Jack Davenport, an English film and television actor, was born on 1 March 1973 in Suffolk. Being the son of actors, Nigel Davenport and Maria Aitken, he chose to follow in the footsteps of his parents. Jack Davenport was educated at Dragon School and attended Cheltenham College. Later, he went to the British American Drama Academy. Jack Davenport is married to the Scottish actress, Michelle Gomez.
His impressive performance in a summer drama course was noticed by a director from the Welsh National Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, who approached Jack Davenport to work for him. In Wales, at the age of eighteen, he performed small roles in Hamlet and became friendly with the Welsh actor, Rhys Ifans. He then went on to pursue Film Studies and English Literature at the University of East Anglia (UEA). After his graduation, he took his mother’s advice and wrote a letter to the English actor, John Cleese, asking if he could work on the set of his forthcoming project, Fierce Creatures. John Cleese, in turn, sent the letter to the casting department, which landed Jack Davenport's first film role. Jack Davenport was cast as a student zookeeper in the movie.
Jack Davenport got his first chance at fame when he was cast as Miles for the BBC television series This Life. Since then, Jack Davenport has featured in a number of successful movies and television series. He became known for his brilliant roles in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Coupling, Ultraviolet (1998), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
Apart from acting, Jack Davenport has also performed voice-overs for John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and British MasterCard advertisements. In 2006, Jack Davenport performed in the drama, The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, which was aired on ITV1. He also plays the lead role in the US television series, Swingtown. Some of his other notable films include Macbeth (1998), Tale of the Mummy (1998), The Bunker (2001) and The Wedding Date (2005).
Jack Davenport was the executive producer of the films, Subterrain (2001) and Ticks (1999), and he has also worked as a broadcaster for BBC Radio 4. In December 2008, reports from a television guide suggest that Jack Davenport has been cast as Lloyd Simcoe in the ABC pilot Flash Forward. He is also to star in the film The Boat That Rocked in 2009.
His extraordinary performance in The Servant at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre won him a nomination for the Most Promising Newcomer of 2001 at the 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards.
