Profile of Jamie Bell on Famous Like Me

Jamie Bell (born 14 March 1986, Billingham, England) is an English actor.

Jamie comes from a family of dancers including his grandmother, mother, aunt and sister. It was at his sister's dance practices that he would stand outside the door and imitate the movements of the dancers inside. At age six, he was encouraged to step inside the door and thus his dance career began. His own story parallels that of Billy Elliot in that Jamie kept his dancing a secret from his friends at school. His mother had him when she was 16, and unfortunately, he never knew his father.

When he met Stephen Daldry, director of Billy Elliot (2000), Jamie adopted him as his father. Once the word about his dancing got out, he was harassed, but this only made him more determined to prove that dancing wasn't just for girls. Jamie landed the title role of Billy Elliot, winning the role in an audition that included more than 2000 boys from the northeastern England. His ensuing performance justified the selection as he has not only won the hearts of moviegoers all over the world, he has also been nominated for, and won a number of awards including a Best Newcomer Award and then a Best Male Performance at the BAFTA awards.

Bell starred in the 2005 film, The Chumscrubber, in which he played a disaffected Southern California teenager. He had to learn how to speak with an American accent for the role.

Facts

• Started dancing when he was six. Dancers have been in his family for ages. His sister, his mother, grandmother, and aunt all danced before him.
• First decided to act when he was nine.
• First acting performance is reported to be part of the London stage production of Bugsy Malone in Christmas 1998.
• Was teased by classmates when they found out that Jamie took ballet, and called him "Ballerina Boy."
• When he won Best Actor at the 2001 British Academy Awards, not only did he beat the Best Actor Oscar winner of that year, Russell Crowe, but the other three nominees he beat out - Tom Hanks, Michael Douglas, and Geoffrey Rush -- also had won the Best Actor Oscar in past years.
• Lives in Billingham with his mother, Eileen, and older sister, Cathryn. He has no contact with his father, John, whom his mother divorced before Jamie was born.
• Was chosen out of 2000 boys to play Billy Elliot over a series of seven auditions. Criteria that the casting director was looking for were acting ability, dancing ability, and the right Northern English accent.
• Only the second actor ever to be awarded Outstanding Performance by a Young Actor from http://www.nbrmp.org (National Board of Review of Motion Pictures). The first was fellow Brit Christian Bale in 1987 (titled Outstanding Juvenile Performance then).
• Prefers tap dancing over ballet. Has been in many tap-dancing competitions and won many awards.
• Was Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival.
• A former student at the Stagecoach Theater School.
• He became interested in baseball when he visited the United States for the first time, and he began collecting all of the teams' jerseys.
• Appeared in the video for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day.

Filmography

• Close & True (TV) (2000)
• Billy Elliot (2000)
• Deathwatch (2002)
• Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
• Undertow (2004)
• Dear Wendy (2005)
• The Chumscrubber (2005)
• King Kong (2005)
• Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
• Hallam Foe (2006)

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