Early life

Purefoy was born in Taunton, Somerset, the eldest son of Anthony Chetwynd and Shirley (née Taylor) Purefoy. He boarded at Sherborne School, which he left with only one O-level. He later went to night school and received 11 more O-levels, before taking his A-levels. He worked as a porter at Yeovil District Hospital before studying acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

Stage work

Purefoy's early professional roles included Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in Leatherhead, Walter in Mary Morgan at the Riverside Studios and Alan Strang in Equus on tour. He subsequently joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1988 and appeared in The Constant Couple, Macbeth, The Tempest, The Man Who Came to Dinner (Gene Saks, Barbican) and King Lear as Edgar.

Elsewhere, he has also appeared as Laertes in Hamlet at the Bristol Old Vic (1991) Brian in William Gaminara's Back Up the Hearse and Let them Sniff the Flowers at the Hampstead Theatre (1992), Roland Maule in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the Globe Theatre (1993), Biff in Death of a Salesman, alongside Ken Stott and Jude Law, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds (1994), Tony in The Servant at the Birmingham Rep (1995). He returned to the RSC for Simon Callow's stage adaptation of the film classic, Les enfants du paradis at the Barbican. He also played Hugh de Morville in Paul Corcoran's Four Nights in Knaresborough at the Tricycle Theatre, (1999) and Loveless in Trevor Nunn's production of The Relapse at the National Theatre in 2001.

Between March and June 2011 he starred as Peter in Trevor Nunn's production of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, alongside Sheridan Smith and Sienna Miller, as part of the playwright Terence Rattigan's centenary year celebrations.

Film and television

Purefoy was screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995 for GoldenEye, but ultimately lost the role to Pierce Brosnan. Throughout 2004 and 2005 Purefoy's name was rumoured as a possible candidate to replace Brosnan as Bond in future films. He played James McCarthy, a young man accused of murdering his father, in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," in Granada's The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. One of his notable roles was as Nicholas Jenkins in the eight-part miniseries A Dance to the Music of Time for Channel 4 in 1997. He played Edward, the Black Prince in the film A Knight's Tale, Rawdon Crawley in Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon and Tom Bertram in the 1999 production of Mansfield Park.

He has played major roles in several television costume dramas, including Sharpe's Sword, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Prince and the Pauper, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Blackbeard: Terror at Sea, Beau Brummell: This Charming Man, The Tide of Life, Camelot and Rome.

He was originally the actor for V in the 2006 Film V for Vendetta but had creative differences with the production team and left the film six weeks into filming. Parts of the film contain (dubbed) scenes of Purefoy. Speculation suggested that his departure was due to an opportunity to play James Bond in the 2006 film Casino Royale.

He played Mark Antony in the HBO/BBC original television series, Rome. At the time there were rumours that at least one nude body in the show had been digitally enhanced. When his Wikipedia entry, which at that time referred to the rumours, was brought up in an interview with Alastair McKay, published in the January 2007 issue of Out magazine, Purefoy said, "I won't say whose it was, but there was a penis in the series that may have been slightly enhanced. But it wasn't mine. Mine's all mine."

Producer William J. MacDonald announced that James Purefoy would play Simon Templar in a new TV series of The Saint. The new series was scheduled to start shooting in Berlin and Australia in April 2008. However, production ultimately did not occur and in August Purefoy was reported as negotiating with NBC to star in another series, The Philanthropist.

He starred as Teddy Rist in the summer television series, The Philanthropist, which aired on NBC beginning on June 2009. His character is a billionaire playboy who decides to use his wealth and power to help others in need.

In 2013, The Following debuted, starring Purefoy as the lead antagonist of the series. He portrays Joe Carroll, a former professor who becomes a serial killer and leads a cult of followers, all whom help create Carroll's "story".

It was announced in June 2014 that Purefoy would join the cast of the upcoming film High-Rise with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons. Later in 2014, Purefoy co-starred in the Formula 1-themed music video for David Guetta's song "Dangerous".

