Damian Lewis Biography

Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor and producer. His roles include Soames Forsyte in the ITV remake of The Forsyte Saga, Detective Charlie Crews in the NBC drama Life and Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. He stars as Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland, a performance which has earned him an Emmy and Golden Globe.

Personal life

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Lewis was born in St John's Wood, to Charlotte Mary (née Bowater) and J. Watcyn Lewis, a city broker. His paternal grandparents were Welsh.

His maternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London Sir Ian Bowater and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Lord Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the royal family) and philanthropist Alfred Yarrow.

Lewis made several visits to the United States to visit relatives during his summers as a child. He first decided to become an actor at age 16. He was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in the village of Forest Row in East Sussex and at Eton College and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993, after which he served as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his time with the RSC, he played Borgheim in Adrian Noble's production of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, as well as Posthumus in William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. He has also starred in another of Ibsen's plays, Pillars of the Community.

On 4 July 2007, Lewis married actress Helen McCrory; the couple has two children. Their home base is Tufnell Park, London.

Career

Lewis once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarms, a job he detested. He appeared in Robinson Crusoe (1997) as Patrick Conner. He appeared in Jonathan Kent's production of Hamlet, playing Laertes. This production was seen by Steven Spielberg, who later cast Lewis as Richard Winters in Band of Brothers, his first role of several that required a credible American accent.

Subsequently, Lewis has played Soames Forsyte in the ITV series The Forsyte Saga which earned him rave reviews and further exposed him to a US audience. He returned to the US to star in Dreamcatcher, a Stephen King film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent. On the heels of this role, he starred in Keane as a Manhattanite with a fragile mental state who is searching for his missing daughter. Despite the film's poor box-office performance, the role won Lewis rave reviews.

He played Jeffrey Archer in the satirical TV special Jeffrey Archer: The Truth. Since 2004, he has appeared in a number of films, as well as the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, as part of the ShakespeaRe-Told season. Lewis played the role of Yassen Gregorovich in the film Stormbreaker. In 2006 he appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC drama Friends and Crocodiles. He has appeared on BBC's Have I Got News For You as guest host several times; on 10 November 2006, 1 May 2009, 18 November 2010, 27 April and 9 November 2012.

In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the US television series Life on NBC. The show premiered in the US on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the 2007"2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season's shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series. Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night, and eventually cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for the less expensive nightly programme, The Jay Leno Show.

Lewis appeared, the following year, in the lead role in The Baker, a film directed by his brother, Gareth. Damian took a supporting role of Rizza in The Escapist, which he also helped produce. He led the cast in Martin Crimp's version of Molière's comedy, The Misanthrope, which opened in December 2009 at the Comedy Theatre, London. Other cast members included Tara FitzGerald, Keira Knightley and Dominic Rowan.

Since 2010 Lewis has played British Tory Prime Minister Simon Laity in two seasons of Number 10 on BBC Radio 4.

, Lewis has a starring role as Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime psychological thriller series Homeland. In 2013, he narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an "an interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri".

Charity work

In March 2010, he became a trade justice ambassador for Christian Aid, a UK charity. In 2006, he was a player for England in Soccer Aid in late May, and golfed for Europe in the All*Star Cup, in late August, both shown on ITV. He is involved with a number of charities, including being one of three patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard. He again participated in Soccer Aid 2010, which supported the charity UNICEF. During the first half he hit the crossbar after lobbing former Arsenal and German national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann with a shot from 25 yards. He scored in the penalty shoot-out. Lewis himself is a devoted Liverpool F.C. fan, attending as many games as his schedule allows. He played the role of "Gareth", the father of an 11-year old Liverpool fan ("Will"), in Will, a 2001 film.

Filmography

Film

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Robinson Crusoe	Patrick
2003	Dreamcatcher	Gary "Jonesy" Jones
2004	Keane	William Keane	Nominated - Gotham ward for Breakthrough Performance
2004	Nyfes	Norman Harris
2005	Chromophobia	Marcus Aylesbury
2005	An Unfinished Life	Gary Winston
2006	The Situation	Dan Murphy
2006	Stormbreaker	Yassen Gregorovich
2008	The Baker	Milo
2008	The Escapist	Rizza
2011	Your Highness	Boremont
2011	Will	Gareth
2012	The Sweeney	Frank Haskins
2013	Romeo and Juliet	Lord Capulet

Producer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Baker	Producer

Television

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Micky Love	Clive
1995	"Hickory Dickory Dock" in Agatha Christie : Poirot	Leonard Bateson
1996	"Deep Waters" in A Touch of Frost	Adam Weston
1999	Warriors	Lt. Neil Loughrey
2000	Life Force	Kurt Glemser
2000	Hearts and Bones	Mark Rose
2001	Band of Brothers	Maj. Richard D. Winters	Biarritz International Festival Award for Best Actor - Series and Serials Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor " Miniseries or Television Film
2002	The Forsyte Saga	Soames Forsyte
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Jeffrey Archer
2003	The Forsyte Saga: To Let	Soames Forsyte
2005	Colditz	Cpl/Lt. Nicholas McGrade
2005	Friends and Crocodiles	Paul
2005	Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick
2006"present	Have I Got News for You	Himself (Guest host)	5 episodes
2007"2009	Life	Charlie Crews	Main Role
2011	Stolen	D.I. Anthony Carter
2011"present	Homeland	Nicholas Brody	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2012) Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2012) Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2012) Nominated"?Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Actor (2012, 2013) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2011) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2013) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (2012) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2012)

Awards and nominations

See List of awards and nominations received by Damian Lewis for more information