- Born
- Birth nameJames Anthony Sturgess
- Height6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
- Jim was born in London, the son of Jane O. (Martin) and Peter J. S. Sturgess. He was raised in Surrey. First and foremost his interest was music. However, he began to develop a secret passion for acting, at age 8, when he auditioned for local theatre to get out of class. Whilst music appeared cool, he felt being in school plays wasn't. So he stuck with small parts, despite a yearning to be in the lead role. At age 15, he joined a band and they began lying about their ages to play gigs in pubs. At school, he received mostly low grades with the exception of music and drama.
For college, he moved to Salford because there was a lot of good music coming out of the Manchester scene. In the hopes of joining a new band, he undertook a Higher National Diploma in Media Performance at Salford University. It was here that he met people that were really interested in filmmaking, and it suddenly felt like a possible career move. He began making short films with his friends and as well as doing theater. He wrote and performed a one-man show, which led an actor in the audience to suggest Jim to his agent. The agent signed him without even meeting him.
Jim moved back to London in 2000, where he joined the band 'Saint Faith'. He had moved to Manchester to join a band, and instead fell into acting. He moved back to London for acting, and ended up joining a band. He took small roles on television to fund his life as a musician.
Problems began in the band in 2006, and Jim heard of an audition for the musical film Across the Universe (2007). He won the leading male role of Jude. He followed this film with The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. His breakthrough role came with Dexter in One Day (2011), based on the bestselling book by David Nicholls. Before his audition, Jim hadn't read the book.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Kad
- SpouseDina Mousawi(August 2019 - present) (1 child)
- ParentsPeter J.S. SturgessJane O. Sturgess (Martin)
- RelativesWill Sturgess(Sibling)Tia Sturgess(Sibling)
- Brown eyes
- Pale skin
- He was a final contender for the role of Peter Quill/Star Lord in Guardians Of The Galaxy (2012) before Chris Pratt was cast.
- Required a dialect coach to speak with an American accent in 21 (2008).
- Best friends with his ''Across The Universe (2007)'' co-star Evan Rachel Wood.
- Was one of the actors considered to play the lead in the Spiderman reboot.
- Was in a relationship with musician Mickey O'Brien from 2003-2012. The two met while their respective bands were sharing a rehearsal space.
- [on River Phoenix] I would love to see what kind of choices he would be making now if he was still around, some of the characters that he would have played. I mean, to me he was like a rock star, you know, he had it all: he had the looks, he had a great name, he had an attitude, an energy, an excitement about him. He was instinctively like a, he was a rebel, you know? He was kind of Bob Dylan to me, at times, and he had a lot to say. And I've never seen too many interviews by him, but the ones that I saw were pretty electric, pretty... he was switched on, definitely.
- [on which actors inspired him] Definitely River Phoenix is somebody that I thought, "This guy is very cool." I wanted to be like him when I was a kid.
- Actually, I feel like [the film that I've just seen] every time I come out of the cinema. If that film's about being a hippie, then I'm like, "That's it, I'm gonna grow my own vegetables."
- British actors come at acting from a slightly different angle. Because a lot of the films are cast out there, they are so used to the angle from which the Americans, and certainly the young guys from LA, are coming at it, that I think it's interesting for them to find these English actors who maybe approach acting from a different place.
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