Early life

Bell was born in Billingham, Teesside, England, where he grew up with his mother, Eileen (née Matfin), and elder sister, Kathryn. His father, John Bell, a toolmaker, left before Bell was born. Bell began his involvement with dance after he accompanied his sister to her ballet lessons. He was a pupil at Northfield School and took performing arts classes at the local franchise of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. He was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre.

Career

In 1999, he was chosen from a field of over 2,000 boys for the role of Billy Elliot, an 11-year-old boy who dismays his working-class widowed father and elder brother by taking up ballet. He also appeared in Close and True, an ITV legal drama shown in 2000, which starred Robson Green, James Bolam, and Susan Jameson.

Bell served as Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival. In 2002, he appeared as the disabled servant Smike in an adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby and a young soldier in Deathwatch. In the following years, he portrayed a teenager on the run in Undertow, a gun-toting pacifist in Dear Wendy, a disaffected Southern California teenager in The Chumscrubber, and the young Jimmy in the 2005 film version of King Kong. Also in 2005, he starred opposite Evan Rachel Wood in the Green Day video Wake Me Up When September Ends, directed by Samuel Bayer. In 2007, he played the title character in Hallam Foe - for which he was nominated for the best actor award at the British Independent Film Awards - and appeared as himself in lonelygirl15 spin-off KateModern. He had roles in two 2008 films: the sci-fi film Jumper and the World War II drama Defiance. In the latter he plays Asael Bielski, the third of the Bielski Brothers - leaders of a partisan group that saved some 1,200 lives during the Holocaust.

In 2009, it was announced Bell would play the title role in the motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin, alongside British double act Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The film was released in 2011. He also starred in the 2011 films The Eagle as Esca and Jane Eyre as St. John Rivers. In 2013, he starred alongside James McAvoy in the film Filth and appeared as Edgar in Snowpiercer.

Since 2014, Bell has appeared as Abraham Woodhull in Turn: Washington's Spies; the third season will begin airing in April 2016. In 2015, he played The Thing in the Fantastic Four reboot.

Personal life

Bell began dating American actress Evan Rachel Wood after they met while co-starring in the music video for Green Day's 2005 song "Wake Me Up When September Ends". After a year together, the couple broke up in 2006. Five years later, in mid-2011, it was reported that Bell and Wood had rekindled their relationship. The couple married in a small ceremony on 30 October 2012. They have one son (born 29 July 2013). Bell and Wood announced that they had separated on 28 May 2014.

In late 2015, Bell began dating his Fantastic Four co-star Kate Mara.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Billy Elliot	Billy Elliot
2002	Deathwatch	Pvt. Charlie Shakespeare
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	Smike
2004	Undertow	Chris Munn
2005	Dear Wendy	Dick Dandelion
2005	The Chumscrubber	Dean Stifle
2005	King Kong	Jimmy
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski
2007	Hallam Foe	Hallam Foe
2008	Jumper	Griffin O'Conner
2008	Defiance	Asael Bielski
2011	The Eagle	Esca
2011	Jane Eyre	St. John Rivers
2011	Retreat	Jack
2011	Stainless Steel	Paul Rufus
2011	The Adventures of Tintin	Tintin (voice)
2012	Man on a Ledge	Joey Cassidy
2013	Snowpiercer	Edgar
2013	Filth	Ray Lennox
2013	Nymphomaniac	K
2015	Fantastic Four	Ben Grimm / The Thing
2016	6 Days	Rusty

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Close & True	Mark Sheedy	1 episode: "Town and Gown"
2014-present	TURN: Washington's Spies	Abraham Woodhull

Music videos

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie	Jimmy (voice)
2008	Jumper: Griffin's Story	Griffin O'Conner (voice)

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2000	Billy Elliot	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Empire Award for Best Debut	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Young Actor	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in an International Film	Won
2000	Billy Elliot	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	European Film Award for Best Actor	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Performance	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Newcomer	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Nominated
2000	Billy Elliot	Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Performance	Nominated
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	National Board of Review Award for Best Cast	Won
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor	Nominated
2004	Undertow	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor	Won
2007	Hallam Foe	BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor	Nominated
2007	Hallam Foe	British Independent Film Award for Best Actor	Nominated
2008	Jumper	MTV Movie Award for Best Fight	Nominated
2013	Nymphomaniac	Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
2016	Fantastic Four	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Combo	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]