James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
William James Nesbitt, OBEis an actor and presenter from Northern Ireland. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster. He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth15 January 1965
CountryIreland
Unification is less important than the fact Ireland is now conflict-free.
When you see a tumour in the brain, it's an ugly looking thing. It's kind of black, grisly and messy. Or it can be white. To see it taken away is just amazing.
Although surgeons know how to deal with bits of the brain, they don't really know how it works.
A lot of people of my Ulster Protestant background would have been very suspicious of the notion of a film about Bloody Sunday. Our fear would have been that it would be terribly anti-Britain and anti-soldiers: a piece of nationalist propaganda.
All my adult life, there was the Troubles. That was the backdrop of my life.
That thing of briefly losing sight of a child happened to me when the kids were younger, and you can't see them in the supermarket or wherever. It's a terrible, terrible moment... the most unimaginable horror.
As fabulous as technology is, it can also make us very anxious.
Actually, I played Pontius Pilate as nice. An actor spends his life thinking he is Christ, and then he gets to play the character that killed him.
Acting was a godsend. I found myself because I loved acting.
Acting is something you didn't do in Ireland.
Drama asks some uncomfortable questions at times... It goes to pretty dark places.
Northern Ireland has treated me well, you know?
I think a lot of us who grew up in Northern Ireland weren't politicised enough, frankly.
Kids at a certain age don't necessarily want to be dragged to the other side of the world.