Two-time Academy award nominee and BAFTA-winner Jude Law is one of the most sought-after talents in the acting world, winning awards for both his screen and theatre work.
His recent work includes the new HBO mini-series The Young Pope, created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, which premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. In the eight-part series, he plays Pope Pius XIII, a newly elected pope struggling with new responsibilities. The show was shown on Sky Atlantic in the UK. He plays Vortigern in Guy Ritchie’s Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur, a film adaptation of the classic Sir Lancelot story, which is set for release later this year. Working with prolific director Michael Grandage for a second time in his career, he appeared in the 2016 film Genius, alongside Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Laura Linney. The film chronicles Max Perkins’ time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by the American novelist Thomas Wolfe, played by Jude Law.
Other recent projects include Paul Feig’s comedy Spy, with Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Jason Statham; the lead role in Kevin McDonald’s submarine drama Black Sea and the award-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson. Prior to these, he played Karenin in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, and Steven Soderbergh’s final and highly acclaimed film, Side Effects, alongside Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
His early performance as Bosie in the film Wilde, opposite Stephen Fry and Vanessa Redgrave, won him the London Film Critics’ Circle award and the Evening Standard award. He made his American film debut in the futuristic Gattaca, opposite Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, but it was his performance as the charming Dickie Greenleaf in the late Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley that brought him to the attention of a worldwide audience and earned him his first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, for Best Supporting Actor. He won a BAFTA for the role. He worked with Minghella in two further films: Cold Mountain, for which he was nominated for Golden Globe and Academy Best Actor awards, and the small-scale and intimate Breaking and Entering.
Other films include Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition; David Cronenberg’s Existenz; Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; Jean-Jacques Annaud’s World War II epic Enemy at the Gates; Mike Nichols’ Closer, based on the original play by Patrick Marber, opposite Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman; Sky Captain and World of Tomorrow with Gwyneth Paltrow; and the title role in Alfie for director Charles Shyer. In addition, Law played supporting roles as Errol Flynn in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated epic The Aviator, and in I Heart Huckabees, directed by David O Russell, and starred with Sean Penn in All The King’s Men and with Cameron Diaz in The Holiday.
In 2007 he produced and starred in Sleuth with Michael Caine, directed by Kenneth Branagh and scripted by Harold Pinter; and in 2008 he starred with Norah Jones in Wong Kar Wei’s first English language film, My Blueberry Nights. Also in 2008 he completed work on Repo Men, a futuristic thriller in which he appeared alongside Forrest Whittaker for director Miguel Sapochnik. He stepped into the late Heath Ledger’s role in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, a role he shared with Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell.
Law played a cameo as a cross-dressing model in Sally Potter’s film, Rage, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009. Following huge success as Dr Watson in Guy Ritchie’s two Sherlock Holmes films, alongside Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes, he will reprise his role for a third instalment of the film series. He also featured in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and in 2011 appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Fernando Meireilles’ 360 and voiced a role in the DreamWorks’ animation Guardians.
Law’s theatre work has also been highly regarded, most recently in Michael Grandage’s Henry V. In 1994 he appeared as Michael (created the role of Michael) in Jean Cocteau’s play Les Parents Terribles at the National Theatre, for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson award for Outstanding Newcomer. The play was renamed Indiscretions when it transferred to Broadway, where he received a Tony nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
He has worked with director David Lan in ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore at the Young Vic, and he also starred in Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, in a highly acclaimed performance. In 2005-2006, Jude Law was closely involved in fundraising efforts for the major refurbishment of the Young Vic. In 2009 he took on Hamlet for the Donmar Warehouse’s season in the West End, directed by Michael Grandage. The production, and his performance, were critically acclaimed and the play transferred to Broadway in September 2009, where it broke box office records for a production of Shakespeare. In February 2010, Law won the London Critics’ Circle award for Best Shakespearean Performance and was nominated for an Olivier and a Tony award as Best Actor. In 2011, he returned to the Donmar stage in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie.
In 2007 Jude Law was awarded the prestigious French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres medal and in the same year won a César Award for his contribution to cinema. In 2012 he received the prestigious Variety award at the British Independent Film Awards.
He is an Ambassador for the charity Peace One Day.