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James Purefoy
James Purefoy was born and brought up in Somerset. After leaving school at the age of sixteen he took a succession of different jobs, including working on a pig farm and as a porter at Yeovil District Hospital, before travelling and working extensively throughout Europe. At eighteen James returned to college to take his A-Levels, one of which was Drama. It was there that he realised that this was something he felt inspired by and so applied for and was accepted onto the acting course at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Whilst playing the title role in Henry V in the first term of his final year at Central he was seen by a casting director from the RSC and invited to join the company immediately in Stratford. Although initially asked only to play Ferdinand in Nick Hytner's production of The Tempest he left the RSC two years later having performed in eight productions and been directed by the likes of Adrian Noble, Roger Michell and Gene Saks playing, amongst other, Edgar in King Lear and Malcolm in Macbeth. Over the next six years he divided his time between theatre and television. In the theatre he worked with Katie Mitchell on Women of Troy at the Gate; Matthew Warchus, Ken Stott and Jude Law on Death of a Salesman at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; Iain Glen on Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic; Bill Alexander in a critically acclaimed season at Birmingham Rep playing leading parts in The Servant, The Way of the World and Macbeth and with Simon Callow, Joseph Fiennes Rupert Graves, and Helen McCrory, on Les Enfants du Paradis, again for the RSC. As well as appearing in the BBC's landmark period drama, _"Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The" (1996) (mini)_ he has always chosen to do a wide variety of parts on television, to avoid being typecast. From the psychopathic rapist in BBC1's Calling the Shots (1993) (TV) with Lynn Redgrave to the fraudster Darius Guppy in LWT's The Prince; from the urbane observer Nick Jenkins in Channel 4's "A Dance to the Music of Time" (1997) to the sad stalker in Granada's series "Metropolis" (2000), James has always managed to confound people's expectations of him. Over the last few years he has been busy making feature films, on average at the rate of three a year. Early credits include Jedd in Feast Of July (1995) for Merchant Ivory, and as the bisexual Irish baker, Brendan in Rose Troche's Bedrooms and Hallways (1998). From the alcoholic roustabout Tom in Mansfield Park (1999) to the wannabee 'Bond' actor Carl Phipps in Maybe Baby (2000); the gambling, womanising Daniel in Women Talking Dirty (1999) with Helena Bonham Carter to the noble, enigmatic Prince Edward in Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale (2001). He has continued to surprise those who seek to pidgeon-hole him in his film career - always choosing to play parts that juxtapose strongly with the one he has just completed. Last year he returned to the theatre to play the rake Ned Loveless in Trevor Nunn's acclaimed production of 'The Relapse' at the National Theatre in London, before embarking on the biggest challenge he has yet faced - playing George in the big budget _ George And The Dragon (2003)_, with, among others, Michael Clarke Duncan, Val Kilmer, Piper Perabo and Patrick Swayze. This movie will be released in the summer of 2003. He lives alone in London.
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What members say |
Filmography
James Purefoy - news / articles
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Purefoy's agony over Solomon Kane role -
22 February 2010
-James Purefoy regrets employing a former Special Forces expert to get him into shape for action movie Solomon Kane - because the personal trainer made him exercise for 12 hours a day.-
-The Resident Evil star plays a 16th Century killer in the film and decided he need
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Purefoy collects movie swords -
19 September 2009
-James Purefoy loves signing up for swordfighting epics - because it's a cheap way of updating his impressive blade collection.-
-The Resident Evil star always insists on keeping the swords his characters have wielded in projects like A Knight's Tale, Rome, Don Quixote
James Purefoy - what members say
review by A customer from Winchester, England
Reese Witherspoon fans only 23 June 2005
review by from Andover, Hampshire England
Bad Boy Blackbeard 1 October 2007
review by from Andover, Hampshire England
Carry on Centurion 7 September 2006
James Purefoy - filmography
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John Carter - Blu-ray
(2012)
Starring: Ciaran Hinds, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins
Director: Andrew Stanton
Certificate: 
Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a ..read more »
 
73%
from 23 members
Due for release on 2nd July 2012
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John Carter
(2012)
Starring: Ciaran Hinds, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins
Director: Andrew Stanton
Certificate:
Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a ..read more »
69%
from 176 members
Due for release on 2nd July 2012
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Injustice
(2 discs)
on DVD
(2011)
Starring: Charlie Creed-Miles, Lisa Diveney, James Purefoy
Director: Anthony Horowitz
Certificate: 
In this compelling five-part psychological thriller, a defence barrister is faced with the proposition: what can you do when you have defended the indefensible? When the man you have helped proved innocent is, in fact, guilty? James Purefoy stars as a criminal barrister recovering from a traumatic ..read more »
69%
from 279 members
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Ironclad
on DVD
(2011)
Starring: Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Kate Mara
Director: Jonathan English
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
England, the Thirteenth Century. Set against the backdrop of the signing of the magna Carta, IRONCLAD is an action-packed epic that focuses on a band of land barons who make a stand against their turncoat king. James Purefoy (SOLOMON KANE), Paul Giamati (SIDEWAYS), Brian Cox (MANHUNTER), Derek ..read more »
63%
from 9,870 members
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Ironclad - Blu-ray
(2011)
Starring: Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Kate Mara
Director: Jonathan English
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
England, the Thirteenth Century. Set against the backdrop of the signing of the magna Carta, IRONCLAD is an action-packed epic that focuses on a band of land barons who make a stand against their turncoat king. James Purefoy (SOLOMON KANE), Paul Giamati (SIDEWAYS), Brian Cox (MANHUNTER), Derek ..read more »
61%
from 5,514 members
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Solomon Kane
on DVD
(2010)
Starring: James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Patrick Hurd-Wood
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Certificate:
Solomon Kane is a 16th century anti-hero created by Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian). When Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) meets the Devil's Reaper, he postpones his fate by renouncing violence - a vow that is soon tested by the forces of evil. As Kane once again straps on his weapons,..read more »
63%
from 17,026 members
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Diamonds
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Ben Ayres, Robert Borges, Jeremy Crutchley
Director: Andy Wilson
Certificate:
A US Senator travels to the killing zone of an Eastern Congo diamond mine seeking answers to how her daughter was killed in a massacre. In the pursuit of truth, the Senator only finds a trail of greed, lies and blood... all in the name of diamonds.
