James Frain

James Dominic Frain (born 14 March 1968) is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role in the Showtime series The Tudors, in which he appeared as Thomas Cromwell from 2007 to 2009. Other starring roles include that of vampire Franklin Mott in season three of the HBO drama True Blood, Chief Magistrate Gérard de Villefort in The Count of Monte Cristo, and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, in the BBC drama serial The White Queen (2013). --- Frain was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, and brought up in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, the eldest of eight children of a teacher mother and stockbroker father. He was educated at Newport Free Grammar School, studied English, Film and Drama at the University of East Anglia and trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. While in his final year there, he made his film debut in Shadowlands (1993) as a result of being spotted by Richard Attenborough and has had a successful film career on both sides of the Atlantic ever since. Skilled at accents and capable of playing a large variety of roles, he was nominated for Best Actor at the 1995 Venice Film Festival for his performance as a Northern Irish terrorist in Thaddeus O'Sullivan's controversial Nothing Personal (1995) and for Best Supporting Actor at the Genies in Toronto for his performance in István Szabó's Sunshine (1999). He has been a regular on the stage in the United Kingdom, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Court Theatre, as well as on the West End. He has also appeared on Broadway and was a recipient of the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performances along with the rest of the cast of The Homecoming (2007). --- In 2004, Frain married American actress and screenwriter Marta Cunningham. They have two children. In his spare time he is an amateur artist.