The actor who made a breakthrough in his career with the movie 'Atonement': Who is James McAvoy?

His full name is James Andrew McAvoy, was born on April 21, 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland. Elizabeth Johnstone, whose mother was a psychiatric nurse, and James McAvoy Sr., whose father made the transition from bus driver to builder. McAvoy was raised a Roman Catholic. His parents divorced when he was seven years old. McAvoy has a younger sister named 'Joy' and a younger half brother named 'Donald'. He attended St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Glasgow's Jordanhill area.

McAvoy applied to join the Royal Navy. He had already been accepted when he was offered a place to study acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. McAvoy decided to move to London after graduating in 2000.

He started acting in the movie "The Near Room" (1995) upon the offer of actor David Hayman, who came to the high school he was studying at the age of 16. Thus began his acting career. He continued his acting career while being a member of the PACE Youth Theatre. In the early 2000s, he appeared as a guest actor in television programs and started working in films.

In 2001, his performance as a gay con man in McAvoy's play "Out in the Open" impressed director Joe Wright so much that Wright began offering roles for McAvoy in his films. McAvoy, who turned down all roles, got the opportunity to work together six years later.

He starred in "Privates on Parade" in Donmar Warehouse, this time catching the attention of Sam Mendes. In 2001, the actor appeared in the eleven-hour World War II drama mini-series "Band of Brothers" by executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. In 2002, he caught the attention of critics with the four-part mini-series television series "White Teeth" based on Zadie Smith's novel of the same name.

In 2003, McAvoy starred in the Sci Fi Channel science fiction mini-series "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune" based on Frank Herbert's novels. It was one of the highest rated programs on the channel. Later in the year, more job offers started coming in when he accepted the role of a reporter in "State of Play" (2003).

In 2002, McAvoy shot scenes for West Side Story's "Bollywood Queen", where Romeo and Juliet meet bindies. The film was about hapless lovers caught in the middle of conflicting cultures. The film was screened as a special presentation at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was released in UK cinemas on 17 October. In 2004, he appeared in the romantic comedy "Wimbledon" starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany. His next project was to voice a character named Hal in the 2004 English version of the legendary fantasy movie "Strings."

Another 2004 film was "Inside I'm Dancing," an Irish comedy-drama film directed by Damien O'Donnell and co-starring with Steven Robertson. He appeared as one of the leading roles in the movie. McAvoy finished 2004 by appearing in the first two series of Shameless as "Steve McBride", the moral hero of the BAFTA-winning Channel 4 show.

McAvoy's public profile rose in 2005 with the release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in Walt Disney Pictures' Andrew Adamson fantasy adventure film based on the children's novel by C. S. Lewis. McAvoy co-starred with Georgie Henley and Liam Neeson. Released in the United Kingdom on December 9, the film opened at number one at the box office and grossed out in 498 theaters over the weekend.

In 2006, he agreed to play the lead role of Brian Jackson, a nerdy college student who took part in a University Challenge quiz team in the mid-1980s in the comedy drama movie "Starter for 10." Despite positive reviews, the film failed at the box office and did not even cover the cost of production.

Forest Whitaker recommended McAvoy to director Kevin Macdonald for the role of Nicholas Garrigan in the historical drama film "The Last King of Scotland" (2006). McAvoy played a Scottish doctor who was the personal physician of dictator Idi Amin while in Uganda. The movie was a low budget production. Thanks to the film, McAvoy was named Best Actor of the year at Scotland's own BAFTA Awards. In addition, he was nominated for the BAFTA Best Supporting Actor category. The film received three awards, including Best British Film of the Year. Added to this were many compliments for McAvoy's performance.

Additionally, he appeared in "Becoming Jane," a 2007 biographical romantic drama film inspired by the author's early life. Later in his career there was the fantastic romantic comedy "Penelope" (2006), which premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.

McAvoy's breakthrough role in his career came in Joe Wright's "Atonement" (2007), a romantic war movie based on Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. McAvoy appeared in the film alongside Keira Knightley and Saoirse Ronan. The screenings of the film became one of the most admired films at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was nominated for fourteen BAFTAs and seven Academy Awards. Both McAvoy and Knightley were nominated for their performances in the film at the 65th Golden Globe Awards. Additionally, the movie was praised by the critics.

