David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972 in Lewisham), known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.
He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000, he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain. He is also known for his role as Dr. John Watson in the Sherlock Holmes film series alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. In 2017, he was cast as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter Prequel series Fantastic Beasts.
In 2006, he was ranked as one of the top ten most bankable film stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government
Not to be confused with Jennifer Lawrence, who is sometimes referred to by the nickname "J-Law".
Selected filmography:
- The Tailor of Gloucester (1989) as Sam, Mayor's Stableboy
- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991) as Joe Barnes
- Shopping (1994) as Billy
- Bent (1997) as Stormtrooper
- Gattaca (1997) as Jerome Eugene Morrow
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) as Billy Carl Hanson
- eXistenZ (1999) as Ted Pikul
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) as Dickie Greenleaf
- Enemy at the Gates (2001) as Vasily Zaytsev
- A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) as Gigolo Joe
- Road to Perdition (2002) as Harlen Maguire
- Cold Mountain (2003) as W.P. Inman
- I ♥ Huckabees (2004) as Brad Stand
- Alfie (2004) as Alfie
- Closer (2004) as Dan
- The Aviator (2004) as Errol Flynn
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) as Sky Captain / Joseph Sullivan
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) as Lemony Snicket
- Breaking and Entering (2006) as Will Francis
- All the King's Men (2006) as Jack Burden
- The Holiday (2006) as Graham
- Sleuth (2007) as Milo
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) as Tony (2nd transformation)
- Sherlock Holmes (2009) as Dr. John Watson
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
- Sherlock Holmes 3 (TBA)
- Repo Men (2010) as Remy
- Contagion (2011) as Alan Krumwiede
- Hugo (2011) as Hugo's Father
- Anna Karenina (2012) as Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin
- Rise of the Guardians (2012) as Pitch Black / The Bogeyman (voice)
- Side Effects (2013) as Dr. Jonathan Banks
- Dom Hemingway (2013) as Dom Hemingway
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) as the Author (in 1968)
- Black Sea (2014) as Captain Robinson
- Spy (2015) as Bradley Fine
- The Young Pope (2016) as Lenny Belardo / Pope Pius XIII
- The New Pope (2020)
- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) as King Vortigern
- Fantastic Beasts as Albus Dumbledore
- Vox Lux (2018) as The Manager
- Captain Marvel (2019) as Yon-Rogg
- A Rainy Day in New York (2019) as Ted Davidoff
- The Third Day (2020) as Sam
- Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) as Captain James Hook
Selected theatre:
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Pygmalion
- Death of a Salesman
- 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
- Doctor Faustus
- Hamlet
- Henry V
Tropes
- Billing Displacement: He gets third billing in Spy. His character vanishes from the plot 15 minutes in being presumed dead and only returns right before the start of the third act, having far less screentime than Miranda Hart or Rose Byrne.
- Fake American: Many of his roles are this.
- Mr. Fanservice: He tends to appear in many "Sexiest Man Alive" lists, especially during the Turn of the Millennium.
- Production Posse: Most famously with Anthony Minaghella.
- Protagonist Title: Many of his leading roles are the eponymous hero of the story.
- Shakespearian Actors: He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre and been in many plays, including Hamlet and Henry V, ever since.
- Star-Making Role: The Talented Mr. Ripley.
- Those Two Actors: Frequently co-star with Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet.
- What Could Have Been:
- He dropped out of the movie From Hell. Additionally, he was originally considered for the role of Shinzon of Remus in Star Trek: Nemesis and the role of Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
- Bryan Singer originally wanted him to play Zod in Superman Returns.
- He was originally cast as Ozymandias in Watchmen, and was attached to the role late enough in pre-production that his likeness is clearly recognizable in the character's costume sketch
◊. His reasons for dropping out remain unknown, and he was replaced by the then-relatively unknown Matthew Goode instead, in keeping with the idea that the story should be a bigger star than the actors involved. For the matter, he had also expressed interest in playing Rorschach. - He got pretty far in the casting process to play Gilderoy Lockheart in the second Harry Potter film but the production team thought he looked too young. A decade and a half later, he got cast as a younger Albus Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts.
