Jamie Dornan's career timeline: His rise to fame from model to TV star
Here's where you might have seen him before!
Last updated 18th Mar 2024
Jamie Dornan is a hugely talented actor. While you might know him best from the Fifty Shades series or his turn as secret serial killer in The Fall, we're betting there's plenty more he's got in his portfolio that you won't have seen before.
We've taken a trip back through time to unearth some of Jamie's biggest roles as an actor and to see what he said about them. Here's a pretty exhaustive list of all the roles you might have spotted him in...
Jamie Dornan's career: See which TV shows and films he's been in
Early 00's: Sons of Jim
Jamie co-founded a folk band with his childhood friend David Alexander, performing under the name Sons of Jim, since - you guessed it - both their dads are named Jim. They played together for a number of years, even starting their own record label, Doorstep Records, and supporting KT Tunstall on tour, before calling it quits in 2008.
2001: Modelling
After dropping out of Teesside University's marketing course at the age of 20 as he realised that wasn't a path he wanted to pursue, Jamie's family rallied round him to help discover his passion. According to an interview, his sister encouraged him to move to London and apply for Channel 4 reality TV show, Model Behaviour. Admitting that he didn't do too well on the show and "hated" modelling, Jamie then secured a modelling contract and now credits his successful acting career to his beginnings as a model.
2006: Marie Antoinette as Count Axel Fersen
Jamie's first role was a pretty major one to land - starring as Kirsten Dunst's romantic interest as the real-life Count Axel Fersen in 2006's Marie Antoinette. The film won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and was nominated for three BAFTAs. Reuniting with his former co-star in a Variety interview in 2022, Jamie actually revealed that he thought that would be his first and last role: "I remember thinking it might be my last. I remember thinking I really don't know what I'm doing here."
2008: Beyond The Rave
After his star turn in Marie Antoinette, Jamie unsuccessfully auditioned for a lot of roles, telling The Standard in 2014: "I mean hundreds of them. Some of them totally humiliating experiences. People attach too much to the idea of being a model, that you can only be a certain way to have done it. You will always be dealing with it. You're an actor who used to be a model who never trained; there are not many directors queuing up."
However, he then landed a role in Beyond The Rave, a film marking the comeback of horror film production company, Hammer Films. The film saw Jamie take on the role of soldier Ed, who spends his last night before deployment searching for his girlfriend who's gone missing - and ends up stumbling upon something pretty gruesome. Of appearing in the film, which was released on MySpace, Jamie told Interview magazine in 2014 how he came to win the role: "I met the producer at my sister's wedding and was very fond of him. I liked what he was trying to do with the project, and after plenty of drink, I said I'd be involved. Then I was involved and it was a mad shoot. The whole shoot was a night shoot. I was sleeping all day, having no life, and then getting up, going to work at six in the evening and coming home at six in the morning—very strange. I don't remember a great deal about that time. But I made good friends. We were brought together through the lack of sleep."
2009: Shadows in the Sun
Jamie appeared in independent flick Shadows in the Sun in 2009 alongside Jean Simmons, James Wilby and Ophelia Lovibond as Joe, a young man who befriends an elderly woman to the chagrin of her son. He told Interview magazine about working with legendary actress Jean in a 2014 interview: "She was, what, 79 when I worked with her? And when I think of all the films she was in, and how thoughtful and generous she was...", pausing in an emotional moment before adding: "I have to be careful here, because I was almost gonna tear up. She started as a kid. She had so many great stories. She worked with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra—in the same movie! I'm sure she got sick of me asking her about that." He also worked as a model during this time, appearing on billboards with Eva Mendes for Calvin Klein.
2011-2013: Once Upon a Time
His next big gig was the dual role of the Huntsman/Sheriff Graham in Once Upon A Time. Starring as the main character's love interest before he's cruelly killed by the Evil Queen, Jamie was only in the show for seven episodes in 2011 before returning in flashbacks for a further two in 2013 - but he certainly made an impact and was one of the show's most beloved characters.
