Jamie Dornan

James Peter Maxwell Dornan (; born 1 May 1982) is an actor, model and musician from Northern Ireland. Formerly a character actor, he often portrays solemn, steady characters. The recipient of two Irish Film and Television Awards, he has been nominated for a BAFTA Television Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 32 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors of all time.

Initially beginning his career as a model in 2001, he appeared in campaigns for Hugo Boss, Dior Homme, and Calvin Klein. Dubbed "the Golden Torso" by ''The New York Times'', he was ranked one of the "25 Biggest Male Models of All Time" by ''Vogue'' in 2015. In addition, he performed in the folk band Sons of Jim until 2008.

He began acting in 2006, and earned international recognition for playing Sheriff Graham Humbert in the series ''Once Upon a Time'' (2011–2013) and serial killer Paul Spector in the crime drama series '' The Fall'' (2013–2016). For the latter, he won the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in Television and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. In film, he has portrayed Axel von Fersen in Sofia Coppola's ''Marie Antoinette'' (2006), Christian Grey in the ''Fifty Shades'' franchise (2015–2018), Jan Kubiš in ''Anthropoid'' (2016), Commandant Pat Quinlan in '' The Siege of Jadotville'' (2016), Paul Conroy in ''A Private War'' (2018), and Pa in ''Belfast'' (2021). For his performance in the last he received nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Early life

Dornan was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the suburbs of Belfast. His mother, Lorna died of pancreatic cancer when Dornan was 16. His father Jim Dornan, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who had also considered becoming an actor, died from complications related to COVID-19 on 15 March 2021. He has echoed his father's support throughout his career stating:"...Some people go their whole lives without being told, ‘You’ve made your parents proud’.My dad would tell me every day.”

Dornan has two older sisters: Liesa, who works for Disney in London, and Jessica, a fashion designer based in Falmouth, Cornwall, England. He is a first cousin, twice removed, of actress Greer Garson. His grandparents on both sides of his family were Methodist lay preachers.

He attended and boarded at Methodist College Belfast, where he played rugby and participated in the drama department. In school, he appeared in ''Christmas Pantomime'' and portrayed Widow Twanky which earned him his first drama prize. He also played Baby Face in ''Bugsy Malone'' and the milkman in '' Blood Brothers'' during school productions. He was a member of Belfast's youth amateur drama group, Holywood Players and participated in Ballymoney's Drama Festival with this group on several occasions. From the age of twelve, he participated in the native production of Anton Chekhov's stage dramas.

He attended Teesside University but dropped out and moved to London in 2002 to train as an actor, but never applied to drama school. He worked in a pub in Knightsbridge for six months until he embarked on his modelling career. Referring to those six months as a rough time, Dornan stated he went through much financial hardship and to make ends meet, he took a job at the pub.

Initial career

Music

Dornan performed in the folk band Sons of Jim until it disbanded in 2008. He founded the band with his schoolmate David Alexander and formed their own record label Doorstep Records under which they published their songs "Fairytale" and "My Burning Sun". Sons of Jim supported Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall on tour.

Modelling

Dornan was not keen to pursue modelling as a career but was persuaded by his step mother and sisters. In 2001, he took part in the Channel 4 reality show ''Model Behaviour''. He was eliminated but signed a modelling contract with Select Model Management. In 2003, he modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch with Malin Åkerman. He then modelled for Aquascutum, Hugo Boss, and Armani. In 2005, he became the face of Dior Homme's fragrance advertising campaign. Dornan's first appearance in Calvin Klein's advertising campaign was in 2004 with Russian model Natalia Vodianova. His later notable works for Calvin Klein include the jeans advertising campaigns with Kate Moss in 2006 and with Eva Mendes in 2010. In 2009, he was made the face of Calvin Klein's 'CK Free' fragrance and appeared solo in Calvin Klein's underwear campaign. In 2006, he was labelled "The Golden Torso" by ''The New York Times''. He also appeared as a judge in Calvin Klein's model hunt competition, 'Nine countries, nine men, one winner'.

Dornan appeared in commercials for Dolce & Gabbana, Zara, Banana Republic, Dior, Calvin Klein, and Levi's Jeans with Lily Aldridge. In 2006, he was dubbed the "male Kate Moss" by '' GQ'' and in 2015 was ranked one of the "25 Biggest Male Models of All Time" by ''Vogue''. He was ranked 3rd and 15th on '' GQ Magazine's'' 50 best dressed British men list respectively in 2015 and 2016. In 2018, he became the new face of "Boss The Scent" for Hugo Boss alongside Dutch model Birgit Kos. During his career, he worked with renowned fashion photographers Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber, Guy Aroch, Norman Jean Roy. Dornan's modelling significance was his iconic, trademark look which was named "Dornan Furrow" by the industry and the media. Though he is considered to be an A-class model, he never participated in ramp walks because of his unconventional style of walking.

Acting career

2006–2012: Career beginnings

Dornan stated that the transition into an acting career was not easy for him, as he was often stigmatized with the designation of "model turned actor", but he had always wanted to act and was steadfast in proving his acting abilities. He moved to Los Angeles with a view to building an acting career in Comedy which eventually, never happened. He had also written comic blog for Funny or Die that did not get published. His first acting role in a film was as Count Axel Fersen in the Sofia Coppola film ''Marie Antoinette'' (2006). He also appeared in the drama film ''Shadows in the Sun'' (2009), which starred three-time Academy Award nominee Jean Simmons. In 2008, he played the lead role of Ed in the Hammer Horror production ''Beyond the Rave''.

