Biography: Jamie Bell

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

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/1154689.stm
2. ^ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-103844488.html
3. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article4030105.ece
4. ^ Billy Elliot, DVD, production notes
5. ^ I Know Hallam Foe! - KateModern
6. ^ The Stage
7. ^ ^{a b} "Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment Announce the January 26 Start of Principal Photography on the 3D Motion Capture Feature 'The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn' Directed by Steven Spielberg and Starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig". PR Newswire. http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-26-2009/0004960578&EDATE=. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
8. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE54S0S620090529
9. ^ Evan Rachel Wood - Wood Confirms Bell Romance
10. ^ Magnus Linklater (August 3, 2009). "Kevin Macdonald will bring to film pre-Celtic clash of the cultures". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6736860.ece. Retrieved August 25, 2009. 
11. ^ For both wins and nominations, see IMDB: Awards for Jamie Bell
12. ^ ^{a b c} IMDB: Awards for Jamie Bell
13. ^ ^{a b} Biography for Jamie Bell: Trivia
14. ^ BIFA 2000: 2000 Awards
15. ^ LVFCS Sierra Award winners: 2000
16. ^ British Academy of Film and Television Arts: Film Nominations 2000
17. ^ Twenty-Second Annual Young Artist Awards - according to the introduction page, the year of award is 2001 and the performance years are 1999-2000.
18. ^ Sony Ericsson Empire Awards: 2001 Winners
19. ^ The Critics' Circle: Film - British Newcomer of the Year - according to IMDB: Awards for Jamie Bell, the year of award is 2001 and the year of performance is 2000.
20. ^ Phoenix Film Critics Society Archive of Past Winners: "Almost Famous" wins three PFCS Awards for the Year 2000 - the year of award is 2001 and the year of performance is 2000.
21. ^ 26th Young Artist Awards: Winners and Nominees

External links

• Jamie Bell at the Internet Movie Database

Jamie Bell main page.