QUICK BIO
Full Name: Damian Watcyn Lewis
Nickname: Damo Childhood: Damage Teen: Diego
Date of Birth: 11 February 1971
Height: 6’1″
Place of Birth: St. John’s Wood, London, England
Parents: Charlotte Mary Bowater and John Watcyn Lewis
Siblings: Gareth Lewis, William Russell, Amanda Yaxley
Ancestry: English and Welsh
Languages: English, American accent
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
Avocation: Football, cricket, golf, tennis, biking, ping-pong, piano, guitar, singing, reading and Shakespeare
Music Interests: Jazz, Blues and ProgRock-Elvis, Supertramp
Quote: “My heroes were all in the theatre.”
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
Damian Watcyn Lewis, OBE is a British actor and producer. He was born on February 11, 1971 in St. John’s Wood, London, England, to Charlotte Mary (Bowater) and John Watcyn Lewis, a city insurance broker whose own parents were Welsh. Damian is a descendant of a number of prominent London citizens, including Ian Frank Bowater, his maternal grandfather, who served as Lord Mayor. He was raised on Abbey Road in London until the age of 8 with his siblings Gareth, William and Amanda. Beginning in 1979, he attended Ashdown House Boarding School in Forest Row, East Sussex and went on to Eton College where, at the age of 16, he formed his own theater company The Chameleons. After Eton, he took a year to travel in Africa and upon his return studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama between 1990 and 1993. He began his work as a stage actor at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in Romeo and Juliet and Rope soon after he graduated from drama school. Damian did Moliere’s School for Wives at the Almeida, played the Dane himself in Hamlet at the Open Air Theatre and made his Broadway debut as Laertes to Ralph Fiennes’ Hamlet in 1995. Damian then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company until 1999 and received the Ian Charleson Award, rewarded annually to the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30, for his portrayal of Borghejm in Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf.
Damian got his first major television break in Warriors (1999), followed by his portrayal of U.S. Army Officer and decorated war veteran Major Richard “Dick” Winters in the HBO/BBC miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), which earned him critical acclaim and his first Golden Globe nomination. He went on to do several other major projects in the next decade, including The Forsyte Saga and Life on the small screen, Keane, The Escapist, An Unfinished Life and more on the big screen, and Five Gold Rings, Pillars of the Community and The Misanthrope on stage. His equally notable role as U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicolas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. His performance as Henry VIII in BBC/PBS miniseries Wolf Hall earned him his third Primetime Emmy nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination. Damian played New York hedge fund titan Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime hit series Billions from 2016-2021. Damian returned to stage in the last few years in two modern American plays, David Mamet’s American Buffalo and Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? His recent film credits include Our Kind of Traitor, Run This Town, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Dream Horse and The Radleys.
His latest projects include Damian Lewis: Spy Wars and A Spy Among Friends. Spy Wars (2019) is a television docu-series that examines some of the most important international spy operations of the last forty years. The History Channel series was commissioned by A+E Networks, directed by Damian’s brother Gareth Lewis and produced by Alaska TV in association with the Damian’s recently launched Rookery Productions. A Spy Among Friends (2022) is a television mini-series based on the true story of Nicholas Elliott (Lewis) and Kim Philby — two spies and lifelong friends, one of whom was betraying the other all along, at the height of the Cold War. The show is scheduled to air in December, 2022 on new streaming platform ITVX (UK) and MGM+ (US). Damian serves as executive producer through his production company Ginger Biscuit Entertainment, LTD. Damian also serves as executive producer through Ginger Biscuit Entertainment on The Radleys (2024).
From actor to musician: Meeting with various London-based musicians, including Giacomo Smith, Damian wrote songs and found himself in the recording studio cutting tracks that were released on his debut album Mission Creep out June 16, 2023. The first single ‘Down on the Bowery’ was released April 13, 2023 and a special double-sided vinyl release of tracks ‘Zaragoza’ and ‘Never Judge a Man by His Umbrella’ was released April 22, 2023 for Record Store Day. His band of five has jazz roots and the album is described as a bluesy sound, with originals and a few covers. Read more about his music career and see video performances here.
PERSONAL LIFE
Damian married acclaimed British actress Helen Elizabeth McCrory on July 4, 2007 at Kensington and Chelsea Register Office in London. Helen passed away on April 16, 2021 after a battle with cancer. They have a daughter, Manon (born 8 September 2006) and a son, Gulliver (born 2 November 2007). The family resides in a Victorian townhouse located in Tufnell Park in North London. Damian’s paternal side of the family has a farmhouse in Llandeilo, a town in Carmarthenshire, Wales and he himself has a country home in the Suffolk hills area near Sudbury, a market town on the River Stour near the Essex border.
