James Callis Biography

James Callis (born 4 June 1971) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. He joined the cast of the TV Series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010.

Early life

Callis was born and brought up in London, where he attended Harrow School in north-west London. His parents owned a bed-and-breakfast. Callis is the descendant of immigrants from Russia and Poland.

Callis attended the University of York, graduating in 1993 with a BA in English and Related Literature. He was a member of Derwent College, for which he was an enthusiastic rugby player. At university he was also a keen student actor, director and writer. He was a key member of the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan society and even appeared in productions put on by friends at Cambridge University, including a production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.

Career

Callis went on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1996. In the same year, he was awarded the Jack Tinker Award (Theatre Record Critic of the Year) for Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in Old Wicked Songs, a two-hander by Jon Marans, in which he starred alongside Bob Hoskins.

Callis has appeared in various West End productions and television series as well as on radio. He has also been involved in writing and directing. His directorial debut was Beginner's Luck, a co-production of his and writer/director Nick Cohen's Late Night Pictures and Angel Eye Film & TV, starring Julie Delpy, Steven Berkoff and Fenella Fielding. Beginner's Luck was critically panned, but ran for almost three weeks on one print (all the low-budget film could afford) in one cinema in central London, then went on a tour of student cinemas around the U.K. The U.K. distributor was Guerrilla Films. The film is still on the Icon Catalogue.

Callis finished filming his first role in a cinema film, Bridget Jones's Diary, alongside Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant, in the summer of 2000 and between a few further film and TV roles went back on stage in the Soho Theatre in December 2002.

In 2003, Callis played the role of Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries, and continued the role in the regular series that followed. In 2006, Callis won Best Supporting Actor Saturn Award and an AFI award for his performance as Baltar.

Personal life

Callis and his wife, Neha, married in December 1998. They have three children: Joshua, Sasha and Anika.

Filmography

Film and Television
Year	Film	Genre	Other notes
1996	Murder Most Horrid	TV	Mark (in episode: "Confess")
	Soldier Soldier	TV	Major Tim Forrester
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	TV	Prof. Russell Gwinnett
	Weekend Bird	Film	Mike
1998	The Scarlet Pimpernel	TV	Henri
	Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Going Wrong	TV	Guy Curran
1999	Heat of the Sun	TV	Clive Lanyard
	Surety	Short film	Directed & produced with Nick Cohen
	Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll	TV	The Wolf
	Jason & The Argonauts	Film	Aspyrtes
2000	Arabian Nights	TV	Prince Ahmed
2001	Bridget Jones's Diary	Film	Tom
	As If	TV	Sebastian
	Victoria & Albert	TV	Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert's brother)
	Beginner's Luck	Film	Mark (James also wrote, co-directed & co-produced this film)
2002	Relic Hunter	Film	Raoul
2003	Blue Dove	Film	Dominic
	Helen of Troy	TV	King Menelaus (Helen's husband)
	Battlestar Galactica	(2003"09) TV	Doctor Gaius Baltar
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Film	Tom
	Dead Cool	Film	Josh
2006	One Night with the King	Film	Haman
2009	Merlin and the Book of Beasts	Film	Merlin
	Numb3rs	TV	Mason Duryea (season 5, episode 23: "Angels and Devils")
2010	FlashForward	TV	Gabriel McDow (3 episodes)
	Eureka	TV	Dr. Trevor Grant (9 episodes)
	Reuniting the Rubins	Film	Danny Rubins
2011	Merlin	TV	Julius Borden (1 episode)
2012	Midsomer Murders	TV	Toby and Julian DeQuetteville (1 episode)
	Eureka	TV	Dr. Trevor Grant (season 5, episode 13: "Just Another Day...")
	Portlandia	TV	Himself (1 episode: "One Moore Episode")
	DCI Banks	TV	Owen Pierce (2 episodes)
2013	Austenland	Film
	Arrow	TV	The Dodger (1 episode: "Dodger")
	CSI	TV	John Mechiston (1 Episode)
Radio
Year	Title	Genre	Notes
1997	Daisy Miller		Winterbourne
1999	HMS Ulysses	Saturday Playhouse (Radio 4)	Aired on 14 June 1997