James Wilby


James Jonathon Wilby is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the romantic film Maurice for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor.

Early life and education

Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, then studied, for a degree in mathematics, at Grey College, Durham, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Wilby's first appearance on screen was in the Oxford Film Company production Privileged alongside Hugh Grant. He acted with Grant again in the Merchant Ivory period film Maurice, which brought him to the attention of an international audience and earned Wilby and Grant the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award. He then starred in A [Handful of Dust |A Handful of Dust], for which he won the Bari Film Festival Best Actor award. His further roles included A [Tale of Two Cities |A Tale of Two Cities] for Granada Television, Howards End, 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, Wilby 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 tours of Terence Rattigan's Less Than Kind and Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight.

Personal life

Wilby is married to Shana Louise and has four children.
From 1994 to 2015, Wilby owned The Laines, an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex, near Lewes. It was the childhood home of Queen Camilla.

Filmography

Film

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 White |The Woman in White]Sir Percival GlydeTV movie
1997Original SinGerard EtienneTV series
1999The Dark RoomDr. Alan ProtheroeTV movie
2000Trial & RetributionJames McCready2 episodes
2001Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino YearsZippo Montefiore1 episode
2002Bertie and ElizabethKing George VITV 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: "List of [Silent Witness episodes#ep56|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
2006Ancient Rome: [The Rise and Fall of an Empire]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 Robbery |The Great Train Robbery]John WheaterTV mini-series, Episode: A Copper's Tale
2014Law & Order: UKCharles HuttonEpisode: Bad Romance
2014EndeavourACC Clive DeareEpisode: Neverland
2015Death in ParadiseElias ThomsonEpisode: Stab in the Dark
2015Strike BackCharles RidleyTV series, 5 episodes
2016–2017CasualtyArchie Grayling6 episodes
2016Churchill's SecretBrendan BrackenTV movie
2017–2018PoldarkLord Falmouth10 episodes
2018Father BrownSefton ScottEpisode: "The Cat of Mastigatus"
2024The Famous FiveMr VincentEpisode: "Mystery at the Prospect Hotel"
2025I, Jack WrightMax PrestonTV series, 5 episodes

Interviews

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Category:1958 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:People educated at Sedbergh School
Category:Alumni of Grey College, Durham
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:British expatriates in Myanmar
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:Male actors from Yangon
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture [Screen Actors Guild Award winners]
Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members
Category:Volpi Cup for Best Actor winners