Birth Name: James Andrew McAvoy
Date of Birth: 21 April 1979, Port Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Height: 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
Spouse: Anne-Marie Duff, actress (18 October 2006 – present)

Trivia

Trained at Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

His younger sister is Joy McAvoy, a singer in the Scottish girl group Streetside.

As a child, he wanted to become a missionary.

Before he went into acting, he wanted to join the Navy.

While filming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , Georgie Henley never saw McAvoy in his Mr. Tumnus costume before filming their scenes together. Henley’s scared reaction upon seeing McAvoy is genuine surprise.

Former roommate of Jesse Spencer when they were both living in London.

Fan of Celtic Football Club.

Joe Wright considered him for a role in his Pride & Prejudice. Both director and actor refused to name the part.

Said the script for Atonement was the best he had ever read.

Quotes

“We’re in a horrible, repugnant place now where kids are told it’s their right and due to be hugely famous. Not good at their job, not good at anything, just hugely famous. This is not sane. Little girls think they’ll be famous if they have vast breast implants and might as well die if they don’t.”

“Where it gets difficult is when you get two or three jobs back to back where you’re playing leads and doing 13, 14 hours a day, six days a week, and you suddenly think, hang on a minute, how can you have a life like this? Do I work to live or live to work? How can I work properly with no life to inform the work?”

“I always believed that I never wanted to be an actor. I only did it because I was allowed to do it and I had to do something.”

“I’m 5 foot 7, and I’ve got pasty white skin. I don’t think I’m ugly, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not your classic lead man, Brad Pitt guy.”

“The thing that attracts me to all the jobs I’ve done over the last few years was the offer of employment. I’ve had to audition for every single job I’ve ever done, I think. So it’s not just a question of being attracted. Yes, I like the things I’ve done, and I’ve been very luck that the things I’ve done – I think – have a certain level of quality. But had I only got parts that were rubbish, I’d be doing them as well, because I’m an actor and I need the work. But I’m getting a little more choice. When I read The Last King of Scotland, I thought this is excellent, and I’d be very lucky to get this. That was my choice, but afterward I still had to convince somebody else to choose me.”

“Read reviews. You just try and do your job and not worry about what people say, because ultimately it can only affect what you do in a negative way. It can only make you a worse actor. – When asked what an actor should never do.”

“The minute you start to strategize too much, the more you start to think you’re in control of your own fate. And you’re not, really.”