James Aitken Frecheville (; born 14 April 1991) is an Australian actor known for his lead role in the Australian film '' Animal Kingdom'' as Joshua "J" Cody, a confused teenager and youngest member of a criminal family in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

's underworld.

Early life

Frecheville was born in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of

Malvern East Malvern East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Malvern East recorded a population of 22,296 at the 2021 c ...

. He attended Lloyd Street Primary School as a child and was educated at

McKinnon Secondary College McKinnon Secondary College is a public secondary school located in the Melbourne suburb of McKinnon. The school was ranked 62nd in Victoria in terms of VCE median study score in 2012. In February 2022, the school opened a second campus located ...

as a teenager. He found a particular interest in drama and the arts at a young age and continued to excel in this field throughout his schooling life. Initially, Frecheville was involved with various youth theatre groups (mostly amateur theatre, including school productions) before starting work as an extra on the Australian television series ''

City Homicide ''City Homicide'' is an Australian television drama series that aired on the Seven Network between 27 August 2007 and 30 March 2011. The series was set on the Homicide floor of a metropolitan police headquarters in Melbourne. The main characte ...

''. Prior to his big break, Frecheville took part in a series of acting courses at schools such as The Australian Film & Television Academy (TAFTA).

Film career

Auditions for ''Animal Kingdom'' took place in 2008 with about 500 young men competing for the lead role of "J" Cody. Filming started in 2009, causing some disruption to Frecheville's studies as a

Year Twelve Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory educa ...

high school student. At the 2010

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

(where the film won the World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic), ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' described Frecheville as "a brilliant casting choice." In preparation for his role in the 2018 film '' Black '47'', Frecheville had to learn the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

. In an interview, he discussed the challenges of playing an Irish character and filming in

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...

, stating "It's hard to say where the challenge was because it was all challenging. It was all very cold. I'm not so good at learning languages so to pick up a language that not a great number of people speak was pretty tough, but apparently, I passed a few tests but I still have to see what the public thinks."

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frechevill, James 1991 births 21st-century Australian male actors Australian male film actors Australian male stage actors Australian male television actors Living people Male actors from Melbourne People from Malvern, Victoria