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Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport
	Davenport in White Famous in 2017
Born	Jack Arthur Davenport; March 1, 1973 (age 51); Wimbledon, London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom ; United States
Education	British American Drama Academy
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Michelle Gomez (m. 2000)
Children	1
Parents	Nigel Davenport (father); Maria Aitken (mother);
Relatives	Jonathan Aitken (uncle); Penelope, Lady Aitken (grandmother); Sir William Aitken (grandfather); The 1st Baron Rugby (great-grandfather);

Jack Arthur Davenport (born March 1, 1973) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series This Life and Coupling, and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in other Hollywood films, such as The Talented Mr. Ripley and Kingsman: The Secret Service.

On television, Davenport is known for his roles in the ensemble drama series FlashForward, Smash, and The Morning Show as well as his leading role in the 2013 ITV drama series Breathless.

Early life and education

Davenport, the son of actor Nigel Davenport and actress Maria Aitken,^[1] was born in Wimbledon, London,^[2] and lived in Ibiza, Spain, for the first seven years of his life. His uncle is writer and former Conservative MP Jonathan Aitken, his maternal grandmother was socialite Penelope Aitken, his maternal grandfather was politician William Aitken, and one of his maternal great-grandfathers was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby.^[3] Through his uncle Jonathan Aitken's marriage to Elizabeth Rees-Williams, Davenport is a step-cousin of Damian, Jared, and Jamie Harris, her sons from her marriage to Richard Harris.^{[citation needed]}

His parents divorced when he was seven, at which point he was sent to the independent Dragon School in Oxford, as his parents did not want him to become involved in the divorce proceedings. He then went on to attend Cheltenham College, a boarding independent school for boys (now co-educational), in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, followed by the British American Drama Academy in London.^{[citation needed]}

Davenport's took a gap year after attending Cheltenham College. A director from Theatr Clwyd in Wales was impressed by his performance in a summer drama course and asked Davenport to work for him. He performed bit parts in Hamlet, where he became friends with Rhys Ifans.^{[citation needed]} The following year, he began attending the University of East Anglia (UEA), concentrating in film studies and English literature. He dabbled in acting again during his time at UEA, but considered becoming a member of a film crew rather than acting.^{[citation needed]}

Career

After Davenport's graduation, his mother advised him to write to John Cleese requesting work on the set of his upcoming film, Fierce Creatures, so that he could gain experience behind the camera. Cleese instead sent Davenport's letter to the casting department, and he was subsequently cast in his first onscreen role as a trainee zookeeper. After the production of Fierce Creatures was completed, Davenport found an agent who secured him an audition for the role of Miles Stewart in the BBC television drama series This Life.

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

During his career Davenport has also performed voice-overs, having narrated the audio versions of John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps and recorded parts in Anthony Burgess's 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 drama The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant and in 2009 starred in the film The Boat That Rocked.

In 2007 Davenport was cast in Swingtown, a period and relationship drama for CBS about the impact of sexual and social liberation in 1970s American suburban households, with story arcs involving open marriages and key parties. The series was cancelled after one season.

In 2008, Davenport was cast in the ABC pilot FlashForward, 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. The show was cancelled after a single season.

In February 2011, Davenport was cast in the NBC musical drama pilot Smash.^[4] It ran for two seasons and became a cult favorite on streaming services.^[5] The first season of the series follows a group of people putting on a Marilyn Monroe musical on Broadway. Davenport plays the musical's director. The second season expands as the various cast members branch out into other productions; Davenport's character, Derek Wills, quits the Broadway production of Bombshell to pursue a small off-Broadway musical and take it to Broadway with his protégé, Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee). The season ends with the two shows competing at the Tonys.

Davenport starred as the replacement singer in the video for Snow Patrol's single "Called Out in the Dark", released on YouTube on 17 August 2011, alongside Tara Summers and Gary Lightbody.^[6]

2018 saw Davenport's Broadway debut playing the Earl of Warwick in a revival of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan starring Condola Rashad.

