Guide Note

Starring in the 2008 action blockbuster, Wanted, alongside Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, the Scottish actor James McAvoy has come a long way since his working-class childhood in the outskirts of Glasglow.¹ A 2008 Golden Globe nominee for Atonement, McAvoy also played Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, opposite Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, in The Last King of Scotland.

Fast Facts

1. Born: 1979
2. Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
3. Moved to London, England when he was 20 years old²
4. Debut: The Near Room (1995)
5. 2000: Graduated from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama³
6. Wife: Anne-Marie Duff
7. 2004: Met his wife while they were co-stars in the British television program Shameless¹
8. Former roommate of actor Jesse Spencer (House)¹
9. 2006: Won the the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Orange Rising Star Award²
10. 2007: Nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Last King of Scotland²
11. 2008: Golden Globe Nominee for his role in Atonement
12. 2008: Named one of Entertainment Weekly's "30 Under 30"⁴

McAvoy's parents divorced by the time he was seven years old. Abandoned by his father, McAvoy lived with his mother and her parents in the Drumchapel housing projects near Glasgow, Scotland. Raised by strict grandparents in an unsafe neighborhood, McAvoy was not allowed to be outside at night until he was 15 years old.¹

• 2001: Pvt. James Miller in Band of Brothers
• 2003: Simon Balcairn in Bright Young Things
• 2004: Carl Colt in Wimbledon
• 2005: Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• 2006: Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland
• 2007: Tom Lefroy in Becoming Jane
• 2007: Robbie Turner in Atonement
• 2008: Wesley Gibson in Wanted