When asked in an interview with E! Online in 2011 whether he'd known which fairytale counterpart he'd be portraying, he revealed: "I did know. Originally I was meant to be someone else, but that didn't end up happening because of rights or something like that. But I knew pretty early on. Not the very beginning, but pretty early on I got the idea from production. And the sooner you know the better because then you can start trying to somewhat play that into what you're doing with your Storybrooke character."
2013-2016: The Fall
Jamie turned to the dark side for his role in The Fall as villain Paul Spector. Teaming up with TV legend Gillian Anderson, Jamie starred as a creepy, vicious, sexually-motivated serial killer. Speaking to Interview magazine in 2014 about the role, Jamie said: "What is creepy about that is the normality of it all. He has a wife and two kids that I think he loves. I think he shows good qualities, despite the fact that he hunts and kills innocent women. It is all quite sordid. But I want to show how regular these guys can be."
He added to the Telegraph: "I felt shocked and bewildered, and above all else very frightened. I was hungry to prove it was within my capabilities, but over the moon. They took a risk. I wasn't who people were thinking of for that part." Jamie was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award in 2014 for Best Actor, and the show won four Irish Film and Television Awards.
Jamie also played the role of Colin Montgomery in 2014 film Flying Home alongside Anthony Head, and starred as Abe Goffe in Channel 4 series New Worlds. He additionally appeared in Bradley Cooper's chef film Burnt in 2015, but his scenes were cut.
2015-2018: Fifty Shades of Grey
Jamie's next role slightly overlapped with The Fall - it was an intense time for him! Taking on the portrayal of Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades series (itself beginning life as a Twilight fan fiction), Jamie was cast in the role opposite Dakota Johnson for the steamy thriller series after original star Charlie Hunnam dropped out. Jamie won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Drama Movie Star for his role in the third film in the franchise, Fifty Shades Freed.
Although the films were pretty divisive, to say the least, Jamie revealed in a 2021 interview with GQ that he didn't regret taking on the role - but admitted that he spent "a lot of time weighing up" if he would sign up. He said: "I'm not saying I don't recognise why those books were so powerful for millions of people, but you aren't going to have books that were horrifically critiqued turned into movies that will be critically acclaimed. You are dealing with the same material. That's the raw material we had."
He added: "Look, put it this way: it's done no harm to my career to be part of a movie franchise that has made more than $1 billion. Every working actor would say the same thing. It's provided – a lot. There's no shame in saying it's transformed my life and my family's life financially. I am very, very grateful for this and always will be. And the fans loved it."
2016: Anthropoid
Appearing opposite Cillian Murphy in historic war film Anthropoid, Jamie portrayed real-life Czech soldier Jan Kubiš. The film was based on the WWII operation of the same name to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, a Nazi soldier who was responsible for the Holocaust. Speaking about the film on This Morning in 2016, Jamie confessed he'd not known anything about the operation before taking on the role in the film: "Sometimes when you're playing a real character, you're trying to tell a story that really happened, because there's so much more to draw on in terms of research."
He added of the characters: "Cillian's character is far more in control. He'd be the alpha of the relationship if you had to pick one, but I find Jan more relatable because he was riddled with self doubt and anxiety. As much as you think you'd be the sort of person to pull the trigger, the reality is that you'd be, I'd be a wreck!"
2016: The Siege of Jadotville
Yet another war film came hot on the heels of Anthropoid, with Jamie starring as Patrick Quinlan in The Siege of Jadotville alongside Mark Strong and Jason O'Mara. Based on the book of the same name, the film documents an Irish Army unit's role in the Congo Crisis between 1960 and 1965. It won three Irish Film & Television Awards: Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and VFX, with Jamie being nominated for Best Actor.