From the city lights of London and Cape Town to ..read more »
50%
from 31 members
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Frankenstein
on DVD
(2007)
Starring: Helen McCrory, James Purefoy, Lindsay Duncan
Director: Jed Mercurio
Certificate:
Victoria Frankenstein is conducting ground breaking, but highly controversial work in the field of stem cell research and medical biotechnology. She is obsessed with her research, The Universal Xenograft Project (UX), generating a multi-organ bank to create organs which are fit for human transplant...read more »
49%
from 95 members
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Blackbeard - The Real Pirate Of The Cari...
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: James Purefoy
Director: Richard Dale
Certificate:
This is the true story of Edward Teach, who went on to become the most notorious pirate the world has ever known. Loved by some, hated by many, feared by everyone, his reign of terror along the east coast of America and rash decision to strike at the heart of the government drove the authorities to ..read more »
64%
from 213 members
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The Mayor Of Casterbridge
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Jodhi May
Director: David Thacker
Certificate: 
Ciaran Hinds (PERSUASION, CIRCLE OF FRIENDS) stars as the tormented Michael Henchard in this lavish adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE. One day, in a destitute and drunken state, Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a sailor at a county fair. Haunted by the ..read more »
70%
from 2,093 members
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George And The Dragon
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: James Purefoy, Piper Perabo, Patrick Swayze
Director: Tom Reeve
Certificate:
The adventure film GEORGE AND THE DRAGON tells the tale of a knight who, upon returning home after an unsettling period fighting the Crusades, agrees to find a king's missing daughter in order to possess some land in a quiet area of the world. Soon he learns that in order to return the princess, ..read more »
59%
from 285 members
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Resident Evil
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Certificate:
The Umbrella Corporation's Vault, a secret facility located deep below Raccoon City, is sabotaged and a deadly virus is stolen. In the mansion that conceals another entrance to the Vault, Alice (Milla Jovovich) lies on the shower floor, naked except for the shower curtain. She can't remember ..read more »
66%
from 18,753 members
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Lighthouse
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Paul Brooke, Rachel Shelley, Christopher Adamson
Director: Simon Hunter
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
After escaping from a prison ship, Leo Rook, the most notorious killer in all of Europe, absconds to the Gehenna Rocks off the coast of Northern England and overtakes the lighthouse. Viciously, he brings ashore a prison ship and hunts down its passengers. One by one the shipwrecked go missing, ..read more »
43%
from 644 members
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A Knight's Tale
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell
Director: Brian Helgeland
Certificate:
In the Middle Ages, before television or professional sports, there's only one form of competition to separate the men from the boys--jousting tournaments. William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), a poor and humble squire, has always dreamed of proving himself worthy as a knight in a jousting match. When ..read more »
69%
from 15,338 members
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Maybe Baby
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Hugh Laurie, Dawn French, Joely Richardson
Director: Ben Elton
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
Novelist-playwright-comedian-screenwriter-television writer Ben Elton (THE YOUNG ONES, BLACKADDER) tries his busy hand at directing with MAYBE BABY, a short, sweet romantic comedy about a couple very much in love but having difficulty conceiving a child. Hugh Laurie (Sam) and Joely Richardson (Lucy)..read more »
57%
from 3,186 members
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Mansfield Park
(1999)
Starring: Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola
Director: Patricia Rozema
Certificate:
This sterling adaptation of Austen's third published novel, set in early 19th century Portsmouth, England, concerns Fanny Price (O'Connor), an intelligent young woman who is sent to live with her mother's wealthy family. Settling into her new life, Fanny is treated poorly by everyone except her ..read more »
65%
from 4,573 members
Not currently released
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Goose on the Loose!
Starring: Chevy Chase, Kari Matchett, James Purefoy
Director: Nicholas Kendall
Certificate: 
Randall the Goose is out on a summer date with his lifelong love Etta when he is suddenly snatched by Congreve Maddox, a gourmet cook and principal of Willow Springs Elementary, who wants to make Randall his trophy prize in a culinary contest. But Congreve meets his match in his next-door neighbors,..read more »
10%
from 2 members
Currently unavailable
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Sharpe - Classic Collection - Blu-ray
(7 discs)
Starring: Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, Hugh Fraser
Director: Tom Clegg
Certificate:
This collection contains all 15 Sharpe adventures to date, covering all of Sharpe's battles, both personal and professional.
Episodes Comprise:
1. Sharpe's Rifles
2. Sharpe's Eagle
3. Sharpe's Company
4. Sharpe's Enemy
5. Sharpe's Honour
6. Sharpe's Gold
7. Sharpe's Battle
8. Sharpe's Sword
9. ..read more »
82%
from 154 members
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A Knight's Tale - Blu-ray
Starring: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell
Director: Brian Helgeland
Certificate:
In the Middle Ages, before television or professional sports, there's only one form of competition to separate the men from the boys--jousting tournaments. William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), a poor and humble squire, has always dreamed of proving himself worthy as a knight in a jousting match. When ..read more »
71%
from 2,509 members
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James Purefoy facts
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...re unable to ?age? her sufficiently for the later scenes. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Purefoy and Rhys Ifans (surprisingly dashing as Dobbin; I didn?t recognise him) acquit ...