Damian and his talented brother and business partner Gareth Lewis have produced joint projects together under their former production company Picture Farm, Ltd., including The Baker, The Escapist and Warriors. Their recent collaborations, The Money Run and Falling Stars, were currently in development to be produced by their independent production company Flare Pictures, Ltd. They have a newer production company, Rookery Productions, with it’s first production – the 2019 docu-series Damian Lewis: Spy Wars on History Channel UK for A&E Networks – Gareth as co-executive producer and Damian as host reporter/narrator. And now Damian’s newest production company is Ginger Biscuit Entertainment, LTD, with it’s first production – the 2022 mini-series A Spy Among Friends for new streaming platform ITVX (UK) and Spectrum US.
On October 1, 2019, Damian’s maternal half brother William Russell was elected Lord Mayor of London and he took office at the Lord Mayor’s Show on November 9, 2019. Damian and William’s maternal grandfather Lt-Col. Sir Ian Bowater was Lord Mayor of London from 1969-1970 and their maternal great grandfather Sir Frank Bowater was Lord Mayor from 1938-1939. William Russell is the fifth member of his family to be elected Lord Mayor.
His maternal grandmother’s ancestors include Bertrand, Viscount Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the Royal Family) and the eminent naval shipbuilder (Yarrow Shipbuilders) and philanthropist Sir Alfred Yarrow, 1st Baronet.
Damian is an avid supporter of Liverpool Football Club.
In the summer of 2022, Damian began dating musician and lead singer of rock band The Kills, Alison Mosshart.
PHILANTHROPY
Damian is heavily involved with charity work, particularly fundraising events for environmental causes, programs supporting at-risk populations, arts programs for children, and events sponsoring literacy and bookstore support.
Since 2000, Damian has donated his valuable time serving as an Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust. In 2005, he became a Trade Justice Ambassador for Christian Aid and in 2006, traveled to Bolivia to bring awareness to the inequality and survival of the people and communities where the natural resources are being sold off to private interests. In 2006 he played golf for Europe in the All Star Cup. In 2006, 2010, 2016, and 2018 Damian was a player for England as part of the UNICEF charity program Soccer Aid. In 2013, he was a featured guest in the official opening of the restored historic medieval Aberglasney Mansion and Garden at Llangathen in Carmanthenshire, West Wales.
In 2016, he attended a fundraising event for the Rainforest Fund to support communities of indigenous people in Brazil. In 2017, he attended the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund fundraiser in support of ex-prisoners and their families starting a new life. Also in 2017, he donated a self-made drawing to Anno’s Africa to help raise funds for children’s arts education in Kenya.
In 2018, Damian served as a Bicentenary Ambassador for the Old Vic Theatre’s 200th anniversary, which included a variety of initiatives in raising awareness of its education and community programmes that serve 10,000 young people each year. Also in 2018 Damian showed his support for the National Centre for Circus Arts, an organization to celebrate and ignite the future of the art-form. That same year Damian supported several children’s causes, such as, Best Beginnings, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Save the Children.
Damian consistently participates in Red Nose Day and Comic Relief but most of his philanthropic initiatives are focused as a patron of Cure EB.org, formally known as Sohana Research Fund, raising funds for Epidermolysis Bullosa research and the London children’s organization Scene & Heard, a charity that provides mentoring for inner-city school children. He continues to broker support each year for ICAP Charity Day and GFI Charity Day to bring awareness to Epidermolysis Bullosa and on behalf of the Cancer Research Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, Damian and Helen launched the FeedNHS campaign, a program that provides food from high street restaurants to NHS staff, and had raised £1 million for the charity by early April of that year. The initiative started in London, but following its success plans it was announced to roll it out to other cities in the UK.
To carry on Helen’s legacy, Damian is the Patron of the Sir Hubert von Herkomer Arts Foundation (HvH Arts), a registered charity that facilitates a gateway to the arts for 5–18 year old children and young people by providing them with the inspiration and tools to develop lifelong artistic passions. They are a team of teachers and arts professionals offering a series of ten-week courses at after-school clubs and during school holidays. The courses cover subjects in all medium of the arts, graffiti street art, photography, film making, music sculpting, drama, song writing and poetry. For more information, please visit their website here. In honour of Helen’s memory, the HvH Arts Foundation introduced the “McCrory Award,” dedicated to supporting gifted children from disadvantaged families who do not have access to the resources, training nor income to fulfill their creative arts potential. In November, 2021 The Helen McCrory Studio Theatre was opened at Francis Holland School Regent’s Park, one of HvH Arts Foundation’s main sponsors over the years.
