
One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent was born on May 24, 1949, in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of furniture maker Roy Broadbent and sculptress Dee Broadbent. Jim attended a Quaker boarding school in Reading before successfully applying for a place at an art school. His heart was in acting, though, and he would later transfer to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Following his 1972 graduation, he began his professional career on the stage, performing with the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and as part of the National Theatre of Brent, a two-man troupe which he co-founded. In addition to his theatrical work, Broadbent did steady work on television, working for such directors as Mike Newell and Stephen Frears. Broadbent made his film debut in 1978 with a small part in Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout (1978). He went on to work with Frears again in The Hit (1984) and with Terry Gilliam in Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985), but it was through his collaboration with Mike Leigh that Broadbent first became known to an international film audience. In 1990 he starred in Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1990), a domestic comedy that cast him as a good-natured cook who dreams of running his own business. Broadbent gained further visibility the following year with substantial roles in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (1992) and Mike Newell's Enchanted April (1992), and he could subsequently be seen in such diverse fare as Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Widows' Peak (1994), Richard Loncraine's highly acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III (1995) and Little Voice (1998), the last of which cast him as a seedy nightclub owner. Appearing primarily as a character actor in these films, Broadbent took center stage for Leigh's Topsy-Turvy (1999), imbuing the mercurial W.S. Gilbert with emotional complexity and comic poignancy. Jim's breakthrough year was 2001, as he starred in three critically and commercially successful films. Many would consider him the definitive supporting actor of that year. First he starred as Bridget's dad (Colin Jones) in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), which propelled Renée Zellweger to an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Next came the multiple Oscar-nominated film (including Best Picture) Moulin Rouge! (2001), for which he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA award for his scene-stealing performance as Harold Zidler. Lastly, came the small biopic Iris (2001/I), for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as devoted husband John Bayley to Judi Dench's Iris Murdoch, the British novelist who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. The film hit home with Jim, since his own mother had passed away from Alzheimer's in 1995.
Movie | Dirty Tricks | Richard Nixon | 2022 |
Movie | A Boy Called Christmas | Father Vodol | 2021-11-11 |
Movie | Dolittle | Lord Thomas Badgley | 2020-01-01 |
Movie | Six Minutes to Midnight | Charlie | 2020-10-15 |
Movie | The Duke | Kempton Bunton | 2020-09-04 |
Movie | Children In Need 2019: Got It Covered | Self | 2019-10-30 |
Movie | New Town Utopia | Lewis Silkin MP | 2018-05-04 |
Movie | King Lear | Earl of Gloucester | 2018-05-28 |
Movie | Black '47 | Kilmichael | 2018-09-05 |
Movie | King of Thieves | Terry Perkins | 2018-09-04 |
Movie | The Sense of an Ending | Tony Webster | 2017-03-10 |
