Early life
James Andrew McAvoy was born on April 21st, 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland. Born to parents Elizabeth and James, James was raised in the Scotsoun area of Glasgow until his parent’s separation when he was 7 years old. Then, along with his sister, he went to live in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow with his maternal grandparents – Mary and James Johnstone.

James attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill, Glasgow, a Catholic school, and briefly considered joining the Catholic priesthood. During his education he worked at a local bakery. He was a member of PACE Youth Theatre before he eventually graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2000. His sister, Joy McAvoy, is a singer and actress.

Career
McAvoy’s first roles were in David Hayman’s The Near Room in 1995 and then as Anthony Balfour in Pat Barker’s Regeneration in 1997. He received his first big break with a role in the Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries Band of Brothers. His first international starring role was as Leto Atreides II in the 2003 Sci Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (adapted from Frank Herbert’s novels). The same year he also appeared in several episodes of the BBC sitcom Early Doors and co-starred in Paul Abbott’s acclaimed thriller serial State of Play. In 2004, he starred as Steve McBride in another Abbott-written drama series, Shameless on Channel 4, for which he was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Best TV Newcomer. He also appeared in two other productions: Wimbledon as Paul Bettany’s obnoxious brother, Carl Colt; and he played disabled character Rory O’Shea in the Irish film Inside I’m Dancing. In 2005, he starred in three productions: he played Ben in the Royal Court Theatre’s production Breathing Corpses and an adaptation of Macbeth in the four-part BBC production ShakespeaRe-told; he also portrayed Mr. Tumnus, the Faun, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Max/Johnny-2008 in Penelope.

In 2006, McAvoy starred alongside Forest Whitaker as Dr. Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland. The film is an adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel of the same name and gives a fictionalized account of the regime of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin during the 1970s, as seen by his (fictional) personal physician and adviser. The character of Garrigan is a composite of several men who were close to Amin, most notably Englishman Bob Astles, who was a top adviser to Amin during his regime and became known in Uganda as “The White Rat”.

That same year, McAvoy took the lead role in Starter for 10. The film, which was adapted from the novel of the Starter for Ten by David Nicholls, follows the exploits of the nerdy Brian Jackson as he navigates his first year at Bristol University during the mid-1980s. McAvoy won the new Mary Selway/Orange Rising Star Award at the 2006 BAFTA Awards for his role. He also completed filming of Penelope in 2006, but due to distribution problems the film was not put in wide release until 2008.

In 2007 McAvoy appeared in two critically acclaimed films: Becoming Jane, a fictional romance inspired by the life of Jane Austen, alongside Anne Hathaway, and Atonement, an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s award-winning 2001 novel. McAvoy was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Atonement. During this time he workshopped scenes for the film Three Way Split for directors Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, but will not take part in the actual film.

McAvoy’s film, Wanted, was released on 25 June 2008. Loosely based on the comic book miniseries by the same name, McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, a twenty-five year old everyman who is offered the opportunity to avenge the death of his father, who was an assassin. The character is then trained by his father’s partner, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), and by Sloan’s second-in-command, Fox, played by Angelina Jolie. McAvoy will appear in the forthcoming film The Last Station, planned for worldwide release in 2009. The film is based on the 1990 novel by Jay Parini about the final year of Leo Tolstoy’s life, and co-stars McAvoy’s wife, Anne-Marie Duff. McAvoy is currently working on Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator”. McAvoy will also star in the upcoming film “I’m With Cancer,” which will be directed by Nicole Holofcener and produced by Seth Rogen.

McAvoy is a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross with whom he travelled to Uganda to raise awareness of the projects there.

Personal Life
James is a life-long supporter of Scottish Premiership team ‘Celtic’. In 2006, he married ‘Shameless’ co-star Anne Marie-Duff.