Early life

West was born and raised in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother, Pauline Mary "Moya" (née Cleary), was an actress, while his father, Thomas George Eagleton West, owned a plastics factory. He is from a Roman Catholic family of mostly Irish descent, the sixth of seven siblings (five girls and two boys).

He attended Eton College and Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1995.

Career

Film/TV

West's screen appearances include True Blue, Chicago, Richard III, and Mona Lisa Smile. His most notable television role has been as the American police detective Jimmy McNulty on the HBO television police drama The Wire, set in Baltimore, Maryland. West was praised for the accuracy of his character's American accent.

During his stint on The Wire, West directed the season 5 episode "Took".

West starred as Lysander in the 1999 film version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In feature films, he portrayed the heavy metal guitarist Kirk Cuddy in the 2001 film Rock Star.

In 2006 West made a guest appearance as an actor in a sketch in The Catherine Tate Show, alongside "Frankie Howerd impressionist". In 2007, he played the Spartan politician Theron in 300 and a detective in Hannibal Rising. West played the supervillain, Jigsaw, in the 2008 film Marvel's Punisher: War Zone. In 2010 he had a role as General Virilus in Neil Marshall's adventure thriller Centurion. West stars in the UK ghost film, The Awakening.

West has done other work on TV and radio. He appeared in the role of Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 series The Devil's Whore. He also performed as "Dr. West", the opening track on Eminem's 2009 album Relapse, as a doctor discharging Eminem from a rehab facility. West played the part over the phone in January 2009 while Eminem was recording it in a Miami studio.

In December 2009, West starred as Hank in a radio adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's expressionist play The Hairy Ape for BBC Radio 3, was a guest presenter on the BBC show Have I Got News for You, and ended the year alongside Joan Rivers and Sarah Jessica Parker with an appearance on Graham Norton's New Year's Eve Show.

In 2011, West appeared as a news presenter on the BBC-TV period drama series The Hour. He also played serial killer Fred West in the ITV two-part series Appropriate Adult, giving a performance that the serial killer's daughter described as capturing the "evil essence of - his character, his mannerisms, even his gait."

In 2012, West was offered the role of Mance Rayder in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, but turned it down due to the amount of time he would have to spend away from his family.

He played the role of the gay activist Jonathan Blake in the 2014 film Pride about the 1984-1985 miners' strike in the UK. West stars as Noah Solloway on Showtime's series The Affair, which premiered October 2014. The series was renewed for a third season in 2015.

Theatre

As a theatre actor, West has played Edward in Harley Granville Barker's The Voysey Inheritance directed by Peter Gill at the Royal National Theatre in 2006. Around 2009, he starred at London's Donmar Warehouse as the protagonist in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's existential drama Life Is a Dream, for which he received glowing reviews.

He took the title role in Simon Gray's classic comedy, Butley, playing at the Duchess Theatre in London from 1 June 2011. In the September he returned to his native Sheffield to play Iago to his former Wire co-star Clarke Peters's Othello at the Crucible Theatre.

From mid December 2012 to January 2013, West starred as Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

In 2015-16 he starred alongside Janet McTeer in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Donmar Warehouse in London.

Advertising

In 2009, West starred in a series of online films known as "The Carte Noire Readers". Made to promote French coffee brand Carte Noire, they consist of actors reading love scenes from a selection of sources. West reads extracts from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence; High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Life Class by Pat Barker; The Moment You Were Gone by Nicci Gerrard; and Something Childish But Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield.

Personal life

In 1998, West and his then-girlfriend Polly Astor (the daughter of Michael Astor) had a daughter named Martha. The two broke up when Martha was three.

West later rekindled his romance with film producer Catherine Fitzgerald whom he had dated at university. West and Fitzgerald married in Glin, County Limerick, on 26 June 2010. Fitzgerald is an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, the daughter of Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin, and was formerly married to Edward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham.

West has become a supporter of care charity Helen's Trust in response to their assistance to his mother prior to her death.

West was the leader of Team Canada/Australia for Walking With The Wounded, a fundraising event for wounded soldiers. He trekked to the South Pole against Team UK (led by Prince Harry) and Team America (led by Alexander Skarsgård). A few days into the trek, it was decided that the competition part of the race would be cancelled due to hazardous terrain and weather conditions, so the teams combined forces and continued. Alongside Harry, Skarsgård and several wounded soldiers, West successfully made it to the South Pole on 13 December 2013.

In August 2014, West was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.

Honours

• In November 2010, West was awarded an honorary degree for services to the Arts by Sheffield Hallam University.
• In November 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, where he had earlier graduated with a degree in English.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	3 Joes	Joe Smoker	Short film
1995	Richard III	Henry, Earl of Richmond
1996	True Blue	Donald Macdonald
1996	Surviving Picasso	Pablo Picasso
1996	E=mc2	Spike
1997	The Gambler	Alexei
1997	Diana & Me	Rob Naylor
1997	Spice World	Photographer
1999	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander
1999	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	Palace Guard
2000	28 Days	Jasper
2001	Rock Star	Kirk Cuddy
2002	Ten Minutes Older	Young Man
2002	Chicago	Fred Casely	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2003	Mona Lisa Smile	Bill Dunbar
2004	The Forgotten	Ash Correll
2006	Stingray	Luther	Short film
2007	Hannibal Rising	Inspector Popil
2007	300	Theron
2008	Hold On	Delivery Man	Short film
2008	Marvel's Punisher: War Zone	Billy Russotti/Jigsaw
2010	Centurion	General Titus Flavius Virilus
2010	Jackboots on Whitehall	Fiske	Voice
2010	Words of the Blitz	Sir John Colville
2010	From Time to Time	Caxton
2011	Johnny English Reborn	Simon Ambrose
2011	Arthur Christmas	Lead Elf	Voice
2011	The Awakening	Robert Mallory
2012	John Carter	Sab Than
2013	Boy Cried Wolf	Hughie	Short film
2014	Pride	Jonathan Blake
2014	Testament of Youth	Mr. Brittain
2016	Genius	Ernest Hemingway
2016	Money Monster	Walt Camby
2016	Finding Dory	Rudder	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Out of Hours	Dr. Paul Featherstone	Television film
1999	A Christmas Carol	Fred	Television film
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Sir Mulberry Hawk	Television film
2002-08	The Wire	Detective Jimmy McNulty	56 episodes Crime Thriller Award for Best Actor
2006	The Catherine Tate Show	Actor	Episode: "No. 3.5"
2008	The Devil's Whore	Oliver Cromwell	4 episodes
2009	Breaking the Mould	Howard Florey	Television film
2011-12	The Hour	Hector Madden	12 episodes Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Actor
2011	Appropriate Adult	Fred West	2 episodes
2013	Burton & Taylor	Richard Burton	Television film Nominated—British Academy Television Award for Best Actor Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
2014-present	The Affair	Noah Solloway	22 episodes Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama

[ Source: Wikipedia ]