As a child, Lewis made several visits to the US to visit relatives during summer breaks.[10][11] He first decided to become an actor at the age of 16.[5]
Lewis once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarms.[13] His first television appearance was as a medical student in "Hickory Dickory Dock", a feature-length episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, an ITV Studios TV production, broadcast in 1995.[14] He also appeared as a rakish student in an early episode of the drama series A Touch of Frost (1996). He appeared in Robinson Crusoe (1997) as Patrick Conner.
He was in the 2000 series called Hearts and Bones as the love interest of Dervla Kirwan. Subsequently, Lewis portrayed Soames Forsyte in the ITV series The Forsyte Saga, which earned him positive reviews.[17] He returned to the US to star in Dreamcatcher, a Lawrence Kasdan film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent.[10] On the heels of this role, he starred in Keane as a Manhattanite with a fragile mental state who is searching for his missing daughter. Despite the film's poor box-office, Lewis's performance in the role was very well reviewed.[18][19][20]
In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the American television series Life on NBC. The show premiered in the US on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season's shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series.[21] Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night, and eventually cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for The Jay Leno Show.[citation needed]
In 2016 he began starring as billionaire hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions.[29] He left the show in 2021 after five seasons, but returned for half of season 7. In 2016 he appeared in the British spy film Our Kind of Traitor.
Music
In an interview with The Guardian in October 2022, Lewis said that he had long-standing ambitions to be a musician, and had been collaborating with jazz artist Giacomo Smith, firstly on cover songs and then writing new material for an album that would be released in 2023: "I started writing and found out there was lots that I actually did want to write, and before we knew it we had a record’s worth of songs. We’ve ended up with a rootsy, jazzy, rock’n’rolly, singer-songwritery-type album."[30]
Lewis released his debut single, "Down On the Bowery", on 13 April 2023.[31] His debut album, Mission Creep, was released in June that year on Decca Records.[32]
In 2009 Lewis featured in Inspired By Music, a book commissioned by The Prince's Trust, written and photographed by celebrity photographer Cambridge Jones,[33] and sponsored by Starbucks.[34][35] It features personal reflections by 36 celebrities as well as four ordinary people helped by The Prince's Trust,[36] about musical lyrics that inspired them.[34] Lewis's photo portrait also featured in Jones's exhibition Talking Pictures, featuring famous people of Welsh descent, that toured the world from 2010.[37]
In 2010, Lewis became a trade justice ambassador for the charity Christian Aid.[38] In May 2006 and June 2018, he played for England in Soccer Aid, and played golf for Europe in the All*Star Cup in August 2006, both shown on ITV.[citation needed]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lewis and his wife Helen McCrory supported Feed NHS, a fundraiser to give food from high street restaurants to NHS staff. By April 2020, they had raised £1m for the charity. The initiative started in London, but following its success, plans were announced to roll it out to other cities in the UK.[39]
^ ab"Pillars of the Community"(PDF). National Theatre Education Pack. National Theatre. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^Kelleher, Terry (14 October 2002), "The Forsyte Saga". People. 58 (16):36
^Rozen, Leah (19 September 2005), "Keane". People. 64 (12):40
^Kauffmann, Stanley (19 September 2005), "Heights and Depths". New Republic. 233 (12):28–29
Interview with Charlie Rose—A compilation of Rose's interviews with Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, the stars of the hit drama Homeland. 2 January 2014.