British Actors You Should Know: Jamie Dornan

When I mention Jamie Dornan, what comes to mind? Christian Grey? His performance in one of this year's most acclaimed movies, Belfast? The embarrassingly endearing stories he tells on the Graham Norton chat show?

Seven years ago, I wrote a profile on the Northern Irish actor when he was a relative newcomer with just a few familiar items on his IMDB page. The most significant credit on his CV back then was his role as a serial killer in the BBC thriller The Fall, for which he won a Breakthrough and Rising Star award and a BAFTA leading actor nomination. It seemed like it was about time to update Mr. Dornan's Telly Visions bio and let you in on what makes him a British actor you should know now.

I'll just make a quick mention of Dornan's participation in the Fifty Shades of Grey films produced between 2015-2018. Based on the best-selling erotic book series by EL James, he was cast as the handsome, wealthy, but psychologically scarred Christian Grey. Despite the poor reviews by critics and audiences alike, his gig as the Fifty Shades guy was big news at the time and didn't seem to have damaged Jamie's career.

On to some brighter highlights…

The Fall

We have to start with the character who made viewers sit up and notice Dornan's mesmerizing turn as Paul Spector in The Fall, as a psychopathic serial killer. Paul is a complex character who transforms into whatever he needs to be around his wife, children, and therapy clients, despite having a murderous addiction.