He told the BBC in 2016: "I actually just couldn't believe the story. I couldn't believe that I didn't know it, you know, coming from this island. I couldn't believe that it hadn't come on my radar. You couldn't read the script and Declan's book without being amazed by the logistics of it and how they find themselves in that position and how they got out of it. To have the chance to play the man who led them through it, such an inspirational figure, you know, in Irish history and should be more known. And all of that intrigued me and I was just very instantly drawn to it."
2016: The 9th Life of Louis Drax
2016 was a busy year for Jamie! He also starred in The 9th Life of Louis Drax as psychologist Dr. Allan Pascal who investigates a young boy who seemingly came back from the dead and accidentally develops feelings for the boy's mum... Oops!
Jamie spoke to the Associated Press about the film, explaining that many of his family members are in the medical profession: "It's funny, my dad tried to give me advice for pretty much every character I've played leading up to it - except on this occasion when I was playing in a medical professional, it was very strange!"
He also spoke about working with Aiden Longworth who played young Louis in the film and how "refreshing" it was to have him on set: "He's a treat to work with, talks non-stop. And look, he's a kid, you know, I think he was 10 or 11 when when we filmed this, and you can't ask a 10 or 11 year old to lie and keep their eyes closed through any shots. I found him very lovely. It's sometimes refreshing to have a kid on set because adults, you know, you're trying to make this art and everyone's being very serious, and then a kid just breaks all of that and they see the purest form which is like we're basically playing dress up and it's really fun. Essentially, that is what making films is - whatever way we package it, we're playing dress up and it should be it should be frivolous. It should be fun, regardless of the context."
2018: A Private War
Jamie took on another real-life role in A Private War, playing war photographer Paul Conroy opposite Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin and based on 'Marie Colvin's Private War', a 2012 article in Vanity Fair by Marie Brenner. Jamie worked closely with Paul on the set of the film, and told Refinery29 that it was the closest he's ever worked with someone who he was portraying.
He said: "For me it was an honour to be in this film and to portray this unbelievable man. To have his support throughout the process was amazing," adding that the film was an "homage" to "real journalism".
2018: Robin Hood
Also released in 2018, Jamie appeared in a remake of Robin Hood as Will Scarlet, Robin's love rival. The film saw Taron Egerton play Robin, Jamie Foxx as Little John and Eve Hewson as Maid Marian.
Jamie explained to Collider that he'd loved the animated Disney version of Robin Hood as a child, which had been a big factor in taking on the role: "I have always loved this story. I remember how excited I was to go and see Prince of Thieves when I was 11 years old and I remember that like it was yesterday."
He added that the film's production team had tried to fashion a new telling of the story without drifting too far from the story everyone knows and loves: "I guess that the love triangle, then, is different to what we know with past Robin Hoods. It becomes about my character, Will, and Robin and Marian, which just adds a whole different sort of dynamic to it. What happens within that love triangle has a big effect on the journey that my character goes through and he's unrecognisable at the end of the film from when we see him at the start. That was the thing that excited me most about this journey."
2018: Death and Nightingales
Jamie starred in a BBC adaptation of Eugene McCabe's novel Death and Nightingales, alongside Ann Skelly and Matthew Rhys. The BBC's plot description reads: 'Set in the beautiful, haunting countryside of Fermanagh in the North of Ireland in 1885, Death and Nightingales is a riveting story of love, betrayal, deception and revenge.'
Jamie told the BBC in an interview about his character: "He's quite mysterious and you get a sense that there's something lurking underneath that isn't very nice, maybe a little bit sinister." He added that he loved working in Northern Ireland: "I love working in Northern Ireland, anywhere in Ireland. The magic thing for me is the crew, as a lot of them worked on various series of The Fall. It's a huge benefit when you are comfortable with people around you on set, you have a laugh with them and have something personal with each one of them and socialise together."
Jamie also starred in Untogether in 2018, starring alongside Ben Mendelsohn and Jemima Kirke. Additionally, he performed as the character of Danny Tate in TV film My Dinner with Hervé alongside Peter Dinklage.
