James Purefoy

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James Purefoy (born June 3 1964) is an English actor born in Taunton, Somerset.

Purefoy studied acting at one of Britain's top schools, Central School of Speech and Drama, and began his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Since then, he has split his career between the theatre, film and television.

He plays Mark Antony in the HBO/BBC original television series, Rome. His full frontal nudity in episode four of the series caused a sensation among the show's viewers. However, an interview^{[citation needed]} from a special effects technician who mentioned "digitally altering" the appearance of penises for actors who "didn't want to remove their G-strings" casts doubt on the veracity of Purefoy's nude scene.

Purefoy has a son with actress, Holly Aird, Joseph, born in 1997, but the couple later separated in 2002 [1]. He also dated Gwyneth Paltrow for a brief time in 2002 and Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo. Despite a few long term relationships, he has never married.

[edit] Filmography

Goose on the Loose (2006) - Kenneth Donnelly
Vanity Fair (2004) - Rawdon Crawley
Blessed (2004) - Craig Howard
George and the Dragon (2004) - George
Lena: The Bride of Ice (2003) - Dr. Harper
Photo Finish (2003) - James
Resident Evil (2002) - Spence Parks
A Knight's Tale (2001) - Sir Thomas Colville/Edward, the Black Prince of Wales
Tomorrow (2001) - Andrew Spender
The Wedding Tackle (2000) - Hal
Maybe Baby (2000) - Carl Phipps
Lighthouse (2000) - Richard Spader
Women Talking Dirty (1999) - Daniel
Mansfield Park (1999) - Tom Bertram
Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) - Brendan
Jilting Joe (1997) - Joe
Feast of July (1995) - Jedd Wainwright
Angels (1992) - Victor

[edit] Lost roles

Purefoy was attached to star in the 2006 film V for Vendetta, but was replaced by Hugo Weaving. (Both Purefoy and Weaving starred in the 1998 gay British comedy, Bedrooms and Hallways.) It was later revealed that Hugo Weaving had been originally first choice for the film, but was involved in the Australian film Eucalyptus. Later, production of Eucalyptus had been halted, freeing up Weaving, and Purefoy had willingly left V for Vendetta because the Guy Fawkes mask made him extremely uncomfortable. (See, for example, [2])

[3] Purefoy was also screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995, but ultimately lost the role to Pierce Brosnan. Throughout 2004 and 2005 Purefoy's name was rumoured as a possible candidate to replace Brosnan as agent 007 in future James Bond films. Rumors and speculation by many news outlets suggested that Purefoy's departing of V for Vendetta was due to an opportunity to play James Bond in the 2006 film Casino Royale [4]. However, this news was confirmed to be false when Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond.

Interestingly, in the commentary track of the A Knight's Tale special edition DVD, director Brian Helgeland stated his opinion that Purefoy would be the perfect choice to play the "next" James Bond, well before Purefoy was being considered for the Casino Royale role.