Movie | Paddington 2 | Samuel Gruber | 2017-11-09 |
Movie | Mary and the Witch's Flower | Doctor Dee (voice) | 2017-07-08 |
Series | War and Peace | Prince Bolkonsky | 2016-01-03 |
Movie | Eddie the Eagle | BBC Commentator | 2016-02-26 |
Movie | The Legend of Tarzan | Prime Minister | 2016-06-29 |
Movie | Magik | Garret | 2016-12-25 |
Movie | Ethel & Ernest | Ernest Briggs (voice) | 2016-10-28 |
Movie | Bridget Jones's Baby | Mr. Colin Jones | 2016-09-14 |
Movie | The Go-Between | Old Leo | 2015-09-20 |
Movie | The Weather Inside | Britischer Botschafter | 2015-09-29 |
Movie | Brooklyn | Father Flood | 2015-10-20 |
Movie | The Lady in the Van | Underwood | 2015-11-13 |
Series | London Spy | Scottie | 2015-11-09 |
Movie | Postman Pat: The Movie | CEO (voice) | 2014-05-23 |
Movie | Big Game | Herbert | 2014-09-05 |
Movie | Get Santa | Santa Claus | 2014-12-05 |
Movie | The One and Only Mike Leigh | Himself | 2014-11-24 |
Movie | Paddington | Samuel Gruber | 2014-11-24 |
Movie | Le Week-End | Nick Burrows | 2013-10-04 |
Movie | Closed Circuit | Attorney General | 2013-08-28 |
Movie | Filth | Dr. Rossi | 2013-09-23 |
Movie | The Harry Hill Movie | Cleaner | 2013-12-20 |
Series | The Great Train Robbery | DCS Tommy Butler | 2013-12-18 |
Movie | The Phone Call | Stan (voice) | 2013-10-20 |
Movie | Chance Meeting | 2013-10-08 | |
Movie | Cloud Atlas | Captain Molyneux / Vyvyan Ayrs / Timothy Cavendish / Korean Musician / Prescient 2 | 2012-10-26 |
Movie | Nina Conti: Her Master's Voice | Himself | 2012-03-11 |
Series | Exile | 2011-05-01 | |
Movie | The Iron Lady | Denis Thatcher | 2011-12-30 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | Horace Slughorn | 2011-07-07 |
Movie | Arthur Christmas | Santa (voice) | 2011-11-10 |
Movie | Any Human Heart | Logan Mountstuart (Older) | 2010-06-30 |
Series | Any Human Heart | Logan Mountstuart | 2010-11-21 |
Movie | Animals United | Winston | 2010-10-07 |
Movie | Another Year | Tom | 2010-11-05 |
Movie | The Young Victoria | King William IV | 2009-03-04 |
Movie | The Damned United | Sam Longson | 2009-03-27 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Horace Slughorn | 2009-07-07 |
Movie | Perrier's Bounty | Jim McCrea | 2009-09-11 |
Movie | Tales of the Riverbank | G.P. (voice) | 2008-02-07 |
Movie | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Dean Charles Stanforth | 2008-05-21 |
Movie | Lost and Found | Narrator (voice) | 2008-12-24 |
Movie | Einstein and Eddington | Sir Oliver Lodge | 2008-11-29 |
Movie | Inkheart | Fenoglio | 2008-12-11 |
Movie | Hot Fuzz | Inspector Frank Butterman | 2007-02-14 |
Movie | When Did You Last See Your Father? | Arthur Morrison | 2007-10-05 |
Series | The Street | Unknown | 2006-04-13 |
Movie | Art School Confidential | Jimmy | 2006-05-05 |
Movie | Longford | Lord Longford | 2006-10-26 |
Movie | Free Jimmy | Stomowskij (voice) | 2006-04-21 |
Movie | The Magic Roundabout | Brian (voice) | 2005-02-02 |
Movie | Robots | Madame Gasket (voice) | 2005-03-10 |
Movie | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Professor Kirke | 2005-12-07 |
Movie | Spider-Plant Man | Batman | 2005-03-11 |
Movie | Valiant | Sergeant (voice) | 2005-03-25 |
Movie | Around the World in 80 Days | Lord Kelvin | 2004-06-16 |
Movie | Tooth | The Rabbit (voice) | 2004-02-13 |
Movie | Pride | Eddie (voice) | 2004-06-21 |
Movie | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Bridget's Dad | 2004-11-10 |
Movie | Vanity Fair | Mr. Osborne | 2004-09-01 |
Movie | Vera Drake | Judge | 2004-10-22 |
Movie | Bright Young Things | The Drunken Major | 2003-05-16 |
