From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jamie Bell (born 14 March 1986) is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the film Billy Elliot (2000), for which he won the 2001 BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

Early life

Jamie Bell was born in Billingham, in the Borough of Stockton on Tees, England, where he grew up with his mother, Eileen, and older sister Cathriene. His father, John Bell, a toolmaker, left before Bell was born.^[1][2] His sister went to ballet lessons when she was younger and Jamie went with her to her lessons and this is how he came to fall in love with the dance.^[3] Bell was a pupil at Northfield School, then the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school. He was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre. In 1999, he was chosen from a field of over 2000 boys for the role of Billy Elliot, an 11-year-old boy who dismays his working-class widowed father and older brother by taking up ballet.^[4]

Career

Bell acted as Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival. Since his film debut in Billy Elliot, he has appeared as the crippled servant Smike in an adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, a young soldier in Deathwatch, a teenager on the run in Undertow, a gun-toting pacifist in Dear Wendy, a disaffected Southern California teenager in The Chumscrubber, and the young Jimmy in the 2005 film version of King Kong. In 2007, he played the title character in Hallam Foe – for which he was nominated for the best actor award at the British Independent Film Awards – and appeared as himself in lonelygirl15 spin-off KateModern.^[5]

He had roles in two 2008 films: the sci-fi film Jumper and the World War II drama Defiance. In the latter he plays Asael Bielski (first name pronounced "Asoyel"), the third of the Bielski Brothers - leaders of a partisan group that saved some 1200 lives during the Holocaust. Despite rumours to the contrary, he did not appear in Thea Sharrock's West End production of Equus.^[6]

In 2009, it was announced Bell would play the title role in the motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,^[7] which is currently pencilled in for US release on 23 December 2011.^[8]

Personal life

In 2005 and 2006, Bell dated actress Evan Rachel Wood, with whom he appeared in the music video for Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends".^[9]

Filmography

Awards

Arranged according to year of award:^[11]

• 2000 — BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer^[12]
• 2000 — National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Outstanding Young Actor^[12] (only the second time this has been awarded; the first recipient was Christian Bale in 1987, when the award was titled Outstanding Juvenile Performance^[13])
• 2000 — British Independent Film Award, Best Newcomer (On-Screen)^[14]
• 2000 — Las Vegas Film Critics Society, Sierra Award for Youth in Film^[15]
• 2001 — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role^[16] (out of 4 Oscar-winning actors)^[13]
• 2001 — Evening Standard British Film Award, Most Promising Newcomer^[12]
• 2001 — Young Artist Award, Best Young Actor in an International Film^[17]
• 2001 — Sony Ericsson Empire Award, Best Debut^[18]
• 2001 — London Film Critics Circle, ALFS Award for British Newcomer of the Year^[19]
• 2001 — Phoenix Film Critics Society, PFCS Award for Best Youth Performance^[20]
• 2005 — Young Artist Award, Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor^[21]

SAG Award nomination for Best Actor for Billy Elliot

References

External links

• Jamie Bell at the Internet Movie Database

From Wikiquote

Wikipedia has an article about:

Jamie Bell

• On why he continued pursuing ballet despite the mockery: "The other boys called me 'poof,' 'ballerina boy,' "Get on your tutu, Jamie." It gave me more determination to prove it wasn't just for girls. It was for boys as well."

• On winning awards, after he won the BAFTA award: "It's just an award, although it is a big one. It is no good getting too big-headed. I've been very busy and I'm very tired. I've been given advice, you know, on speech-making and things like that. It's kind of weird that the other guys didn't win because they're such big guys."

• "It's true that most British movies are emotional and I agree that most American actors look manufactured. It's a shame."

• "Ballet is very hard. It takes a lot of practice to get to a certain standard. You have to know a lot about the steps because when you take examinations, they'll ask you all about it."

• "Billy Elliot got that R-rating because of the swearing. But it wouldn't be what it was without the swearing; kids need to swear."

• "I'm a hard-mouthed north-eastern lad. That's me - the Eminem of Northeast England."

• "You probably won't see me dance in the movies again unless there's a 'Moulin Rouge 2' or 'Chicago Returns'."

• "I hate maths. I can't stand it. Circumferences of circles and stuff - it's horrible."