James Murray (English actor)

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James Murray
Murray campaigning at the March for clean water. London 2024.jpg
At the March for Clean Water in London, 2024.
Born
Manchester, England
Other namesJim Murray
OccupationActor
Years active1998–present
Spouse
(m. 2007)
Children2
Website https://jimmurray.art/

James Murray is an English actor, artist, and river conservationist. He is well known for his work campaigning for British rivers and is a wild salmon advocate. He founded Activist Anglers in 2023.

Contents

Jim and his wife Sarah Parish set up The Murray Parish trust in 2014 in memory of their late daughter Ella-Jayne and have so far raised £5 million for paediatric facilities.

His television roles include Stephen Hart in Primeval (2007–2008), Niles Pottinger in Defiance (2014), Daniel Coltrane in Cucumber (2015), Chief Superintendent John Houseman in McDonald & Dodds (2020–2021), Prince Andrew in The Crown (2022–2023), and Colonel Neil 'Chick' Harding in Masters of the Air (2024).

Early life

Murray was born in Manchester on 22 January 1975. He was awarded a classics scholarship by Malvern College, and has a degree in film. His great-grandfather, Richard Hollins Murray, invented the reflecting lens in 1927. [1]

Career

Murray's mainstream roles were in Primeval (ITV, 2008) as expert tracker Stephen Hart, and in Cucumber (Channel 4, 2015) as conflicted character Daniel Coltrane. Earlier on in his career he starred in a series of both film and television pieces, including the comedy series Roger Roger (1999), legal drama series North Square (2000), mini series Other People's Children (2000) and Sons & Lovers (2003), a Granada production of The Sittaford Mystery (2006) as Charles Burnaby, a film of the Thomas Hardy story Under the Greenwood Tree (2005) as Dick Dewy, plus earlier films Nailing Vienna (2002) as Peter, All the King's Men (1999) as Pvt Will Needham, and Phoenix Blue (2001) as Rick. He also found more permanent roles in Channel 4's 20 Things to Do Before You're 30 (2003) playing Glen and BBC One's season four of Cutting It (2005) as Liam Carney.

Murray appeared in the ITV science fiction series Primeval as Stephen Hart, Nick Cutter's lab technician, in both series one (2007) and series two (2008).

Murray had the leading role of the father, Frank Davis, in It's Alive (2008) a remake of the 1970s horror classic by Larry Cohen .

He had a role in Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire , a comic fantasy series for Comedy Central and BBC Two, which began airing in April 2009. His character is Ralph Longshaft.

In the US, Murray was a lead in the CBS spy caper series CHAOS from 2010 to 2011. His character was called Billy Collins.

He was cast as Mayor Niles Pottinger, [2] in the second series of Defiance , which first aired on 19 June 2014. Murray appeared in one episode ("Dead Air") of the third series which aired on 27 June 2015.

He took over from Fay Ripley as lead DCI in the completely improvised show Suspects as DCI Daniel Drummond, [3] which aired in August 2016 (all six episodes).

He appeared as the father, Edward, [4] in the three part ITV supernatural series HIM .

In 2016, Murray played The Doge of Venice in season 1 of Netflix's Medici , before playing the lead role of Wesley opposite Polly Walker in BBC One's Age Before Beauty .

In 2017, Murray directed veteran actor Robert Hardy CBE in his last role alongside Nina Sosanya in his short film La Familia.

He appeared as Caleb in the Ryan Reynolds film 6 Underground released in December 2019. He was Chief Superintendent John Houseman in the ITV series McDonald & Dodds . [5]

In 2021, Murray was cast as Colonel Neil 'Chick' Harding in Apple TV's WW2 epic bomber drama Masters of the Air . The series is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

Murray directed and co-presented with Robson Green ITV's Robson and Jim's Icelandic Flyfishing Adventure (July 2021), a passion project about the therapeutic values of fly fishing set in the bountiful rivers in Iceland.

