"Hello to Jason Isaacs!"
Jason Michael Isaacs (born 6 June 1963 in Liverpool, England) is one of the most deliciously, delectably, devilish British actors of the present day.
He was born to a Jewish family, who were constantly harassed by fascists during his youth in London. After graduating with a degree in law from the University of Bristol, he immediately went on to study at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He often plays despicable characters, despite being a self-described "boring suburban man" in his personal life. He is not incorrect in this description, as he married his longtime Central School girlfriend Emma Hewitt, a documentary filmmaker, in 2001; they have two daughters.
And no, he's not related to Timothy Dalton, despite their similar looks.
Roles
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Film
- 1994 — Shopping as Market Trader
- 1996 — Dragonheart as Lord Felton
- 1997 — Event Horizon as D.J.
- 1998 — Armageddon as Doctor Ronald Quincy
- 1998 — Soldier as Colonel Mekum
- 2000 — The Patriot as Colonel William Tavington
- 2001 — Black Hawk Down as Captain Mike Steele
- 2002 — Windtalkers as Major Mellitz
- 2002-11 — Harry Potter as Lucius Malfoy and the Basilisk
- 2002 — Resident Evil (uncredited as Doctor William Birkin)
- 2002 — The Tuxedo as Clark Devlin
- 2003 — Peter Pan as George Darling and Captain Hook
- 2007 — Grindhouse as Bearded Man in the trailer for Don't
- 2010 — Green Zone as Major Briggs
- 2010 — Batman: Under the Red Hood as Ra's al Ghul
- 2011 — Cars 2 as Siddeley and Leland Turbo
- 2011 — Abduction as Kevin
- 2011 — Green Lantern: Emerald Knights as Sinestro
- 2014 — Fury as Captain Waggoner
- 2015 — Justice League: Gods and Monsters as Lex Luthor note
- 2017 — A Cure for Wellness as Dr. Heinrich Volmer
- 2017 — The Death of Stalin as Georgy Zhukov
- 2019 — Hotel Mumbai as Vasili
- 2020 — Superman: Red Son as Superman
- 2020 — SCOOB! as Dick Dastardly
- 2021 — Mass as Jay
- 2022 — Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris as Archie
Television
- 1992 — Inspector Morse as Doctor Desmond Collier
- 1993 — Highlander as Zachary Blaine
- 1994 — The Heroic Legend of Arslan OVA as Prince Rajendra/Lajendra
- 2004 — The West Wing as Colin Ayres
- 2005 — Avatar: The Last Airbender as Admiral Zhao later seen in The Legend of Korra
- 2006 — The State Within as Sir Mark Brydon
- 2006-08 — Brotherhood as Michael Caffee
- 2008 — Entourage as Fredrick Line
- 2011-13 — Case Histories as Jackson Brodie
- 2012 — Awake as Det. Michael Britten
- 2014-16 — Star Wars Rebels as the Grand Inquisitor
- 2016-19 — The OA as Hap
- 2017-18 — Star Trek: Discovery as Gabriel Lorca
- 2019 — The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as SkekSo the Emperor
- 2021 — Sex Education as Peter Groff
- 2023 — The Crowded Room as Jack Lamb
Theater
- Angels in America (stage play) as Louis Ironson
- 1953 (stage play) as Benito Mussolini
Video Games
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and the sequel as Satan
- El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron as Lucifel
- Spartan: Total Warrior as Sejanus
- Hitman (2016) as Reza Zaydan
- Midnight Suns as Mephisto
- Baldur's Gate III as Enver Gortash
Tropes
- Deadpan Snarker: His characters usually have it, although of a insulting or sinister variety.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Earlier on in his career, he voiced for the UK dub of The Heroic Legend of Arslan anime.
- Evil Brit: Colonel Tavington in The Patriot (2000). Also Lucius Malfoy (although almost every character in the Harry Potter franchise is British) and Captain Hook.
- Fake American: In The OA, Awake, The West Wing, Brotherhood, Fury, Green Zone and Mass. He also sounds pretty American as Captain Lorca.
- Faux Affably Evil: Many of his villainous characters have impeccable manners and his immense charisma but are pure evil nonetheless.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Admiral Zhao really does look like Jason with large sideburns.
- Large Ham: One of the largest kosher hams after William Shatner. During the filming of Chamber of Secrets, he, Alan Rickman and Kenneth Branagh had a competition over who could be the hammiest. Now also a Starfleet Captain.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's nearly six feet tall, dark-haired and good-looking, and his characters usually have a healthy dose of snark for good measure.
