"Dramatically it's always more interesting to conceal rather than reveal things."
Damian Watcyn Lewis, CBE (born 11 February 1971 in London, England), is an English actor and producer. He is best known for portraying Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland, which earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe, Soames Forsyte in the ITV remake of The Forsyte Saga, Detective Charlie Crews in the NBC drama Life, and Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Currently starring in Billions as Bobby Axelrod, a hot-shot hedge fund manager.
He was married to Helen McCrory, with whom he had two children.
He appeared in:
- Life-Force
- Little Eyolf
- Cymbeline
- Poirot
- A Touch of Frost
- Robinson Crusoe
- Band of Brothers
- Dreamcatcher
- The Forsyte Saga
- Colditz
- Shakespeare Re-Told (Much Ado About Nothing)
- Stormbreaker
- An Unfinished Life
- Have I Got News for You
- Life
- The Escapist
- Your Highness
- Homeland
- The Sweeney
- Romeo & Juliet (2013)
- Wolf Hall
- Billions
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- A Spy Among Friends
Tropes:
- Anti-Hero: He rarely plays clean-cut heroes.
- Even the Guys Want Him: He says of his Band of Brothers co-star James Madio "If I could have man-love for another man's body..."
- Evil Redhead: His antagonist roles.
- Fake American: Very commonly, such as in Billions or Homeland.
- Fair Cop: The second majority of his roles.
- Fiery Redhead: Almost all his roles.
- Good-Looking Privates: Majority of his roles.
- I Am Very British: Does this type of voice playing the alien possessing Jonesy in Dreamcatcher. Averted for Romeo and Juliet, where he uses his natural voice.
- Mr. Fanservice: His characters can be this at times.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: When he's playing a Fake American he tends to keep the accent up all the time - so when he switches back to his natural voice, there are still a few American pronunciations in there.
- Redheads Are Uncool: Mostly averted, since he usually plays heroic or badass roles.
- Sanity Slippage: A number of his characters gets this.
- Shakespearean Actors: He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and has been in a lot of Shakespearean adaptations in different mediums. His rendition of Antony from Julius Caesar can be seen here here
. - Your Costume Needs Work: Claims he's been told that his British accent (read: his real one) sounds fake.
