steve McBride
• State of Play2003 · as Dan Foster
• Early Doors2003 · as Liam
• Frank Herbert's Children of Dune2003 · as Leto Atreides II
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!2003 · as Self - Guest
• Foyle's War2002 · as Ray Pritchard
• Top Gear2002 · as Self
• White Teeth2002 · as Josh Malfen
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries2002 · as Gowan Ross
• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross2001 · as Self - Guest
• Band of Brothers2001 · as James W. Miller
• Murder in Mind2001 · as Martin Vosper
• Lorna Doone2000 · as Sergeant Bloxham
• The Daily Show1996 · as Self
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno1992
• Saturday Night Live1975 · as Self - Host
• The Oscars1953 · as Self