James McAvoy

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James McAvoy

Profession: Actor
Place/Date of Birth: Glasgow, 01 July 2020

Forest Whitaker also gets a Bafta nod for his role, as well as nominations for best film and outstanding British film.

James McAvoy’s star-struck secret - Nov 7 2006
James McAvoy has come a long way since Shameless - but the actor admits that he still turns into an embarrassed fan around his A-list colleagues.

The star of new movie Starter For Ten says: "Now and again, I get really star-struck. I just met Emma Thompson at the Toronto Film Festival and I got really shaky and quite silly and nervous," he confides.

And he says that Tom Hanks, who produced Starter For Ten, had a similar effect on him.

"Tom Hanks kind of always makes me nervous and I’ve met him a good few times now over a couple of different projects. He’s been my producer twice now and I still feel like a pr*** whenever I’m around him," the actor laughs.

It’s not just Hollywood royalty either - James says he was hugely excited to discover that Catherine Tate would be playing his mother in the new film.

But despite being a huge fan of her hit show, the actor made sure he kept his cool - and kept his impressions of her iconic characters to himself.

"Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t go down very well, so I stayed away from doing that," he grins.

See photos of th UK premiere of ’Starter For Ten’.

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Biography

Born on January 1 1979, James McAvoy was raised in a rough area of Glasgow. When Director David Hayman visited his school to give a talk McAvoy offered himself as an assistant. Hayman was so impressed though he gave him an acting part in his film The Near Room. He went on to play Leto Atreides III in the Sci Fi channel’s Children of Dune then bagged a part in Stephen Fry’s Bright Young Things in 2003 after small parts in Band of Brothers and White Teeth. In the same year sitcom audiences were introduced to James in Craig Cash’s Early Doors.

A part in Wimbledon followed by an acclaimed turn as a teenager suffering with Muscular Dystrophy in Inside I’m Dancing predated his breakthrough role as Steve McBride in Shameless. The part lead to further roles, including that of Mr Tumnus the Fawn in The Chronicles of Narnia plus parts in award tipped films The Last King of Scotland, Starter For Ten and Becoming Jane.

He is married to Shameless costar Ann Marie Duff.
October 2007