Bradley James (born 1983 or 1984) is an English actor. He is best known for starring as

Arthur Pendragon King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

in the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

(

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in America) series '' Merlin,''

Damien Thorn Damien Thorn is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of ''The Omen'' franchise. He is the Antichrist and the son of the Devil. The character has been portrayed by Harvey Spencer Stephens, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Sam Neill, Seamus Da ...

in ''

Damien Damien is a given name and less frequently a surname. The name is a variation of Damian (given name), Damian which comes from the Greek ''Damianos''. This form originates from the Greek derived from the Greek word δαμάζω (damazō), "(I) con ...

'', Varga in '' Underworld: Blood Wars'',

Giuliano de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici (25 October 1453 – 26 April 1478) was the second son of Piero de' Medici (the Gouty) and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of Florence, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his brother's image as the ...

''in Medici: The Magnificent'' (2018–2020), and Brigadier General

Felix Sparks Felix Laurence Sparks (August 2, 1917 – September 25, 2007) was an American attorney, government official, and military officer from Colorado. A veteran of World War II, he attained the rank of brigadier general in the Colorado Army National Gu ...

in '' The Liberator'' (2020).

Early life and education

James was born in

Exeter, Devon Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, England. He lived in

North Bradley North Bradley is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, between Trowbridge and Westbury. The village is about south of Trowbridge town centre. The parish includes most of the village of Yarnbrook, and the hamlets of Brokerswood, Cu ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

before his family moved to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, when he was nine. During his time there, he attended Crown Point Elementary and Fletcher Middle School, before returning to England to attend

Madeley High School Madeley High School, established 1957, is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the village of Madeley, Staffordshire, England. The school was founded as a secondary modern school. It became a comprehensive high schoo ...

in Madeley, Staffordshire, England. From 2004 to 2007 James attended

Drama Centre London Drama Centre London (often abbreviated as Drama Centre) was a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it moved in 2011 after a major reshaping of the University of the Arts London. It was part of Central Saint Martins, a constitu ...

, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts degree in acting.

Career

James first appeared in an episode of ''

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

'' in 2008 and also played the part of Ben Davis in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

comedy-drama film ''

Dis/Connected ''Dis/Connected'' is a BBC Three drama pilot, written by Howard Overman. It starred Holliday Grainger, Cloudia Swann, Aml Ameen, Bradley James, Laura Aikman, Katrina Rafferty and Lucy Evans. Outline Dis/Connected tells the story of a group of d ...

'' that same year. Following his performance in ''Dis/Connected'', the producers cast him as

, in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

fantasy TV series '' Merlin''. The show was a consistent hit series in the US; its first season was shown on the broadcast network

and its second, third, fourth, and fifth seasons on NBC's affiliate cable network Syfy. ''Merlin'' ended its 5-year run in 2012. James went on an exploration of

Arthurian legends The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wes ...

for BBC Wales, ''The Real Merlin & Arthur'', in 2009. James also guest-starred as Edgar in the fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning political thriller television series ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

'' in 2014. In 2015, James was cast as a villain in '' Underworld: Blood Wars''. The same year, he appeared in the television series '' iZombie'' as recurring character Lowell Tracey, a love interest for main character Liv. He starred as title character

on the television series ''

'', created by ''The Walking Dead's''

Glen Mazzara Glen Mazzara (born July 6, 1967) is an American television producer and writer. He is most well known for his work on ''The Shield'', '' The Walking Dead'' and '' Damien''. Life and career An Italian-American, Mazzara was born in Manhattan, N ...

a sequel to the ''Omen'' film series. The show debuted in March 2016. In 2018, James was cast as

'' in Medici: The Magnificent'' alongside

Daniel Sharman Daniel Andrew Sharman (born 25 April 1986) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Isaac Lahey on the television series ''Teen Wolf'' (2012–2014), Kaleb Westphall / Kol Mikaelson on '' The Originals'' (2014–2015), Troy Otto on '' ...

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

. The series follows the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

family, bankers of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, during

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. In 2020, James played the lead role of American war hero

in '' The Liberator'', Netflix's four-part World War II drama series based on the book by

Alex Kershaw Alex Kershaw (born 1966) is an English journalist, public speaker and the author of several best-selling books, including ''The Liberator'', ''The First Wave'', ''The Bedford Boys'' and ''The Longest Winter''. Early life Born in York, England, ...

. This is the first project produced in Trioscope, a new enhanced hybrid technology that combines state-of-the-art CGI with live-action performance. James joined second season of Netflix's historical drama '' Vikings: Valhalla'' created by

Jeb Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials o ...

as a sequel to

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

's ''

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

'', filmed in County Wicklow, Ireland. He starred as a local Norwegian farmer and chieftain Harekr which was released on January 12, 2023.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Bradley 21st-century English male actors Actors from Exeter Alumni of the Drama Centre London English male television actors English male voice actors Living people Male actors from Devon 1980s births