Jack Davenport

With his thick dark hair, gleaming green eyes and rich plummy voice, Jack Davenport became a TV star in his native Britain as Miles, the flatmate from hell with a bad haircut, a Neanderthal attitude toward women and seemingly lacking any social grace in the cult BBC drama "This Life" (1996-97). Despite playing a character who was on the surface an absolute tosser, Davenport skillfully lent a layer of charm and sly sexiness to the part making the solicitor a character views loved to hate.

The son of actors Nigel Davenport and Maria Aitken, he spent much of his youth on a farm run by his parents. After their separation, Davenport was sent to boarding school. Although he tried acting in his first year at college, he had no intention of following in his folks' stead but fate intervened. His mother had appeared as John Cleese's wife in "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988) and she suggested her son contact Cleese who was making a sort of reunion film, "Fierce Creatures" (lensed 1995; released 1997). Davenport, who had majored in film studies, inquired after a production job. Cleese, however, forwarded the letter to the film's casting agent who hired Davenport for the small role of a student zookeeper.

Now intrigued by acting, Davenport went through a rigorous audition process to land his star-making role as Miles. Once he became a known quantity, he began landing parts in other British productions, like playing Malcolm in a 1998 TV version of "Macbeth". Moving away from his image as a bounder, Davenport played the first of several police detective roles in another cult British series, "Ultraviolet" (1998). Often referred to a low-budget take on the popular US series "The X-Files", the actor was cast as a leather jacket-wearing cop whose duty was to track down vampires. As it happened the role was a warm-up for his feature turn as a detective investigating murders committed by a vampire (Jude Law) in "The Wisdom of Crocodiles" (1998; released in the USA in 2000). He and Law were both also featured as jet set chums who have ties to Matt Damon's title character in the high profile Anthony Minghella drama "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999). As the homosexual musician Peter Smith-Kingsley, Davenport offered a memorable supporting turn and his scenes with Damon crackled. While he awaited that next big screen role, the actor returned to British TV to co-star with Iain Glen in the period thriller "The Wyvern Mystery" (BBC, 2000). He returned to series work later that year acting opposite Gina Bellman in the sitcom "Coupling".

• Born:
  March 1, 1973 in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Father: Nigel Davenport. Divorced from Maria Aitken c. 1979
• Grandfather: Bill Aitken. Served as a member of Parliament
• Grandmother: Penelope Aitken.
• Great-grandfather: Lord Rugby. Maternal great-grandfather
• Mother: Maria Aitken. Divorced from Nigel Davenport c. 1979; assumed guardianship of brother s children after his incarceration
• Step-father: Patrick McGrath. Married Jack s mother Maria Aitken
• Uncle: Jonathan Aitken. Appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Prime Minister John Major; resigned in 1995, to defend himself against accusations that whilst serving as Minister of State he violated ministerial rules by allowing an Arab businessman to pay for his stay in the Paris Ritz; charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months; also published the biography, Nixon: A Life (1993), of former US President Richard Nixon

Education

• The Dragon School, Oxford, England

Milestones

• 1995 Wrote letter to John Cleese asking for a production job on Fierce Creatures (1997); Cleese sent the letter to casting and he was cast in a small role as a student zookeeper
• 1996 Breakthrough role as the tactless, lovable solicitor Miles Stewart in the BBC series This Life
• 1997 Featured in the British TV miniseries The Moth
• 1998 Appeared as Malcolm in a TV production of Macbeth
• 1998 Cast as vampire hunting policeman Michael Colefield in the British series Ultraviolet
• 1998 Co-starred with Jude Law in The Wisdom of Crocodiles
• 1999 Acted opposite Honor Fraser in the short The Cookie Thief
• 1999 Cast as a musician who falls for the title character in The Talented Mr. Ripley ; second collaboration with Jude Law
• 1999 Portrayed a detective in Russel Mulchahy s Tale of the Mummy
• 2000 Starred alongside Gina Bellman in the British sitcom Coupling (BBC2)
• 2000 Acted with Iain Glen in the period horror thriller The Wyvern Mystery (BBC)
• 2001 Had first prominent stage role in an adaptation of The Servant
• 2002 Co-starred with Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson in Oscar Wilde s Lady Windermere s Fan
• 2003 Portrayed Lt. James Norrington opposite Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• 2005 Cast opposite Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney in The Wedding Date
• 2006 Reprised role of Lt. James Norrington in Gore Verbinski s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man s Chest
• 2007 Reprised role of James Norrington in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World s End
• 2008 Cast as a regular in the short-lived CBS wife-swapping drama Swingtown
• 2009 Cast as Lloyd Simcoe in ABC s sci-fi series FlashForward
• Briefly tried acting while at university
• Lived in Ibiza for the first seven years of his life