Early life

Lewis was born in St John's Wood, London, the son of Charlotte Mary (née Bowater) and J. Watcyn Lewis, a City broker. His paternal grandparents were Welsh. His maternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London Sir Ian Bowater and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Lord Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the Royal Family) and the philanthropist Alfred Yarrow. He has stated that he "went to English boarding schools and grew up around people very much like Soames and in a milieu very much like the Forsytes'".

As a child, Lewis made several visits to the U.S. to visit relatives during his summers. He first decided to become an actor at age 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 served as a stage actor for 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. 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, the first role of several that required him to have a credible American accent.

Subsequently, Lewis portrayed Soames Forsyte in the ITV series The Forsyte Saga which earned him rave reviews. He returned to the US to star in Dreamcatcher, a Stephen King 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 performance, the role won Lewis rave reviews.

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 drama Friends and Crocodiles. He has appeared on BBC's Have I Got News for You as guest host several times; on 10 November 2006, 1 May 2009, 18 November 2010, 27 April, 9 November 2012 and 31 October 2014.

In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the US television series Life on NBC. The show premiered in the U.S. on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season's shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series. Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night, and eventually cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for the less expensive nightly programme, The Jay Leno Show.

Lewis appeared, the following year, in the lead role in The Baker, a film directed by his brother, Gareth. Damian took a supporting role of Rizza in The Escapist, which he also helped produce. He led the cast in Martin Crimp's version of Molière's comedy, The Misanthrope, which opened in December 2009 at the Comedy Theatre, London. Other cast members included Tara Fitzgerald, Keira Knightley and Dominic Rowan.

Since 2010, Lewis has played Tory Prime Minister Simon Laity in two seasons of Number 10 on BBC Radio 4.

He played Gareth, the father of an 11-year-old Liverpool F.C. fan, in the 2011 film Will.

From 2011 to 2013, Lewis had a starring role as Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland. In 2013, he narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an "interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri". In 2016 he stars in the Showtime series Billions.

Lewis was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

Personal life

On 4 July 2007, Lewis married actress Helen McCrory. They have a daughter, Manon (born 8 September 2006), and a son, Gulliver (born 2 November 2007). They live in Tufnell Park, London, and Los Angeles.

In March 2010, Lewis became a trade justice ambassador for the charity Christian Aid. In May 2006, he played for England in Soccer Aid, and played golf for Europe in the All*Star Cup in August 2006, both shown on ITV.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Robinson Crusoe	Patrick
2003	Dreamcatcher	Gary "Jonesy" Jones
2004	Keane	William Keane	Nominated - Gotham Award for Breakthrough Performance
2004	Brides	Norman Harris	Original Greek Title: "Νύφες"
2005	Chromophobia	Marcus Aylesbury
2005	An Unfinished Life	Gary Winston
2006	The Situation	Dan Murphy
2006	Stormbreaker	Yasha "Yassen" Gregorovich	Released in the US as "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker"
2008	The Baker	Milo "The Baker" Shakespeare	Also Producer. AKA "Assassin In Love"
2008	The Escapist	Rizza
2011	Your Highness	Boremont
2011	Will	Gareth
2012	The Sweeney	Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins
2013	Romeo & Juliet	Lord Capulet
2015	Queen of the Desert	Lt.Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie, VC
2015	Bill	Sir Richard Hawkins
2016	Our Kind of Traitor	Hector

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Micky Love	Clive
1995	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Leonard Bateson	Episode: "Hickory Dickory Dock"
1996	A Touch of Frost	Adam Weston	Episode: "Deep Waters"
1999	Warriors	Lt. Neil Loughrey
2000	Life Force	Kurt Glemser
2000	Hearts and Bones	Mark Rose
2001	Band of Brothers	Maj. Richard D. Winters	Biarritz International Festival Award for Best Actor - Series and Serials Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
2002	The Forsyte Saga	Soames Forsyte
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Jeffrey Archer
2003	The Forsyte Saga: To Let	Soames Forsyte
2005	Colditz	Cpl / Lt. Nicholas McGrade
2005	Friends and Crocodiles	Paul
2005	Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick
2006-present	Have I Got News for You	Himself	Host 6 episodes
2007-2009	Life	Charlie Crews
2011	Stolen	D.I. Anthony Carter
2011-2013	Homeland	Nicholas Brody	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Dorian Award for TV Performance of the Year - Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated - TV Guide Award for Favorite Actor
2014	Homeland	Nicholas Brody	Episode: "Redux"
2015	Wolf Hall	Henry VIII of England	Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Pending - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
2016-present	Billions	Bobby Axelrod

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Damian Lewis

[ Source: Wikipedia ]