2019: Endings, Beginnings
Jamie starred in semi-improvised rom-com Endings, Beginnings, which had a film festival release in September 2019 and an intended cinematic release of May 2020. However, as this was during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided that the film would be released digitally instead. Starring as one of Shailene Woodley's two love interests along with Sebastian Stan, Jamie portrayed Irish writer Jack who's unknowingly embroiled in a love triangle.
Jamie spoke out about the improvisational aspect of the film, telling Variety: "I think it was a 70-page skeleton script that you really stick to in those one or two takes. Because that's what you're used to doing. And then usually after one take, he's like, 'I don't want you to say anything that's on that paper.' And you're like…..what happens next?" adding: "The camera would just be floating around, and it would just appear in a lovely way. It's very freeing to work like that."
2019: Synchronic
Jamie's next turn was as paramedic Dennis Dannelly, alongside Anthony Mackie as his colleague Steve who accidentally becomes a time traveller when the pair discover a designer drug that can transport people back into other eras. After the film had its film festival premiere in September 2019, it was set for release in 2020 - but due to the COVID pandemic, it was pushed back to later in the year.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jamie admitted he'd be the first to take the drug if it was real! He said: "100% I would try it. If it was having all the harmful effects like in the movie maybe today I wouldn't but 20-year-old me still definitely would. If I knew it could safely take me back in time, I think we all would do it. I like the idea of hanging out on Laurel Canyon in the late 60s with Joni Mitchell, James Morrison, and David Crosby. Those guys seem like they were having a really good time. I'm into that American folk-rock sound, so that's where I'd like to go."
2020: Wild Mountain Thyme
Jamie next starred in romcom drama Wild Mountain Thyme opposite Emily Blunt portraying his love interest and Jon Hamm as his love rival. Jamie and Emily's characters had lived near each other since childhood and only found their way to each other romantically in their late 30s, with lots of twists and turns along the way.
Jamie told Irish News in 2021: "They were just such unique, complicated, and really loveable characters who really needed each other for different reasons. I've played some very dark characters, but never anyone as unworldly as Anthony. He is just slightly in his own world and while it wouldn't take much to make him very happy, he hasn't been able to muster the right energy to make that happen and be fulfilled. I had to let all my insecurities and lack of understanding of certain elements of life come to the front with him. I feel like I've exposed myself more than I ever have in any other role."
Jamie also voiced the character of Chaz for the Trolls World Tour movie in 2020.
2021: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
His next role saw a pretty large departure from anything he's played before, Jamie completely threw himself into his comedy role as Edgar in 2021 comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Starring alongside Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Jamie's character was a conflicted baddie who ends up coming good - complete with a full-on power ballad about Edgar's internal struggle. Seriously - you can watch it on YouTube.
Jamie said of his singing performance to Vulture in 2021: "I was just like, I'm going to have throw myself at this as violently as I can and have fun with it. I've got a very silly side to me I felt like I was totally able to express in that song."
He added of taking on the role: "I'd been eager to get in the ring a bit with comedy for my whole career, and I felt like there was no better place to start than with these guys. I hadn't learned that they had this idea of me in mind before I did the movie. We knew some of the same people, had some friends in common, and I guess some people were nice and said to them that I was funny. They said they watched some of me in talks shows and got a sense of me from that. I said yes based on the title of the script."
2021: Belfast
From comedy to drama, Jamie gave the performance of a lifetime as 'Pa' in Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical film Belfast and starring alongside CaitrÃona Balfe, Judi Dench, and Ciarán Hinds. Chronicling the life of a young boy growing up in Belfast in the 60s, the film documents a Protestant family through The Troubles. The film won a Golden Globe, two IFTAs, a BAFTA Film Award and an Oscar among many other achievements, with Jamie receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In an interview with GQ in 2021, Kenneth explained what had caught his eye about Jamie and admitted that he was his "first and only choice" for the role: "He is not interested in those usual ticks that can make up so many colourful, eye-catching parts. I particularly liked him in the much undervalued movie Anthropoid; he has a compelling way in repose, in which he thinks and reflects. That quality of being interesting while silent – this chimed with what we needed from our Belfast man, the non-caring and sharing type. He's tough, yes, sporty, yes, charming, yes, but he also embraces his vulnerability or can sit with it happily. He's happy to peel the layers and get uncomfortable for a performance. He walks towards that fear. That's unusual."
