James Harkness is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Craig Myers in the BBC crime drama The Victim(2019)[1], as James in BBC drama The Nest(2020),[2] footballer Jimmy Love in the Netflix drama The English Game(2020) and the Sky Original Gangs of London.[3]
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Born and raised in a deprived area of Glasgow known as the the Gorbals, James’ teenage years were, to say the least, combative. However, following a traumatic and almost fatal attack he decided to turn his life around and follow an early passion for acting.
He took his first steps at the Glasgow Citizens’ Youth Theatre, where he was scouted by the National Theatre. He went on to train at LAMDA, graduating in 2013. Several key onscreen roles followed, with James appearing in Silent Witness (BBC), Justin Kurzel’s big screen adaptation of Macbeth (2015) and the science fiction actioner Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). He then landed parts in three award-winning feature films: Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour (2017); Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread (2018), and Tom Harper’s Wild Rose (2018).
However, James’ breakout performance came in 2019, playing the lead role of Craig Myers to great acclaim, opposite Kelly Macdonald and John Hannah, in BBC One’s primetime miniseries The Victim. He also wrapped work on Channel 5 series Anne Boleyn starring Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne, and also shot the Pablo Larrain helmed Spencer with Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales.[4]