Jim Broadbent Biography
Born: May 24, 1949
Date of Birth: May 24, 1949
This Lincolnshire, England son is one of Britain's most versatile character actors, with a long list of credits ranging from screwball comedy to weighty drama. He began his acting career late when he snagged a small part in the 1978 horror flick The Shout. Jim has worked in all three acting fields—film, television and theater. His theatrical credits include Sam Mendes' production of Habeas Corpus, as well as Kafka's Dick, The Government Inspector and Goosepimples.
British television audiences recognize his work in Wide-Eyed and Legless, Birth of a Nation: Tales Out of School and the award-winning A Sense of History. In America, he might be better known for his appearance as Bridget's Dad in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) or as William "Boss" Tweed in Gangs of New York (2002).
During the '90s, Jim weaved in and out of a series of hit-and-miss films, including The Crying Game (1992), Richard III (1995), The Borrowers (1997) and The Avengers (1998).
In 2002, Broadbent earned his first Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe for his work in Iris (2001) as Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he earned a BAFTA award for Moulin Rouge (2001). He earned a BAFTA TV Award nomination in 2004 for his work in the TV movie The Young Visiters, based on the novel The Young Visiters (or Mr Salteena's Plan), published in Britain in 1919 and written by Daisy Ashford who was only nine at the time (The book was published with spelling errors intact, which explains the spelling error in the title). Some of his other roles include the role of Professor Horace Slughorn in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), the voice of Santa in Arthur Christmas (2011) and the part of Denis Thatcher in the Oscar-winning drama The Iron Lady (2012).
Broadbent's more recent films include John Crowley's Oscar-nominated drama Brooklyn (2015) with Saoirse Ronan, the Golden Globe-nominated dramedy The Lady in the Van (2015) with Maggie Smith, the biopic Eddie the Eagle (2016), the adventure reboot The Legend of Tarzan (2016), the romantic sequel Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), and the drama The Sense of an Ending (2017) with Michelle Dockery, Charlotte Rampling and Emily Mortimer. His latest work is in the family-friendly film Paddington 2 (2018).
Broadbent has been married to Anastasia Lewis since 1987.