Damien Lewis is a talented actor whose existence the audience learned through the Brothers in Arms series. In this television project, Steven Spielberg, he played the role of the brave major paratrooper Richard Winters. Life as a Sentence, Will, Unfinished Life, Shakespeare in a New Way, The Forsyte Saga - famous films and series with Damien. What else can you say about the British actor?
Damien Lewis: Family
The future performer of the role of Richard Winters was born in London, there was a joyful event in February 1971. Damien Lewis was born into the family of a successful stockbroker and housewife. He became the third child of his parents, who already had a son, William and a daughter, Amanda. A few years later, Damien had another brother, a boy named Gareth.
Lewis owned housing in the elite St. Johns Wood area, which is famous for its historic sites.
Education
Damien Lewis received an excellent education. At the age of eight, the boy was sent to the prestigious Ashdown House boarding school. In childhood, the main passion of the future actor was sports, he liked to play football, tennis, golf, cricket. Then the parents identified their son at Eton College, the founder of which is King Henry the Fourth.
Already during college, Damien began to dream about the acting profession. The teenager even tried to organize his own theater group. "Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - the first performance staged by Lewis and his team.
In 1990, Damien Lewis became a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Theater. Many of today's stars studied with him in this institution, for example, Joseph Fiennes, Daniel Craig. By the time he graduated from school, the young man no longer doubted that he wanted to connect life with the acting profession.
Theatrical career
In 1993, a graduate of the Guildhall School joined the troupe of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He did this at the invitation of his teacher Colin McCormack. Lewis Damien performed his first roles in Shakespearean productions. At first they were insignificant, but gradually more and more serious tasks began to trust him.
In the play Hamlet, Jonathan Kent Lewis embodied the image of Laertes. It was this role that helped him get an offer to star in the TV series Brothers in Arms from Steven Spielberg himself. The director saw the actor on stage and was impressed by his play.
In what famous productions has Lewis Damien played over the years of work? “Five Golden Rings”, “Pillars of Society”, “Misanthrope” are just some of them. Of particular note is the sensational play "Misanthrope", in which the lyceum brilliantly played the role of Alceste.
First roles
Damien played his first role in a big movie in 1997, the debut for him was the picture "Robinson Crusoe" - an adaptation of the famous work of Daniel Defoe. Before that, the actor managed to star in episodes of several series, for example, Poirot, Detective Jack Frost, Vicar of Dibley.
The famous actor Damien Lewis became thanks to the drama "Brothers in Arms", in which he was called by Stephen Spielberg. The series tells about the tragic events taking place during the Second World War. The hero of Lewis is the brave paratrooper Richard Winters, ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of saving other people. The star role gave the actor not only thousands of fans, but also a nomination for the Golden Globe.
"The Forsyte Saga"
"The Forsyte Saga" is another sensational television project, in the filming of which Damien took part. The plot of the series, presented to the audience in 2002, is borrowed from the work of the same name by John Galsworthy. The actor got the role of one of the key characters - Soames Forsyth.
In 1967, the image of this hero brilliantly embodied Eric Porter, so Lewis doubted that he was able to play Soames just as well. As a result, the “new” Soames really liked the audience and critics. The hero of Damien turned out repulsive and at the same time provoking sympathy, as it should be.
Interesting movies and TV shows
After the release of The Forsyte Saga, Damien Lewis continued to act in films, films and series with his participation came out one after another. In 2004, the actor embodied the image of one of the key characters in the fantastic thriller Dream Catcher. He played Johnsy - a simple guy whose body captures an alien creature.
In the same year, another film was released with the participation of the actor - the picture "In the hands of God." From a commercial point of view, the film project failed, but critics did not have any complaints about Damien's game. The actor had to convey the suffering of a father who is losing his beloved child, gradually losing his mind from grief. Lewis brilliantly coped with this difficult task.
The mini-series “Escape from the Castle of Colditz” with the participation of Damien takes the audience during the Second World War. The actor did a good job with the role of a rebellious young officer who commits a daring escape from a Gothic castle, which by someone else's will became a maximum security prison.
Filmography
For many years, Damien Lewis has been actively filming. The complete filmography of the actor contains about fifty films and series. The most famous of them are listed above. It is also worth mentioning a novelty with the participation of Lewis - the television project "Billions", which has already managed to win a huge audience.
In The Billions, Damien embodied the image of one of the key characters. His character is a successful and confident businessman Bobby Axelrod. The adversary of the lucky Wall Street businessman is the Attorney General Chuck Rhodes, who intends to send the enemy to jail at all costs.