Damian is closely involved with the cycling campaign Ride4Hugo, a charity in honor of his nephew Hugo Yaxley which raises money for four outreach programs close to Hugo and Helen McCrory’s heart: HvH Arts Foundation, Place 2Be, Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance services. The charity’s slogan is “Using 2 wheels to keep the memory of Hugo Yaxley and Aunty Helen alive.”
FUN TRIVIA
1) Damian once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarm security systems.
2) His wife Helen McCrory urged him to take the role in the film Keane.
3) As a child, Damian made several trips to the U.S. to visit relatives during summertime.
4) Damian wore women’s thong underwear to immerse himself into his character “Rizza” for the film The Escapist.
5) In 2014 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama and in 2022 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama and charity.
6) Damian can play sports, and sports might have been another career choice for him. He can play golf, football, cricket and of course, ping-pong. When asked what his fantasy job would be he replied, “Liverpool No. 10.”
7) Speaking of football, Damian plays for a team in King’s Cross called Anvil FC. He also plays in the annual historic cricket match Authors vs. Actors each year.
8) Damian is quite musical. He can sing, dance, and play instruments like the piano and guitar. He quite enjoys singing showtunes.
9) While playing Laertes in a production of Hamlet, Damian was injured near his eye during the sword fight scene, which resulted in 6 stitches.
10) It’s all in the family. The film The Baker, also known as Assassin in Love, was written and directed by Damian’s talented brother and business partner Gareth Lewis, a joint project produced under their production company Picture Farm, Ltd. with partner Adrian Sturges. At the world premiere of The Baker at Canada’s Tremblant Film Festival, Gareth Lewis was named Best Director. Damian Lewis and Adrian Sturges also produced the Gareth Lewis written and directed short film Normal for Norfolk featuring Damian’s wife Helen McCrory.
11) Damian is happiest when he’s driving golf balls in his pajamas on summer nights.
12) His most treasured possession is a Swiss Army penknife.
13) His favorite writers are Hemingway, Wodehouse, Garcia Marquez and Bulgakov.
14) Damian’s favorite hero of fiction is Raskolnikov.
15) His guilty pleasures are butter-pecan ice cream, ice cream sundaes with extra cream and sticky toffee pudding.
16) Damian is a BAMBassador for Books Are My Bag (BAMB), a nationwide campaign in the UK and Ireland, and the biggest collaboration between publishers, bookstores and authors to date, to celebrate bookstores.
17) His mother gave him two pieces of advice: get married before the age of 35 and don’t marry an actor. Damian married fellow British actor Helen McCrory, whom he met when he was 36.
18) A cricket ball broke Damian’s nose when he was young. Before he had it operated on, he used to perform on stage with his mouth slightly open.
19) If Damian could be stranded in any one place in the world, it would be on Black Mountain in Wales. It’s the only place he’s been “…where the air tastes even better than it smells.”
20) Damian worked as a shop assistant for Burberry selling raincoats, but was fired for standing around with his hands in his pockets. He also worked as a delivery person selling Christmas hampers, luxurious seasonal gift baskets, for a company called Choc and Cheese.
21) Damian has acted since the age of 8 and by the age of 16, he knew he wanted to act professionally.
AGENT INFORMATION
Damian is repped by:
USA: United Talent Agency (UTA) – Brian Swardstrom
UK: Markham, Froggatt & Irwin (merged w/Curtis Brown Group) – Pippa Markham/Stephanie Randall
PR Firm: Wolf|Kasteler – Annett Wolf/Chelsea Hayes
Attorney: Karl Austen of Jackoway Austen Tyerman Law
Download Damian’s CV here
For more information about Damian Lewis, contact his London agent Pippa Markham:
Markham, Froggatt and Irwin (merged with Curtis Brown Group 10/2020)
4 Windmill Street
Fitzrovia, LONDON W1T 2HZ
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)20 7636 4412
F: +44 (0)20 7637 5233
E: admin@markhamfroggattirwin.com
Twitter: @MFandI_Talent