Movie | And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself | Harry Aitken | 2003-09-07 |
Movie | The Young Visiters | Alfred Salteena | 2003-12-26 |
Movie | The Gathering Storm | Desmond Morton | 2002-04-22 |
Movie | The King's Beard | The Wizard (voice) | 2002-10-02 |
Movie | Gangs of New York | William "Boss" Tweed | 2002-12-14 |
Movie | Nicholas Nickleby | Mr. Wackford Squeers | 2002-12-27 |
Movie | Bridget Jones's Diary | Bridget's Dad | 2001-04-13 |
Movie | The Night Club of Your Dreams: The Making of 'Moulin Rouge' | 2001-05-01 | |
Movie | Moulin Rouge! | Harold Zidler | 2001-05-24 |
Movie | Iris | John Bayley | 2001-12-14 |
Movie | Topsy-Turvy | W. S. Gilbert | 1999-09-03 |
Movie | Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death | The Doctor | 1999-03-26 |
Movie | The Avengers | Mother | 1998-08-13 |
Movie | Little Voice | Mr. Boo | 1998-11-05 |
Movie | Smilla's Sense of Snow | Dr. Lagermann | 1997-02-28 |
Series | The Peter Principle | Peter Duffley | 1997-06-02 |
Movie | The Borrowers | Pod Clock | 1997-12-05 |
Movie | The Secret Agent | Chief Inspector Heat | 1996-11-08 |
Series | Percy the Park Keeper | 1996-12-01 | |
Movie | Rough Magic | Doc Ansell | 1995-09-07 |
Movie | Richard III | The Duke of Buckingham | 1995-12-29 |
Movie | Widows' Peak | Con Clancy | 1994-05-13 |
Movie | Bullets Over Broadway | Warner Purcell | 1994-10-14 |
Movie | Princess Caraboo | Mr. Worrall | 1994-09-16 |
Movie | Wide-Eyed and Legless | Deric Longden | 1993-09-05 |
Movie | A Sense of History | 23rd Earl of Leete | 1992-01-01 |
Movie | The Crying Game | Col | 1992-09-02 |
Series | Gone to Seed | Monty Plant | 1992-11-13 |
Movie | Enchanted April | Frederick Arbuthnot | 1991-11-06 |
Movie | Nona | 1991-10-19 | |
Series | Gone to the Dogs | Jim Morley | 1991-11-29 |
Series | Murder Most Horrid | Unknown | 1991-11-14 |
Movie | Life Is Sweet | Andy | 1990-11-15 |
Movie | Erik the Viking | Ernest the Viking (a Rapist) | 1989-09-01 |
Series | The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos | 1989-11-16 | |
Series | Victoria Wood | 1989-11-16 | |
Movie | Vroom | Donald | 1988-11-11 |
Movie | Blackadder's Christmas Carol | Prince Albert | 1988-12-23 |
Series | Inspector Morse | Unknown | 1987-01-06 |
Movie | Superman IV: The Quest for Peace | Jean Pierre Dubois | 1987-07-23 |
Movie | The Insurance Man | Gutling | 1986-02-22 |
Movie | Walter | Joseph - Orderly | 1986-07-01 |
Movie | Brazil | Dr. Jaffe | 1985-02-20 |
Movie | The Good Father | Roger Miles | 1985-11-01 |
Movie | Only Fools and Horses - To Hull and Back | Roy Slater | 1985-12-25 |
Movie | Silas Marner | Jem Rodney | 1985-12-30 |
Movie | The Hit | Barrister | 1984-09-12 |
Movie | Dead on Time | Priest | 1983-01-01 |
Movie | Birth of a Nation | Geoff Figg | 1983-06-19 |
Movie | Walter and June | Orderly | 1983-04-30 |
Series | Dramarama | Unknown | 1983-09-12 |
Movie | Uliisses | 1982-06-18 | |
Series | Bird of Prey | 1982-04-22 | |
Movie | Mike Leigh: Making Plays | (Archive Material) | 1982-09-04 |
Movie | Intensive Care | Mr Horsfall | 1982-11-09 |
Movie | Time Bandits | Compere | 1981-07-13 |
Movie | Breaking Glass | Station Porter | 1980-10-01 |
Movie | The Passage | 1979-03-09 | |
Movie | Long Distance Information | Mackaness | 1979-10-11 |
Series | Tales of the Unexpected | Unknown | 1979-03-24 |
Movie | The Shout | Fielder in cowpat | 1978-06-16 |
Series | The Channel Four Show | Unknown | 1977-05-20 |
Movie | The Go-Between | Spectator at Cricket Match (uncredited) | 1971-06-16 |
Series | Play for Today | Unknown | 1970-10-15 |
Series | The Academy Awards | Unknown | 1953-03-18 |