Damian Lewis

Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor, presenter and producer. He is best known for portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He also portrayed U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series ''Homeland'', which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. His performance as Henry VIII of England in ''Wolf Hall'' earned him his third Primetime Emmy nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination. He portrayed Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series '' Billions'' in the first five seasons and appeared in '' Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' (2019) as actor Steve McQueen.

Early life

Lewis was born on 11 February 1971 in St John's Wood, London, the eldest son of Charlotte Mary ('' née'' Bowater) and John Watcyn Lewis, a City insurance broker with Lloyd's.Interview with ''The Sunday Express''
25 May 2003; accessed 22 December 2008. His paternal grandparents were Welsh.Mottram, James

25 February 2008. accessed 14 January 2009. His maternal grandfather was Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ian Bowater, Lord Mayor of London, and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Bertrand, Viscount Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the Royal Family) and the eminent naval shipbuilder (see Yarrow Shipbuilders) and philanthropist Sir Alfred Yarrow, 1st Baronet, who was of partial
Sephardic Jewish descent. He has stated that he "went to English boarding schools and grew up around people very much like is characterSoames and in a ''milieu'' very much like the Forsytes.

As a child, Lewis made several visits to the US to visit relatives during summer breaks.Iannotti, Lauren. "Esquire Style". '' Esquire'', April 2003, 139 (4):120. He first decided to become an actor at the age of 16. He was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in Forest Row, East Sussex, and at Eton College. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993, after which he worked as an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

During his time with the RSC, he played Borgheim in Adrian Noble's production of Henrik Ibsen's ''Little Eyolf'' and Posthumus in William Shakespeare's ''Cymbeline''. He also starred in another of Ibsen's plays, as Karsten Bernick in '' Pillars of the Community'' at the National Theatre in November 2005.

Career

Lewis once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarms, a job he detested. His first television appearance was as a medical student in 'Hickory Dickory Dock', an episode of Poirot, broadcast in 199

He also appeared as a rakish student in an early episode of the drama series ''A Touch of Frost'' (1996). He appeared in ''Robinson Crusoe'' (1997) as Patrick Conner. He appeared in Jonathan Kent's production of ''Hamlet'', playing Laertes. This production was seen by Steven Spielberg, who later cast Lewis as Richard Winters in '' Band of Brothers'' (2001), the first role of several that required him to have a credible American accent.

He was in the 2000 series called ''Hearts and Bones'' as the love interest of Dervla Kirwan.

Subsequently, Lewis portrayed Soames Forsyte in the ITV series ''The Forsyte Saga'', which earned him positive reviews. He returned to the US to star in ''Dreamcatcher'', a Lawrence Kasdan film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent. On the heels of this role, he starred in '' Keane'' as a Manhattanite with a fragile mental state who is searching for his missing daughter. Despite the film's poor box-office, Lewis's performance in the role was very well reviewed.

He played Jeffrey Archer in the TV special ''Jeffrey Archer: The Truth''. Since 2004, he has appeared in a number of films, as well as the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy ''Much Ado About Nothing'', as part of the ''ShakespeaRe-Told'' season. Lewis played the role of Yassen Gregorovich in the film ''Stormbreaker''. In 2006, he appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC
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