Jamie told People: "The privilege I felt to be in that movie with those people and have had that experience in the final day was incredible," adding that the heartbreak of his father passing away just before he could see it was tough: "It makes it harder almost that he ... then didn't get a chance to see it. Not only to see it, but to see the response it's gotten, to share all the love that has been heaped on that film."
2022 - 2024: The Tourist
Jamie returned to the world of BBC Drama in 2022 for The Tourist, playing a character suffering from amnesia after being involved in a car accident. The BBC describe the plot as follows: "An epic cat-and-mouse chase unfolds, and Jamie's character later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. Full of shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns, The Tourist is set in a world populated by quirky, enigmatic characters and off-beat comedy punctuates high-stakes action." The second series aired in January 2024.
Jamie told Collider: "I don't think I've ever worked harder, in my life, than I did on this job. It was the longest shoot I've ever done and the hardest shoot, physically and mentally for so many reasons. My character's never in a calm state. It was just this mad state of flux that he was in. For The Man, more than any other character, he ended up becoming something other than I expected him to be. This sounds so silly based on the premise of the show, but I felt like I was constantly finding new stuff about him. My process for this character was different to any process I've ever done for any character I've ever played. I was trying to block out anything that was revealed about him, so that it felt fresh."
2023: Heart of Stone
Taking on the role of baddie spy Parker opposite Gal Gadot, Jamie starred in Netflix film Heart of Stone in 2023. The synopsis is described by Netflix as: "An intelligence operative for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency races to stop a hacker from stealing its most valuable - and dangerous - weapon."
Jamie told the Irish Times in 2023 what appealed to him about the role: "When I read a script, I always try to place myself in the audience to try to gauge how they're going to react, and the impact that the twists and turns are going to have on them. There's loads of twists and turns in this movie – I think that's what keeps it entertaining and exciting. And there's a lot about Parker that appealed to me: he's not just some sort of two-dimensional spy character, he's multi-layered. And that plays out in lots of different ways in the story. It was great fun to play those different aspects of him."
2023: A Haunting in Venice
Reuniting with Kenneth Branagh and Jude Hill from his turn in Belfast, Jamie starred as Dr. Leslie Ferrier in A Haunting In Venice, the third Agatha Christie adaptation of Branagh's following Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. The film also starred Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh and Kelly Reilly.
Jamie told Belfast Live about his character: "He's a pretty fractured guy. He has lost a lot, but is clinging on, and the things that keep him going are his son, Leopold, and his love for Rowena Drake. He has this fierce sort of infatuation with her, and she has him wrapped around her little finger. So, there's a bit of desperation to him because he has very little confidence, is riddled with PTSD and is very jumpy."
Upcoming: The Undertow
Jamie is reportedly set to star in a brand new Netflix series called The Undertow, which is a remake of the 2019 Norwegian series Twin which starred Game of Thrones' Kristofer Hivju. According to Variety, Jamie will play dual roles Adam and Lee, who are estranged twin brothers, alongside Mackenzie Davis as his wife Nicola. There's no word yet on a release date, but the series will go into production later this year.
An official description from Variety reads: 'Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam (Dornan), Nicola's (Davis) life takes a dramatic turn when Adam's long-estranged identical twin brother Lee (Dornan) comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present. A split-second decision and a terrible accident drives Nicola to protect her children, and over the course of one week, Lee and Nicola are forced together, struggling to maintain a web of secrets and lies. Though they can't ignore their feelings for each other, they both know they're living on borrowed time.'
Now read:
Jamie Dornan: Everything you need to know
Everything you need to know about Jamie Dornan's gripping drama The Tourist
The Tourist: Meet the cast of the hit show