Jim Broadbent
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent was
born on May 24, 1949 in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of sculptress
Doreen "Dee" (Findlay) and furniture maker Roy Laverick Broadbent.
He attended a Quaker boarding school in Reading, then successfully
applying for a place at an art school, but his heart was in acting and he
transferred into the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
After he graduated in 1972, 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 Le cri du sorcier (1978). He went on to work with Frears again in The Hit - Le tueur était presque parfait (1984) and with Terry Gilliam in Bandits, 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 Avril enchanté (1991), and he could subsequently be seen in such diverse fare as Woody Allen's Coups de feu sur Broadway (1994), Parfum de scandale (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 Le Journal de Bridget Jones (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), 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.
Broadbent made his film debut in 1978 with a small part in Jerzy Skolimowski's Le cri du sorcier (1978). He went on to work with Frears again in The Hit - Le tueur était presque parfait (1984) and with Terry Gilliam in Bandits, 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 Avril enchanté (1991), and he could subsequently be seen in such diverse fare as Woody Allen's Coups de feu sur Broadway (1994), Parfum de scandale (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 Le Journal de Bridget Jones (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), 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.
