Jude Law

Biography

Born: 29 December 1972
Where: London, England
Awards: Won BAFTA, nominated for 2 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes
Height: 5' 11"
Filmography: The Complete List

It's not easy to be a Brit in Hollywood, particularly a Brit of the finely chiselled variety. You'll get the occasional period drama, perhaps a flukey hit murder mystery (as Jeremy Irons did with Reversal Of Fortune). But you're much more likely to be cast as a ruthless villain whose aristocratic sense of superiority has wiped out all trace of decency and mercy (as Jeremy Irons was in Die Hard 3). The only way out, it seems, is to take every chance you're given to escape Brit-ness, and Jude Law's career is proof positive of that. By challenging himself as a gay Georgian urchin, a Russian sniper, a cyborg gigolo, a mobster hitman and a crippled Confederate vet, he's utterly sidestepped the typecasters. And he's also made such high-profile buddies as Steven Spielberg. Not bad for a stage actor who once considered his first appearance at the National Theatre to be the pinnacle of success.

He was born David Jude Law in South East London on December 29, 1972, the second child of Peter and Maggie (they'd earlier had a daughter, Natasha, now a photographer), and grew up in Blackheath. It remains unclear whether his name was inspired by The Beatles' Hey Jude or Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure - one hopes it was the former, the latter being so remorselessly miserable. Peter was a primary school teacher, with a pony tail. Maggie taught English to refugee kids. Into amateur dramatics, they now run their own theatre company in France.

Initially attending a local comprehensive school, Law was deeply disturbed by the levels of violence and bullying and was moved to a private school - Alleyn's in Dulwich. But he had discovered acting even before this switch. While performing in a school play at the tender age of six, he found that he naturally understood "the concept of creating imaginative scenarios". Sensitive to their son's artistic leanings, Peter and Maggie would take him regularly to the theatre, always discussing the play and performance afterwards.