Murray played the role of Prince Andrew in the final two seasons of Netflix's The Crown . [6]

Personal life

Murray married his Cutting It co-star Sarah Parish in Hampshire on 15 December 2007, following a two-year romance. On 18 January 2008, it was announced that Parish was pregnant with their first child. [7] Their daughter, Ella-Jayne, was born five weeks premature in May 2008 and died in January 2009 aged 8 months due to a congenital heart defect. [8]

Their daughter Nell was born on 21 November 2009. [9]

In honour of Ella-Jayne, Parish and Murray began raising funds for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Southampton General Hospital, where she was cared for. [10] Their efforts led to them creating the Murray Parish Trust in 2014, to enhance overall paediatric emergency care serving Southern England. [11]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000 Kevin & Perry Go Large Candice's Adonis
2001Phoenix BlueRick
2002Nailing ViennaPeter
2009 It's Alive Frank Davis
2019 6 Underground Caleb
2024 Lee Colonel Spencer

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998 Coronation Street Sandy Hunter5 episodes
1999 Roger Roger Jason the GardenerEpisode: "Two Much Wine, Too Many Stars"
All the King's Men Pte. Will NeedhamTV film
2000 Peak Practice Marcus JohnsonEpisode: "Turning Tides"
Other People's Children LucasEpisode #1.3
North Square Johnny Boy10 episodes
2002 Clocking Off Mark Talbot2 episodes
Always and Everyone Dr. Danny Barton8 episodes
2003 Sons and Lovers William MorelTV film
20 Thing's to Do Before You're 30Glen7 episodes
Keen Eddie Colin KinneyEpisode: "Eddie Loves Baseball"
2004–2005 Cutting It Liam Carney12 episodes
2005 Under the Greenwood Tree Dick DewyTV film
2006 Agatha Christie's Marple: The Sittaford Mystery Charles BurnabyTV film
2007–2008 Primeval Stephen Hart 13 episodes
2009 Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire Ralph Longshaft4 episodes
2011 CHAOS Billy CollinsPilot and 12 episodes
2012 New Tricks Luke OswaldEpisode: "Dead Poets"
2013 Death in Paradise Ronnie StuartEpisode: "A Dash of Sunshine"
Midsomer Murders Ollie TaboriEpisode: "A Christmas Haunting"
2014 Defiance Niles PottingerSeries 2; series 3, episode 3
2015 Cucumber Daniel ColtraneSeries 1, 6 episodes
2016 Suspects D.C.I. Daniel DrummondSeries 5, 6 episodes
HIM Edward3 episodes
Medici: Masters of Florence Doge FoscariSeries 1, episode 5
2018 Age Before Beauty Wesley6 episodes)
2020–2021 McDonald & Dodds Chief Superintendent John Houseman3 episodes
2022–2023 The Crown Prince Andrew, Duke of York Supporting role (seasons 56)
2024 Masters of the Air Colonel Neil 'Chick' HardingMiniseries
Geek Girl Mr. Fiennes2 episodes

Awards and nominations

YearAssociationCategoryProjectResultRef.
2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series The Crown Pending [12]

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References

  1. "Patent US1625905 – Light-reflecting device or unit".
  2. "James Murray Cast as Series Regular on Defiance Season 2". TV Fanatic. 31 July 2013.
  3. "James Murray joins the cast of Suspects". Channel 5.
  4. "HIM tv series at ITV.com".
  5. "James Murray cast in ITV's Invisible". ITV. 15 August 2019.
  6. Yossman, K. J. (11 November 2022). "'The Crown's' James Murray on Playing Disgraced Prince Andrew: 'I Enjoy Polarizing Roles'". Variety. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  7. "'Cutting It' star Sarah expecting first child with husband James".
  8. Sarah Parish Mourning Death of Daughter Ella-Jayne Archived 6 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine Celebrity Baby Blog, 20 January 2009
  9. "rosie mitchell is fundraising for Friends of PICU".
  10. "Welcome To Friends of PICU : Friends of PICU". Friends of PICU.
  11. "About The Murray Parish Trust" . Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  12. "Nominations Announced for the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®" (Press release). Screen Actors Guild. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.