James Faulkner (actor)

For other people with the same name, see James Faulkner.

James Faulkner
Faulkner in 2018
Born	James Sebastian Faulkner (1948-07-18) 18 July 1948 Hampstead, London, England
Education	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	Kate Faulkner
Children	2

James Sebastian Faulkner (born 18 July 1948) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Pope Sixtus IV in the television series Da Vinci's Demons (2013–2015), Randyll Tarly in the television series Game of Thrones (2016–2017), and Saint Paul in the film Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018).

Early life

Having trained as a chorister from the age of seven at the Royal School of Church Music at Addington Palace, he was a permanent member of the choir and often called upon as a soloist. He also took part in every house play, school play, choral society concert and ran the Puppet Club alongside its founder, the journalist Roger Wilkes.

On leaving school he worked as Prep schoolmaster, rugby coach, waiter, barman and professional Santa Claus before auditioning for the waiting list of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 1967. After three years of exhaustive training he won the lead role in the final graduation production of Kiss Me Kate. The following day, several theatrical agencies wrote to him and he signed at ICM and joined Prospect Theatre for Much Ado About Nothing, the main event at the 1970 Edinburgh Festival. A season at Chichester Festival Theatre followed with such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud and Dame Edith Evans and he then transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre in the West End with Jean Anouilh's Dear Antoine, meeting the author on the opening night.

Career

Faulkner made his big screen debut as Josef Strauss in The Great Waltz in 1972. He played the arrogant Lieutenant Millington in Anderson's Conduct Unbecoming of 1975 starring with Michael York, Richard Attenborough and Trevor Howard.

He appeared in other films such as Whispering Death and Minder on the Orient Express in which he played gangster Ted Moore. Other film appearances saw him play Lt. Teignmouth Melvill in Zulu Dawn that he co-produced, and as Uncle Geoffrey in both Bridget Jones films.

He played Herod Agrippa in the BBC's 1976 television adaptation of I, Claudius and portrayed Aldous Huxley in 1981's Priest of Love.

In 1988 he portrayed one of the biggest enemies of Sherlock Holmes, Stapleton, in Granada Television's production of The Hound of the Baskervilles, opposite Jeremy Brett.

In 1991, he played Alex Mair, the manager of the Larksoken nuclear power plant, in an Anglia production of the P. D. James novel featuring her character Inspector Adam Dalgliesh, Devices and Desires. He has also portrayed Agent Smith in the film Hitman. He was also the principal antagonist Baron Mullins in the short-lived Anglo-American television show, Covington Cross.

He voiced Severus Snape in the video game version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He also co-starred as Lord Duncan Kenworth in the action comedy Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.

In 2008 Faulkner played Cardinal Rhades in the German thriller Der Bibelcode (The Bible Code).

Faulkner was cast as Pope Sixtus IV in BBC Worldwide's historical fantasy drama series Da Vinci's Demons in 2013.

He was also cast to play Lord Sinderby in the highly acclaimed Edwardian costume drama Downton Abbey produced by ITV in 2014.

In 2015, Faulkner played the lead antagonist, T.O.M, of philosophical puzzle game The Turing Test.

In 2016 he joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as Randyll Tarly, the father of Samwell Tarly.

In 2018, Faulkner played Paul in the biblical drama film, Paul, Apostle of Christ.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	The Great Waltz	Josef Strauss
1974	The Abdication	Magnus de la Gardie
1975	Conduct Unbecoming	2nd Lt. Edward Millington
1976	Whispering Death	Terrick
1979	Zulu Dawn	Teignmouth Melvill
1980	Flashpoint Africa	Ramon Funes
1981	Priest of Love	Aldous Huxley
1983	Eureka	Roger
1989	The Shadow Trader
1992	Carry On Columbus	Torquemada
1992	Lovejoy 'Friends in High Places'	Alfredo Pereira
1996	Crimetime	Crowley
2001	Burning Down the House	Hal Lander
	Bridget Jones's Diary	Uncle Geoffrey
2003	I Capture the Castle	Aubrey Fox-Cotton
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Uncle Geoffrey
	Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London	Lord Duncan Kenworth
2005	Colour Me Kubrick	Oliver
2006	The Conclave	Cardinal Guillaume D'Estouteville
	The Good Shepherd	Lord Cooper
2007	Hitman	Smith Jamison
2008	The Bank Job	Guy Singer
2011	X-Men: First Class	Swiss Bank Manager
2016	Bridget Jones's Baby	Uncle Geoffrey
2016	Underworld: Blood Wars	Cassius
2017	Final Portrait	Pierre Matisse
2017	Atomic Blonde	Chief C
2018	Paul, Apostle of Christ	Saint Paul

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	I, Claudius	Herod Agrippa	TV serial, 6 episodes
1978	Hazel	Gordon Gregory	6 episodes
1985	The Bill	Sidney Sharman	Episode: Burning the Books
1986	First Among Equals	Simon Kerslake	TV serial
1989	Frederick Forsyth Presents	Markus Vogel	Just Another Secret (1989)
1998	Taggart	Colonel Robert Falkirk	Episode: Dead Reckoning (Series 14 Episode 41)
2010	Ben Hur	Marcellus	TV mini-series, 2 episodes
2013–15	Da Vinci's Demons	Pope Sixtus IV	24 episodes
2014	Downton Abbey	Lord Sinderby	4 episodes
2016–2017	Game of Thrones	Randyll Tarly	5 episodes
2016	Life on Earth: A New Prehistory	Narrator	3 episodes
2018	Death in Paradise	Frank O'Toole	Episode: Written in Murder (Series 7 Episode 3)
2018	Watership Down	Frith	Episode: The Journey

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage	Voice
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Professor Severus Snape (voice)
2012	Blades of Time	Voice
2012	Blades of Time: Dismal Swamp	Voice	DLC
2014	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Cassandra's Associate (voice)
2016	The Turing Test	T.O.M (voice)
2018	League of Legends	Swain (voice)

External links

• The Official James Faulkner Website
• James Faulkner at IMDb