James Murray (English actor)
James Murray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 January 1975 Manchester, England |
| Other names | Jim Murray |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1998-present |
| Spouse | Sarah Parish (2007 - present) |
| Children | 2 |
James Murray also known as Jim Murray, is an English actor, artist and fundraiser.
Early life
Murray was born in Manchester. He was awarded a Classics scholarship by Malvern college, and has a degree in Film. His great-grandfather, Richard Hollins Murray, invented the reflecting lens in 1927.[1]
Career
Murray found fame in Primeval (ITV 2008) as expert tracker Stephen Hart, and in Cucumber (Ch4 2015) as conflicted character Daniel Coltrane. Earlier on in his career he starred in a series of both film and television pieces, including the comedy series Roger-Roger (1999), legal drama series North Square (2000), mini series Other People's Children (2000) and Sons & Lovers (2003), a Granada production of The Sittaford Mystery (2006) as Charles Burnaby, a film of the Thomas Hardy story Under the Greenwood Tree (2005) as Dick Dewy, plus earlier films Nailing Vienna (2002) as Peter, All the King's Men (1999) as Pvt Will Needham, and Phoenix Blue (2001) as Rick. He also found more permanent roles in Channel 4's 20 Things to Do Before You're 30 (2003) playing Glen and BBC One's season four of Cutting It (2005) as Liam Carney.
Murray starred in the ITV science fiction series Primeval as Stephen Hart, Nick Cutter's lab technician, in both series one (2007) and series two (2008).
Murray had the leading role of the father, Frank Davis, in It's Alive (2008) a remake of the '70s horror classic by Larry Cohen.
He had a role in Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, a comic fantasy series for Comedy Central and BBC Two, which began airing in April 2009. His character is Ralph Longshaft.
In the US James was a lead in the CBS spy caper series CHAOS from 2010 to 2011. His character was called Billy Collins.
He was cast as Mayor Niles Pottinger,[2] the new Mayor of Defiance. The second series of Defiance started production in August, 2013 in Toronto and continued until December 2013. Series 2 aired 19 June 2014. James appeared in one episode (ep.3 Dead Air) of the third series which aired 27 June 2015.
He took over from Fay Ripley as lead DCI in completely improvised show Suspects as DCI Daniel Drummond,[3] which aired 3 to 31 August 2016 (all six episodes).
He starred as the father, Edward,[4] in the three part ITV supernatural series HIM.
In 2016 James played The Doge of Venice in season 1 of Netflix’s Medici masters of Florence, before playing the lead role of Wesley opposite Polly Walker in BBC1’s Age before Beauty.
In 2017 James directed his old friend veteran actor Robert Hardy CBE in his last role alongside Nina Sosanya in his short film Familia.
He appeared as Caleb in the Ryan Reynolds film 6 Underground released in December 2019. He was Chief Superintendent John Houseman in the ITV series McDonald & Dodds.[5]
In 2021 James was cast as Colonel Chic Harding in Apple TV’s WW2 epic bomber drama Masters of the Air. The series is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and exec produced by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Personal life
Murray married his Cutting It co-star Sarah Parish in Hampshire on 15 December 2007, following a two-year romance. On 18 January 2008, it was announced that Parish was pregnant with their first child.[6] Their daughter was born 5 weeks premature in May 2008 and died in January 2009 aged 8 months due to a congenital heart defect.[7]
In her honour, Parish and Murray are raising funds[8] for the Children's Intensive Care unit at Southampton General Hospital where she was cared for.[9] Their daughter Nell was born 21 November 2009.[10]
Murray co-founded the Murray Parish Trust with his wife in 2014.[11] In 2018 the charity raised £4 million to build a new paediatric Emergency and Trauma department for the South of England.[citation needed]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Coronation Street | Sandy Hunter | Soap opera (5 episodes) |
| 1999 | Roger Roger | Jason the Gardener | TV series (1 episode: "Two Much Wine, Too Many Stars") |
| All the King's Men | Pte. Will Needham | TV film | |
| 2000 | Peak Practice | Marcus Johnson | TV series (1 episode: "Turning Tides") |
| Kevin & Perry Go Large | Candice's Adonis | Film | |
| Other People's Children | Lucas | TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 1.3") | |
| North Square | Johnny Boy | TV series (10 episodes) | |
| 2001 | Phoenix Blue | Rick | Film |
| 2002 | Nailing Vienna | Peter | Film |
| Clocking Off | Mark Talbot | TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 3.3") | |
| Always and Everyone | Dr. Danny Barton | TV series (8 episodes: "Episode No. 4.1 – No. 4.8") | |
| 2003 | Sons and Lovers | William Morel | TV film |
| 20 Thing's to Do Before You're 30 | Glen | TV series (7 episodes) | |
| Keen Eddie | Colin Kinney | TV series (1 episode: "Eddie Loves Baseball") | |
| 2004 | Cutting It | Liam Carney | TV series (12 episodes: 2004-2005) |
| 2005 | Under the Greenwood Tree | Dick Dewy | TV film |
| 2006 | Agatha Christie's Marple: The Sittaford Mystery | Charles Burnaby | TV film |
| 2007 | Primeval | Stephen Hart | TV series (13 episodes: 2007-2008) |
| 2009 | It's Alive | Frank Davis | Film |
| Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire | Ralph Longshaft | TV series (4 episodes) | |
| 2011 | CHAOS | Billy Collins | TV series (Pilot and 12 episodes: 2011) |
| 2012 | New Tricks | Luke Oswald | TV series (1 episode: "Dead Poets" – No. 9.7) |
| 2013 | Death in Paradise | Ronnie Stuart | TV series (1 episode: "A Dash of Sunshine" – No. 2.6) |
| Midsomer Murders | Ollie Tabori | TV series (1 episode: "A Christmas Haunting" – No.16.1) | |
| 2014 | Defiance | Niles Pottinger | TV series (Series 2-all eps, Series 3 ep 3) |
| 2015 | Cucumber | Daniel Coltrane | TV series (Series 1, ep1-6) |
| 2016 | Suspects | D.C.I.Daniel Drummond | TV series (Series 5, ep1-6) |
| HIM | Edward | TV series (all 3 episodes) | |
| Medici: Masters of Florence | Doge Foscari | TV series(Series 1, ep 5) | |
| 2018 | Age Before Beauty | Wesley | TV series (all 6 episodes) |
| 2019 | 6 Underground | Caleb | Film |
| 2020 | McDonald & Dodds | Chief Superintendent John Houseman | TV series (3 episodes: 2020-2021) |
References
- ^ "Patent US1625905 - Light-reflecting device or unit".
- ^ "James Murray Cast as Series Regular on Defiance Season 2". TV Fanatic.
- ^ "James Murray joins the cast of Suspects". Channel5.
- ^ "HIM tv series at ITV.com".
- ^ "James Murray cast in ITV's Invisible". ITV.
- ^ "'Cutting It' star Sarah expecting first child with husband James".
- ^ Sarah Parish Mourning Death of Daughter Ella-Jayne Celebrity Baby Blog, 20 January 2009
- ^ "The Murray Parish Trust".
- ^ "Welcome To Friends of PICU : Friends of PICU". Friends of PICU.
- ^ "rosie mitchell is fundraising for Friends of PICU".
- ^ "About The Murray Parish Trust". Retrieved 14 May 2019.
