Jamie Bell Biography
Summary
"Jamie Bell" (born 14 March 1986) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the film "Billy Elliot" for which he won the 2000 BAFTA Award for Best Actor.
Biography
Early life
Born in Billingham, England, where Bell grew up with his mother and older sister. His father left after his birth. Bell was a pupil at Northfield School, then the Stagecoach Theatre School. He was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre, performing in their 1998 production of "Bugsy Malone" at the Queens Theatre alongside other future stars Hannah Spearritt and Sheridan Smith.
He took dance lessons from the age of six when he saw a girl dance out of rhythm and told his mother he could do better. This experience would later help him in his award-winning role of "Billy Elliot".
Career
Bell acted as Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival. Since his film debut in "Billy Elliot", he has appeared in a number of diverse roles, including the crippled servant Smike in an adaptation of "Nicholas Nickleby", a young soldier in "Deathwatch", a teenager on the run in "Undertow", a gun-toting pacificist in "Dear Wendy", and a disaffected Southern California teenager in "The Chumscrubber". His most recent roles are a young seaman in Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong" and a marine in Clint Eastwood's war drama "Flags of Our Fathers".
He has roles in two upcoming films: "Hallam Foe" and the sci-fi movie"Jumper". Despite rumours to the contrary, he will not be appearing in Thea Sharrock's West End production of "Equus"; withdrawing from negotiations when he was not offered the contract for the play's Broadway run.
He recently cameod as himself in Lonelygirl15 spin-off "KateModern". He is currently working on the film "Defiance".
Personal life
Bell briefly dated actress Evan Rachel Wood, with whom he appeared in the Green Day music video 'Wake Me Up When September Ends', from 2005 through to late 2006.
He currently resides in New York, and also owns a home in Chelsea, London.
Awards
2000 — BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer
2000 — National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Outstanding Young Actor (only the second time this has been awarded. The first recipient was Christian Bale in 1987, when the award was titled Outstanding Juvenile Performance).
2001 — BAFTAs, Best Male Performance (over 4 oscar-winning actors.)
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Jamie Bell.
