James Callis

James Callis
Callis at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	James Nicholas Callis 4 June 1971 Hammersmith, London, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of York, (B.A., English and Related Literature, 1993)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Neha Callis (m. 1998–present)
Children	3

James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. He later reprised the role in 2016, in "Bridget Jones's Baby." He joined the cast of the TV Series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010.

Early life

Callis was born in Hammersmith and brought up in London, where he attended St. Martin's Prep School in Northwood and then Harrow School in north-west London. His parents owned a bed-and-breakfast.^[1] In a comment to a fansite, Callis repudiated the rumour that he comes from aristocratic roots by saying that he is the descendant of poor immigrants from Russia and Poland.^[2]

Callis attended the University of York, graduating in 1993 with a BA in English and Related Literature. He was a member of Derwent College, for which he was an enthusiastic rugby player. At university he was also a keen student actor, director and writer. He was a key member of the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan society and even appeared in productions put on by friends at Cambridge University, including a production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.

Career

Callis went on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1996. In the same year, he was awarded the Jack Tinker Award (Theatre Record Critic of the Year) for Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in Old Wicked Songs, a two-hander by Jon Marans, in which he starred alongside Bob Hoskins.

Callis has appeared in various West End productions and television series as well as on radio. He has also been involved in writing and directing. His directorial debut was Beginner's Luck, a co-production of his and writer/director Nick Cohen's Late Night Pictures and Angel Eye Film & TV, starring Julie Delpy, Steven Berkoff and Fenella Fielding. Beginner's Luck was critically panned, but ran for almost three weeks on one print (all the low-budget film could afford) in one cinema in central London, then went on a tour of student cinemas around the U.K. The U.K. distributor was Guerrilla Films. The film is still on the Icon Catalogue.

Callis finished filming his first role in a cinema film, Bridget Jones's Diary, alongside Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant, in the summer of 2000 and between a few further film and TV roles went back on stage in the Soho Theatre in December 2002.

Callis in 2007

In 2003, Callis played the role of Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries, and continued the role in the regular series that followed. In 2006, Callis won the Best Supporting Actor Saturn Award and an AFI award for his performance as Baltar.

Personal life

Callis has been married to Neha Callis since December 30, 1998. They have two sons and a daughter, Joshua Amaan (born 2003), Sacha (born 2005) and Anika Jahan (born 2009).

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Weekend Bird	Mike	Short
1999	Surety	Ben	Short Directed & produced with Nick Cohen
2000	Jason and the Argonauts	Aspyrtes	Television film
	Arabian Nights	Prince Ahmed	Television film
2001	Bridget Jones's Diary	Tom
	Victoria & Albert	Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert's brother)	Television film
	Beginner's Luck	Mark Feinman	Callis also wrote, co-directed and co-produced this film.
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Tom
	Dead Cool	Josh
2006	One Night with the King	Haman, the Agagite
2007	Battlestar Galactica: Razor	Dr. Gaius Baltar	Television film
2009	Merlin and the Book of Beasts	Merlin	Television film
2010	Reuniting the Rubins	Danny Rubins
	Meet Pursuit Delange	Pursuit	Short
2011	17th Precinct	John Bosson	Television film
2013	Austenland	Colonel Andrews
2015	House by the Lake	Scott	Post-production
2016	Bridget Jones's Baby	Tom	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Murder Most Horrid	Mark	Episode: "Confess"
	Soldier Soldier	Maj Tim Forrester	9 Episodes
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Gwinnett	TV Mini-Series, Episode: "Post War"
1998	Heat of the Sun	Asst. Supt. Clive Lanyard	TV Mini-Series, Episode: "Private Lives"
	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Guy Curran	Episodes: "The Going Wrong: Part 1", "The Going Wrong: Part 2" and "The Going Wrong: Part 3"
1999	Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll	The Wolf (Justin DeVere Montague)	TV Mini-Series
	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Henri	Episode: "Valentin Gautier"
2001	As If	Sebastian	Episode: "Nicki's POV"
2002	Relic Hunter	Raoul	Episode: "Faux Fox"
2003	Battlestar Galactica	Gaius Baltar	TV Mini-Series
	Blue Dove	Dominic Pasco	TV Mini-Series
2004-2010	Battlestar Galactica	Dr. Gaius Baltar	73 Episodes
2008	Late Show with David Letterman	Gaius Baltar - Top Ten Presenter (uncredited)
2009	Numb3rs	Mason Duryea	Episode: "Angels and Devils"
2010	FlashForward	Gabriel McDow	Episodes: "The Garden of Forking Paths", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Course Correction" and "The Negotiation"
2010-2012	Eureka	Dr. Trevor Grant	10 Episodes
2011	Merlin	Julius Borden	Episode: "Aithusa"
	17th Precinct	Jeff Bosson	TV pilot
2012	Midsomer Murders	Toby & Julian DeQuetteville	Episode: "The Dark Rider"
	DCI Banks	Owen Pierce	Episodes: "Innocent Graves - Part 1" and "Innocent Graves - Part 2"
2013	Arrow	The Dodger	Episode: "Dodger"
	Key and Peele	Shakespeare	Episode: "Episode #3.8"
2013-2014	CSI	John Merchiston	Episodes: "Skin in the Game", "The Devil and D.B. Russell" and "Boston Brakes"
2014	The Musketeers	Emile Bonnaire	Episode: "Commodities"
2015	A.D. The Bible Continues	Herod Antipas	Television miniseries
2015	Gallipoli	Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett	Television miniseries
2015	Rick and Morty	Pat Gueterman (voice)	Episode: "The Wedding Squanchers"

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Daisy Miller		Winterbourne
1999	HMS Ulysses	Saturday Playhouse (Radio 4)	Aired on 14 June 1997

Web original series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Caper	Doc English	Through Geek and Sundry

References

1. James Callis Biography (1971–)
2. Message 27: 30-Sep-2002

External links

• James Callis at the Internet Movie Database
• James Callis at TVGuide.com