- Born
- Birth nameJames Geoffrey Ian Norton
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- James Norton was born in 1985 to two teachers and has a younger sister who is a doctor. Growing up in North Yorkshire he espoused acting at a very early age - playing Joseph in his primary school nativity play aged five - and, after leaving Ampleforth College he did work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Rather than go straight to acting school he read theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and then travelled to Nepal, where he became interested in Buddhism. On return he enrolled at RADA in London, graduating in 2010 and, just before graduating bagging a (very) small part as Carey Mulligan's boyfriend in the final scene of 'An Education'. In 2011 he appeared on the London stage in revivals of 'Journey's End' and 'The Lion in Winter' with Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay. At the tail end of 2013 he was in the faux-Austen mystery 'Death Comes To Pemberley' on television but 2014 has been the year when he became known to a wider audience via the period films 'Mr Turner' and 'Belle' as the heroine's first love interest and most particularly violent serial 'Happy Valley' as a murderous kidnapper and rapist and, by contrast in the post-war set whodunit series 'Grantchester' as a tipsy young vicar with a penchant for solving cases.- IMDb Mini Biography By: don @ minifie-1
- ParentsLavinia J NortonHugh B Norton
- RelativesJessica Norton(Sibling)
- Has often brought his retired father to appear as an extra on shoots.
- His father was born in Tanzania. He was a lecturer at Hull School of Art and Design.
- Educated at Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic (Benedictine) boarding independent school in the village of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire. He excelled in theatre and tennis.
- Attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London for three years, but left six months before graduation for an acting role in 2010.
- The odds-on favorite to replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond by international sportsbooks (including William Hill at just 2-to 1-).
- If it's a sunny day, I get this weird guilt if I'm not making the most of it, so I'll walk or go for a swim or get on my bike, or I'll go to the Heath, just have a reason to get out.
- Obviously I have a relationship with religion, because I went to a Catholic school and studied theology. I can't call myself religious, but I'm definitely fascinated by it.
- For any actor, it's a great privilege to play a character that is very distant from yourself.
- I think the mistake lots of people make when it comes to a psychopath is that they completely write off their actions as cruel, callous and completely calculated, but actually, the truth is that they have interests and reasons behind their actions.
- When I got into drama school, that's when I knew that I could safely say that I wanted to be a professional actor.
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