James Norton
James Norton
James Geoffrey Ian Nortonis an English actor. He is best known for roles in the British TV series Happy Valley, Grantchester and War & Peace. For his role as ex-convict Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley, Norton was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2015...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth18 July 1985
CityLondon, England
characters compare fantasy next remote shocking
If you compare the violence in 'Happy Valley' to the violence in something like 'Game of Thrones,' it's nothing. But it is shocking because it's so real and grounded. The characters could live next door to you - they're not in a remote fantasy world.
Being in a person's head for five months, where they're so hateful, is kind of exhausting.
admired amazing blessed both eddie far learn list mcqueen met olivia people steve talent time whom work
As far as people I'd like to work with, the list is endless. I think to work with Steve McQueen would be amazing, and then some of the U.K. talent we have: Eddie Marsan, Olivia Colman, both of whom I have met and admired for a long time. We're very blessed in this country; there is so much talent for people to work with and learn from.
asking courage good musician people takes
It takes a lot of courage, when everyone is asking you what you want to do, if you say that you want to be a musician or an actor; people can be very condescending and say, 'Oh, that's so sweet, good luck with that!' It can be very frustrating.
distant great
For any actor, it's a great privilege to play a character that is very distant from yourself.
buying convinced fit men problem senseless sold stop time vintage
For a long time I had a vintage stall, where I sold men's vintage clothing, and my girlfriend was convinced it was just to do with a problem I had where I just couldn't stop buying senseless clothes, even if they didn't fit me.
character field playing time
You don't want a character who sits on an even playing field the whole time.
I wanted to do a degree in something I was interested in before going into acting.
character judging cynical
If you're constantly stepping outside of the character and judging them, you'll never really be able to fully engage because you'll always be slightly cynical.
stars thinking actors
Every day, every scene, you were like, "My god. I'm doing a scene with Brian Cox today and then I'm onto a scene with Stephen Rea." For us young actors, I think we were all very, very star-struck and impressed by the caliber of everyone who came out.
summer falling-in-love jobs
The Russians were all really accommodating, and that made it really special. To be allowed in Catherine's Summer Palace...Lily [James] and I have this scene where we fall in love and we waltz up and down this enormous gold hall with thousands of candles and a live orchestra and 300 Russian extras. To do those scenes in situ really meant it was a once-in-a-lifetime job.
character trying spend-time
You really try to work the character out and spend time in the headspace of the character. That's what I did.
falling-in-love military war
There's so much going on in Andrei [Bolkonsky]. He's wrangling with these big existential conundrums, and he tries out different routes to fulfillment. He tries falling in love, that doesn't work. He goes to war and searches for military glory, that doesn't work. He does the quiet life of a farmer. He's always active. That's what I loved about him, he's always looking, searching. He's really inquisitive.
thinking people want
As an actor, I think most people have a tendency to want to demonstrate that they can act, they can emote.