Personal life

Davenport married actress Michelle Gomez. On 28 February 2023, Gomez announced on Instagram that she, Davenport, and their son had become naturalised American citizens.^[7]^[8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Fierce Creatures	Student Zoo Keeper
1997	The Moth	Robert Bradley	TV film
1998	Macbeth	Malcolm	TV film
	Tale of the Mummy	Detective Bartone
	The Wisdom of Crocodiles	Sergeant Roche
1999	The Cookie Thief	A Man	Short film
1999	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Peter Smith-Kingsley
2000	The Wyvern Mystery	Harry Fairfield	TV film
2000	Offending Angels	Rory
2001	Gypsy Woman	Leon
	The Bunker	LCpl. Ebert
	Subterrain	Businessman
	Not Afraid, Not Afraid	Michael
	Look	Stanley	Short film
2002	The Real Jane Austen	Henry Austen	TV documentary film
2003	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Commodore James Norrington
	Eroica	Prince Lobkowitz	TV film
	The Welsh Great Escape	Narrator	TV film
2004	The Boy Who Would Be King	Narrator	TV documentary film
	Terrible Kisses	Man	Short film
	The Libertine	Harris
2005	The Wedding Date	Edward Fletcher-Wooten
2005	A Higher Agency	John	Short film
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	James Norrington	Teen Choice Award for Choice Rumble
2007	This Life + 10	Miles Stewart	TV film
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Admiral James Norrington
2009	That Deadwood Feeling	Jack
2009	The Boat That Rocked	Twatt
2011	The Key Man	Bobby
2011	Mother's Milk	Patrick Melrose
2013	Haven't We Met Before?	Man	Short film
2014	Death Knight Love Story	Zeliek
	Kingsman: The Secret Service	James Spencer / Lancelot
	Sea of Fire	Marty Kesowich	TV film
2016	Guernica	Vasyl
	Americana	Calib
	A United Kingdom	Alistair Canning
	Untitled Sarah Silverman Project	Blake	TV film
	Prototype	Edward Conway	TV film
2017	The Tank	Will Sacks
	The Wilde Wedding	Rory Darling
	The Stolen	Joshua McCullen
	Doomsday	Warren	TV film
2021	Dagger	Will	Short film, voice role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996-1997	This Life	Miles Stewart	Series regular
1998	Ultraviolet	Detective Sergeant Michael Colefield	Series regular
1999	Boiling Point	Narrator	Mini-series
1999	Omnibus	Narrator	Episode: "Our Julie"
2000-2004	Coupling	Steve Taylor	Series regular
2001	Scribbling	Narrator	Episode: "Part Two"
2002	Dickens	Charley Dickens	2 episodes
2004	Agatha Christie's Marple	Superintendent Harper	Episode: "The Body in the Library"
2005-2007	The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant	Lieutenant Ralph Clarke	Mini-series
2008	Swingtown	Bruce Miller	Series regular
2009-2010	FlashForward	Lloyd Simcoe	Series regular
2012-2013	Smash	Derek Wills	Series regular
2013	Breathless	Otto Powell	Series regular
2014	The Good Wife	Frank Asher	Episode: "Parallel Construction, Bitches"
2015	Life in Squares	Older David Garnett	1 episode
2016	The Mindy Project	Leland Breakfast	Episode: "Leland Breakfast Is the Miracle Worker"
2017	White Famous	Peter King	Series regular
2018	Next of Kin	Guy Harcourt	Mini-series
2018	Deception	Alistair Black	3 episodes
2019	Why Women Kill	Karl Grove	Series regular
2019	The Morning Show	Jason Craig	Series regular
2021	Why Women Kill	The Narrator	Series regular
2022	Ten Percent	Jonathan Nightingale	Series regular
2023	Accused	John
2023	Dr. Death	Nils Headley	6 episodes, Season 2^[9]

Theatre

Year	Play	Role	Venue	Notes
1991	Hamlet	Lou Scunt	Theatr Clwyd, Mold, Flintshire
1999	The Tempest	John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith	Various	with Holders Season Barbados
2001	The Servant	Tony	Lyric Theatre, London
2002	Lady Windermere's Fan	Lord Darlington	Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
2003	How to Lose Friends & Alienate People	Toby Young	Soho Theatre, London
2006	Enemies	Yakov Bardin	Almeida Theatre, London
2024	The Human Body	George Blythe	The Donmar Warehouse, London

Radio

Alistair Cooke's American Journey (2006) (BBC Radio 4)
Jack Davenport reads The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2002	Laurence Olivier Awards	Most Promising Performer	The Servant	Nominated
2006	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Rumble (with Orlando Bloom)	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Won