James Wilby


James Jonathon Wilby is an English actor.

Early life and education

Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall School, North Yorkshire and Sedbergh School in Cumbria, and from there went on to study for a degree in Mathematics at Grey College, University of Durham, and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Wilby's first appearance on screen was in the Oxford Film Company 1982 production Privileged alongside Hugh Grant. He is known to an international audience for roles in Maurice, for which he received Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award with co-star Hugh Grant. He then starred in A Handful of Dust, for which he won the Bari Film Festival Best Actor award. Then came A Tale of Two Cities, Howards End, the critically acclaimed Regeneration, Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary, Gosford Park and Alain Robbe-Grillet's C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle co-starring Arielle Dombasle which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
On stage, he starred in the 1995 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre. He then appeared in a production of Helping Harry at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2001; and in 2004 as the title character in a run of Don Juan at the Lyric Theatre. He has also starred in On Emotion at the Soho Theatre; The Consultant by Neil Fleming and the Hydrocracker Theatre Company at Theatre503 in London; and in a tour of Terence Rattigan's Less Than Kind.
He appeared on television in two episodes of ITV's Trial & Retribution as the killer of his boyfriend.

Personal life

He is married to Shana Louise and has four children.

Filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
1982PrivilegedJamie
1985DreamchildBaker
1985A Room with a ViewParty GuestUncredited
1987MauriceMaurice Hall
1988A Handful of DustTony Last
1988A Summer StoryMr. Ashton
1989ConspiracyStringer
1991The Siege of VeniceMilord Runbiff
1991Adam BedeArthur Donnithorne
1992Howards EndCharles Wilcox
1992Immaculate ConceptionAlistair
1994La partie d'échecsLord Staunton
1997Regeneration2nd Lt. Siegfried Sassoon
1998An Ideal HusbandSir Robert Chiltern
1999Tom's Midnight GardenUncle Alan Kitson
1999Cotton MaryJohn MacIntosh
2001Jump TomorrowNathan
2001Gosford ParkFreddie Nesbitt
2004De-LovelyEdward Thomas
2006Gradiva John Locke
2008Lady GodivaLeofric
2009Shadows in the SunRobert
2011We Need to Talk About KeiranProfessor Hugh Merrill
2017The Sense of an EndingDavid Ford

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
1984The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesYoung BarclayEpisode: "The Crooked Man"
1984The BillHigginsEpisode: "A Friend in Need"
1985Dutch GirlsDundineTV movie
1988The StorytellerPrinceEpisode: "Sapsorrow"
1989A Tale of Two CitiesSydney CartonTV mini-series
1989Mother LoveChristopher "Kit" VeseyTV mini-series
1991Screen OneMichael EvansEpisode: "Tell Me That You Love Me"
1993You, Me and ItCharles HendersonTV mini-series, 3 episodes
1993Lady ChatterleySir Clifford Chatterley4 episodes
1994Crocodile ShoesAde LynnTV mini-series, 6 episodes
1996The Treasure SeekersHenry CarlisleTV movie
1996Witness Against HitlerHelmuth James von MoltkeTV movie
1996Tales from the CryptNick MarvinEpisode: "Horrors in the Night"
1997The Woman in WhiteSir Percival GlydeTV movie
1997Original SinGerard EtienneTV series
1999The Dark RoomDr. Alan ProtheroeTV movie
2000Trial & RetributionJames McCready2 episodes
2001'Zippo Montefiore1 episode
2002Bertie and ElizabethKing George VI, aka "Bertie"TV film
2002Westlife: Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits, Volume IHigh class customer video
2002George Eliot: A Scandalous LifeGeorge SpencerTV film
2003Murder in MindDaniel Morton/Sir Richard MortonEpisode: "Echoes"
2003Sparkling CyanideStephen FarradayTV movie
2004Island at WarSen. James DorrTV mini-series, 3 episodes
2004Silent WitnessMatt GibbTV series, 2 episodes: "Nowhere Fast"
2004Foyle's WarMajor CornwallEpisode: "They Fought in the Fields"
2005JerichoAlan MillsTV series
2006Surviving DisasterDavid SheahanEpisode: "Fastnet Yacht Race"
2006Agatha Christie's Marple: The Sittaford MysteryStanley KirkwoodTV movie
2006'Ofonius TigellinusEpisode: "Nero"
2007LewisHugh MalloryEpisode: "Expiation"
2007The Last Days of the RajLord MountbattenTV movie
2007Clapham JunctionJulian RowanTV movie
2007Little DevilAdrian BishopTV mini-series, Episode: "Episode #1.3"
2007Impact EarthJosh HaydenTV movie
2008A Risk Worth TakingPatrick TrenchardTV film
2008Agatha Christie's PoirotAndrew RestarickEpisode: "Third Girl"
2010Midsomer MurdersEdward MiltonEpisode: "The Made-to-Measure Murders"
2011Secret Diary of a Call GirlHenryEpisode: "Episode #4.4"
2012TitanicJ. Bruce IsmayTV series, 4 episodes
2012The Best Possible TasteWilfred De'AthBBC TV movie
2013The Great Train RobberyJohn WheaterTV mini-series, Episode: A Copper's Tale
2014Charles HuttonEpisode: Bad Romance
2014EndeavourACC Clive DeareEpisode: Neverland
2015Death in ParadiseElias ThomsonEpisode: Stab in the Dark
2015Strike BackCharles RidleyTV series, 5 episodes
2016Churchill's SecretBrendan BrackenTV movie
2017PoldarkLord FalmouthTV, series 3

Interviews

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