His next role was in the action movie "Wanted" (2008), in which he plays Wesley Gibson, a young American sloth who learns that he is the heir to an assassin legacy. McAvoy co-starred with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. While shooting action scenes for the movie, he suffered multiple injuries, including a sprained ankle and an injured knee. He felt that he had never been in this type of production before and that Wanted had a chance to be more versatile.

The film was released worldwide in June 2008. It received positive reviews from the press, which generally likes to be action-packed and fast-paced. It also did well at the box office, with a huge revenue against its production budget. Next up was "The Last Station" (2009), a biography detailing the last months of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy and also starring McAvoy's then-wife Anne-Marie Duff. In addition, Satellite Awards nominated McAvoy for Best Supporting Actor.

McAvoy was cast as an idealistic war hero in Robert Redford's historical American drama "The Conspirator," and the film premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The film garnered mixed reviews, with critics praising the actress for his work. In mid-2010, McAvoy appeared in "X-Men: First Class" as the telepathic superhero Professor X, the leader and founder of the X-Men. He joins a large cast of Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult.

McAvoy didn't read comics as a kid, but said he was a fan of the X-Men cartoon series. Released in the United Kingdom on June 1, the film broke box office records with ticket sales on its opening weekend. The film received many positive reviews and McAvoy's performance was widely praised.

In 2011, he made his debut as Max Lewinsky in the British action thriller "Welcome to the Punch". He also starred in Danny Boyle's psychological thriller "Trance" (2013). In 2012, McAvoy took on the role of Bruce Robertson in the movie "Filth," based on Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name. The cast of the film included Shauna Macdonald, Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan and Imogen Poots. He won the Best Actor award at the British Independent Film Awards in December 2013 for his role.

It was also announced that he will be co-starring in "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," a feature film project with Jessica Chastain. In 2015, McAvoy played Jack Gurney in "The Ruling Class," a remake of the Peter Barnes play directed by Jamie Lloyd. And he won Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theater Awards in London.

McAvoy reprized his role as Professor X in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014). The film grossed $747.9 million worldwide, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2014. A subsequent sequel to the X-men franchise, "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016), was the second highest-grossing film in the series.

In 2016, M. Night Shyamalan starred in the thriller "Split" as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a multiple identity disorder patient with dangerous abilities. His performance was praised by critics, and some claimed the role was the best of his career. McAvoy reprized his role as Crumb in Glass in 2019 and then returned as Professor X in "Dark Phoenix" (2019).

McAvoy played the adult Bill Denbrough in the horror movie "It Chapter Two," the sequel to It (2017), which was released on September 6, 2019 and hit the box office hit. On March 4, 2020, it was announced that Audible would adapt Neil Gaiman's acclaimed comic series "The Sandman" into a multi-episode audio drama, with McAvoy voicing the lead character Dream.

McAvoy starred in the Jaime Lloyd Company production "Cyrano de Bergerac," which opened at the West End's Harold Pinter Theater on February 3, 2022. With this, he won the What's On Stage award for Best Actor in a Male Descriptive Role. He continued his performance at the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in limited numbers. It opened the show in America on April 5, 2022 and continued until May 22, 2022.

Personal life

While practicing on Shameless, McAvoy began a relationship with Anne-Marie Duff, who played the love interest of his character in the series. The couple married on November 11, 2006, and they have a son, born in 2010. The couple announced their divorce decision on May 13, 2016.

McAvoy confirmed in an interview with The Guardian in February 2022 that he was secretly married to his partner, Lisa Liberati. Liberati was working as a personal assistant to director M. Night Shyamalan, and the couple met on the set of the 2016 horror-thriller Split while filming. The couple has a son together.

McAvoy enjoys fantasy themes, which he says began by reading The Lord of the Rings at age 11. McAvoy is a Celtic FC fan and said his dream acting role would be Celtic player Jimmy Johnstone. A video game addict, McAvoy realized after a while that it was starting to affect his life. And he said he burned his Oblivion disc with a kitchen stove to get rid of his gaming addiction.