Dornan garnered recognition when he appeared in nine episodes of the ABC television series ''Once Upon a Time'' between 2011 and 2013, playing the role of the Huntsman/Sheriff Graham. While Graham was killed by the town's mayor Regina/the Evil Queen in the episode "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", Dornan stated that he would return as the Huntsman from the Enchanted Forest at some point. He returned as the Huntsman for the season finale "A Land Without Magic", and later as Graham for the season two episode "Welcome to Storybrooke" in its flashback segment. About his performance, Laura Prudom of ''The Huffington Post'' wrote: "Irish-born Jamie Dornan did an excellent job of portraying Graham's hopelessness and confusion".

2013–2015: Breakthrough with ''The Fall'' and ''Fifty Shades'' trilogy

Dornan received critical acclaim when he starred alongside Gillian Anderson in the Northern Irish drama series '' The Fall'', playing Paul Spector, a serial killer terrorising Belfast. Dornan initially auditioned for the role of a police officer, but he was later called upon to audition for the lead role, for which he was eventually selected. Beginning in 2013, the show aired for three series ending in October 2016. Dornan read books about serial killers and watched interviews of Ted Bundy to get an understanding of the mindset of his character, and stalked a woman in his preparation for the role. Reviewing the first season, David Thomson of ''The New Republic'' complimented Dornan on his performance: "Jamie Dornan as Paul, has become the center of the drama in a performance that unpeels as slowly as a stripper- and maybe as seductively." Dornan won his first Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in Television and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. In 2014, Dornan was cast as Abe Goffe in ''New Worlds'', a historical drama series.

On 23 October 2013, Dornan was cast as Christian Grey in the film adaptation of ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', replacing Charlie Hunnam. Initially announced to be released on 1 August 2014, the film was later rescheduled and released on 13 February 2015. Dornan visited a private sex dungeon as preparation for playing his sadistic character. He reprised his role in the second and third installments of the ''Fifty Shades'' film franchise, ''Fifty Shades Darker'', released in 2017, and ''Fifty Shades Freed'', released in 2018. Earning approximately $1.32 billion, the franchise became the seventh highest-grossing R-rated franchise. Despite being a box office blockbuster, the trilogy was poorly received by critics, with Dornan's performance being critically panned. He stated in several interviews that he was depressed to receive such reviews.

On 27 August 2014, it was announced that Dornan would play Dr. Allan Pascal in a Miramax film titled ''The 9th Life of Louis Drax'', a supernatural thriller based on a book of the same name. It was released on 2 September 2016. In November 2014, Dornan was ranked third in '' People Magazine's'' Sexiest Man Alive rankings.

2016–present: Transition to independent film roles and ''Belfast''

Dornan was cast as Commandant Pat Quinlan in Netflix's historical war film '' The Siege of Jadotville'' in 2016. He was sent to a boot camp in South Africa with the rest of the cast to train for the film. The film got released at the Galway Film Festival 2016, receiving mixed reviews. Writing for ''The Irish Times,'' critic Donald Clarke lauded Dornan for his suave acting. For the film, he received his third nomination for best actor in a leading role in Irish Film and Television Award. In the same year, he starred as Jan Kubiš, alongside Cillian Murphy in another war film ''Anthropoid''. Rupert Hawksley of ''The Daily Telegraph'' felt that he made a decent fist of portraying Kubis and said: "Nazi nail-biter Anthropoid shows Jamie Dornan has many more than 50 shades". For the film, he received nominations for the British Independent Film Award and Czech Lion Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In May 2017, it was reported that Dornan would co-star alongside Peter Dinklage, as a journalist Danny Tate, in the HBO television film ''My Dinner with Hervé''. Shooting for the film started in June 2017, and it was released on 20 October 2018. Matthew Gilbert of ''The Boston Globe'' said: "The Danny plot is fine - nothing special really, although Dornan is excellent and manages to bring a good sense of transformation to an underwritten character".

In 2018, Dornan portrayed journalist Paul Conroy in the biographical drama ''A Private War''. Ann Hornaday, writing for ''The Washington Post'', described Dornan's performance as "a gallantly self-effacing performance". Kenneth Turan for ''Los Angeles Times'' described Dornan's performance as "excellent work from the ''Fifty Shades'' veteran". In the same year, he appeared as Will Scarlet in ''Robin Hood'' and as Nick, a doctor and memoirist, in ''Untogether''.

In 2019, Dornan starred as a paramedic in the science fiction thriller film ''Synchronic''. It had its world premiere at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival, receiving positive reviews from critics.

Dornan then appeared in two comedy films, ''Wild Mountain Thyme'' (2020) and ''Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar'' (2021). He won plaudits from critics for his musical number and comedic turn in ''Barb and Star''. Writing for ''The Wrap'', Alonso Duralde addressed his ballad as "a definite highlight" of the film and said: "While it's definitely nnieMumolo and ristenWiig's show all the way, Dornan winds up being surprisingly capable at holding his own against these two dynamos". ''Wild Mountain Thyme'', John Patrick Shanley's film adaptation of his own play ''Outside Mullingar'', was poorly received and was criticised for accent inaccuracy. Nevertheless Dornan's performance received praise as Simran Hans of ''The Guardian'' described it as "a commendable feat of comic brilliance, not to be missed." Some critics supposed Dornan to be a miscast.

In 2021, Dornan portrayed a working class father in Kenneth Branagh's drama film ''Belfast'', the character being based on Branagh's father. His performance received critical acclaim. Critic Peter Travers wrote on ''Good Morning America'': "Dornan, free of the s&m sex trap of the ''50 Shades of Grey'' trilogy, builds on his virtuoso turn on ''The Fall'' to show an actor of ferocity and feeling as he invests Pa, often absent from home for construction work in England, with simmering emotion and quiet strength". He received nominations for the Golden Globe Award and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 94th Academy Awards.

After ''Belfast'', he secured the lead role of an amnesiac in BBC
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