James Norton

James Norton was born in 1985 to two teachers and has a younger sister who is a doctor. Growing up in North Yorkshire, he showed an interest in acting at an early age, playing Joseph in his primary school nativity play at age five. After leaving Ampleforth College, he completed work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Rather than attend acting school immediately, he studied theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and later traveled to Nepal, where he developed an interest in Buddhism. Upon returning, he enrolled at RADA in London, graduating in 2010. Just before graduating, he landed a small role as Carey Mulligan's boyfriend in the final scene of *An Education*. In 2011, he appeared on the London stage in revivals of *Journey's End* and *The Lion in Winter*, the latter with Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay. Toward the end of 2013, he starred in the faux-Austen mystery *Death Comes to Pemberley* on television. 2014 marked the year he gained wider recognition through the period films *Mr Turner* and *Belle*, in which he played the heroine's first love interest, and particularly through the violent drama *Happy Valley*, where he portrayed a murderous kidnapper and rapist. In contrast, he played a tipsy young vicar with a knack for solving cases in the post-war set mystery series *Grantchester*.