JAMIE
BELL

Jamie Bell was born on 14 March 1986 in Billingham, England. His first feature-film role brought him international attention, but his subsequent work has taken him across period drama, adventure and stories about real people.

In Billy Elliot (2000), Bell plays a boy drawn to ballet in a northern English mining community. The role won him the BAFTA for leading actor in 2001, when he was 14. The film’s emotional force rests partly on the contrast between Billy’s private excitement and the pressures of home.

He followed that debut with roles in films including King Kong (2005), and later played Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin (2011). In Snowpiercer (2013), he appears as Edgar amid the passengers confined aboard a train carrying survivors through a frozen world.

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017) casts Bell as actor Peter Turner, whose relationship with Gloria Grahame forms the story’s center. His performance earned a second BAFTA leading-actor nomination; the film draws on Turner’s memoir.

In Rocketman (2019), Bell plays Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s longtime lyricist and collaborator. His varied roles show a career that has grown beyond the instantly recognizable character who first introduced him to audiences.