Personal life

Purefoy has a son, Joseph (born 1997), from his first marriage to the actress Holly Aird. With the documentary director and producer Jessica Adams, he has a daughter, Rose (born 2012). He married Adams in Somerset in July 2014.

Purefoy is a supporter of Yeovil Town FC.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Feast of July	Jedd Wainwright
1997	Jilting Joe	Joe
1998	Bedrooms and Hallways	Brendan
1999	Mansfield Park	Tom Bertram
1999	Women Talking Dirty	Daniel
2000	Lighthouse	Richard Spader
2000	Maybe Baby	Carl Phipps
2000	The Wedding Tackle	Hal
2001	Tomorrow	Andrew Spender
2001	A Knight's Tale	Edward, the Black Prince of Wales/Sir Thomas Colville
2002	Resident Evil	Spence Parks
2003	Photo Finish	James	Jury Award for Best Actor
2004	George and the Dragon	George
2004	Blessed	Craig Howard
2004	Vanity Fair	Colonel Rawdon Crawley
2006	Goose on the Loose	Kenneth Donnelly
2008	Lena: The Bride of Ice	Dr. Harper
2010	Solomon Kane	Solomon Kane	UK release
2011	Ironclad	Marshall
2012	John Carter	Kantos Kan
2013	Wicked Blood	Wild Bill
2015	Momentum	Mr. Washington
2015	High-Rise	Pangbourne
2016	Equity	Michael Connor	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Coasting	Mike Baker	Lead role
1991	The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes	James McCarthy	Episode: "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
1991	Boon	Alan Bridges	Episode: "Houseguests"
1992	Bye Bye Baby		Television film
1992	The Cloning of Joanna May	Oliver	Television film
1992	Angels	Victor
1993	Calling the Shots	Brian Summers	Television film
1993	Rides	Julian	4 episodes
1993	Crime Story	Darius Guppy	Episode: "The Prince"
1995	Tears Before Bedtime	Jimmy Turner
1995	Sharpe's Sword	Captain Jack Spears	Television film
1996	The Tide of Life	Nick Stuart	Television miniseries
1996	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall	Mr. Lawrence	Television miniseries
1996	The Prince and the Pauper	Miles Hendon
1997	Have Your Cake and Eat It	Ben	Television miniseries
1997	Bright Hair	David Miles	Television film
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Nicholas Jenkins	Television miniseries
2000	Don Quixote	Sansón Carrasco	Television film
2000	Metropolis	Nathan	Television miniseries
2003	The Mayor of Casterbridge	Donald Farfrae	Television film
2005	Blackbeard: Terror at Sea	Edward Teach/Blackbeard	Television film
2005-07	Rome	Mark Antony	Lead role
2006	Beau Brummell: This Charming Man	Beau Brummell	Television film
2007	Manchild	Joe	Television film
2007	Frankenstein	Dr. Henry Clerval	Television film
2008-10	The Summit	Thom Lightstone	Television miniseries
2009	Diamonds	Lucas Denmont	Television film
2009	The Philanthropist	Teddy Rist	Lead role
2011	Camelot	King Lot	Episodes: "Homecoming", "The Sword and the Crown", "Lady of the Lake"
2011	Injustice	William Travers	Television miniseries
2011	Rev.	Richard	Episode: "#2.6"
2011	Revenge	Dominik Wright	Episodes: "Doubt", "Justice"
2012	The Hollow Crown	Thomas Mowbray	Episode: "Richard II"
2012	Episodes	Rob	4 episodes
2013-15	The Following	Joe Carroll	Lead role; 30 episodes
2016	Hap and Leonard	Hap Collins	Lead role
2016	Roots	John Waller	TV miniseries

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Afternoon Play: The Tears of War	Bevil Quiller-Couch	Radio4, lead role
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?	Rick Deckard	Radio4, lead role
2016	Le Cid	Don Rodrigue	Radio 3, lead role

[ Source: Wikipedia ]