Jack Davenport

Personal life

Davenport, the son of actors Nigel Davenport and Maria Aitken ,was born in Merton, England and lived in Ibiza for the first seven years of his life. His uncle is writer and politician Jonathan Aitken , his maternal grandfather was politician William Aitken and his maternal great-grandfather was the first Baron Rugby .His parents divorced when he was seven, at which point he was sent to the independent Dragon School , a co-educational boarding school in Oxford, as his parents did not want him to become involved in the divorce proceedings. He then went on to attend the independent school Cheltenham College , followed by the British American Drama Academy. He is married to the actress Michelle Gomez .

Career

Davenport had not planned to become an actor; however, his career began when he took a gap year after attending Cheltenham College . A director from Clwyd Theatr Cymru (The Welsh National Theatre) was impressed by his performance in a summer drama course and asked Davenport to work for him. At 18 years of age he ended up in Wales, performing bit parts in Hamlet, where he became friends with Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill).

The following year, he attended the University of East Anglia (UEA), concentrating in Film Studies and English Literature . He tried out acting once more at the UEA but was not, at this point, seriously interested in it. In fact, Davenport had considered becoming a member of a film crew, as opposed to acting in front of the camera. His mother advised him, after his graduation from UEA, to write to John Cleese requesting work on the set of his upcoming film,Fierce Creatures, so that Davenport could gain some real experience behind the camera. Cleese instead sent Davenport's letter to the casting department, and he was cast as a student zookeeper. Whilst a small part with very few lines it provided his first opportunity to work in front of the camera. After the production ofFierce Creatureswas completed, Davenport found an agent who secured him an audition for the role of Miles Stewart in the BBC television drama seriesThis Life.

Since then Davenport has played roles in many successful films and TV series, includingThe Talented Mr. Ripley,Coupling, andUltraviolet, as well as the box office smashPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and its sequels,Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's ChestandPirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

During his career Davenport has also performed voice-overs , having narrated the audio versions of John Buchan'sThe Thirty-Nine Stepsand recorded parts in Anthony Burgess 'A Clockwork Orange. He also provides the voice over for the British MasterCard advertisements (the American being done by Billy Crudup ).

In 2006, he featured in the ITV1 dramaThe Incredible Journey of Mary Bryantand in 2009 starred in the filmThe Boat That Rocked.

In 2008, Davenport was cast in the new ABC pilotFlashForward, which was based on a Robert J. Sawyer novel . In the series Davenport played the character of Lloyd Simcoe, a physicist allegedly responsible for a worldwide blackout, which causes the whole world to see the future.

Radio

• Alistair Cooke 's American Journey(2006) (reading the veteran journalist's wartime reports for BBC Radio 4 )

• This Life(1996) (TV)
• The Moth(1997) (TV)
• Fierce Creatures(1997)
• Macbeth(1998)
• Tale of the Mummy(1998)
• Ultraviolet(1998) (TV)
• The Wisdom of Crocodiles(1998)
• Ticks(1999), also as executive producer
• The Cookie Thief(1999)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley(1999)
• The Wyvern Mystery(2000) (TV)
• Coupling(2000–2004) (TV)
• Subterrain(2001), also as executive producer
• Not Afraid, Not Afraid(2001)
• Look(2001)
• Gypsy Woman(2001)
• Asylum(2001) (TV)
• Offending Angels(2001)
• The Bunker(2001)
• Dickens(2002) (TV)
• A Very English Genius(2002) (TV - Narrator)
• The Showbiz Set(2002) (TV - Narrator)
• The Real Jane Austen(2002) (TV)
• The Boy Who Would be King(2003) (TV - Narrator)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl(2003)
• Eroica(2003) (TV)
• The Welsh Great Escape(2003) (TV)
• Terrible Kisses(2004)
• Agatha Christie's Marple(2004) (TV)
• The Libertine(2005)
• The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant(2005) (TV)
• The Wedding Date(2005)
• A Higher Agency(2005)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest(2006)
• This Life + 10(2006) (TV)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End(2007)
• Swingtown(2008) (TV)
• The Key Man(2008)
• The Boat That Rocked(2009)
• FlashForward(2009–2010) (TV)
• That Deadwood Feeling(2009)

1. "Coupling is back! - Biography - Jack Davenport (Steve)" .BBC. 16 June 2004. . Retrieved 2009-05-13.
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