James Wilby

James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor. He is best known for his performance in the romantic film Maurice, playing the titular main character, for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor.

Early life and education Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma, to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, then studied, for a degree in mathematics, at Grey College, Durham, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career Wilby's first appearance on screen was in the Oxford Film Company production Privileged (1982) alongside Hugh Grant. He acted with Grant again in the Merchant Ivory period film Maurice (1987), which brought him to the attention of an international audience and earned Wilby and Grant the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award. He then starred in A Handful of Dust (1988), for which he won the Bari Film Festival Best Actor award. His further roles included A Tale of Two Cities (1989) for Granada Television, Howards End (1992), Regeneration (1997), Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary (1999), Gosford Park (2001), and Alain Robbe-Grillet's C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle (2006), co-starring Arielle Dombasle, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

On stage, Wilby starred in the 1995 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre. He then appeared in a production of Helping Harry at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2001; and in 2004 as the title character in a run of Don Juan at the Lyric Theatre. He has also starred in On Emotion (2008) at the Soho Theatre; The Consultant (2011) by Neil Fleming and the Hydrocracker Theatre Company at Theatre503 in London; and in tours of Terence Rattigan's Less Than Kind (2012) and Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight (2019).

Personal life Wilby is married to Shana Louise and has four children.

From 1994 to 2015, Wilby owned The Laines, an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex, near Lewes. It was the childhood home of Queen Camilla.

Filmography Film Year Film Role Notes 1982 Privileged Jamie 1985 Dreamchild Baker A Room with a View Party Guest Uncredited 1987 Maurice Maurice Hall 1988 A Handful of Dust Tony Last A Summer Story Mr. Ashton 1989 Conspiracy Stringer 1991 The Siege of Venice Milord Runbiff Adam Bede Arthur Donnithorne 1992 Howards End Charles Wilcox Immaculate Conception Alistair 1994 La partie d'échecs Lord Staunton 1997 Regeneration 2nd Lt. Siegfried Sassoon 1998 An Ideal Husband Sir Robert Chiltern 1999 Tom's Midnight Garden Uncle Alan Kitson Cotton Mary John MacIntosh 2001 Jump Tomorrow Nathan Gosford Park Freddie Nesbitt 2004 De-Lovely Edward Thomas 2006 Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle) John Locke 2008 Lady Godiva Leofric 2009 Shadows in the Sun Robert 2011 We Need to Talk About Keiran Professor Hugh Merrill 2016 ChickLit Geoffrey The Swing of It Jim Short film 2017 The Sense of an Ending David Ford 2019 Salt Conrad Short film 2020 The Duke Judge Aarvold 2022 Masquerade Thomas French film 2024 Vindication Swim Mr. Havers

Television

Year Film Role Notes 1984 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Young Barclay Episode: "The Crooked Man" The Bill Higgins Episode: "A Friend in Need" 1985 Dutch Girls Dundine TV movie 1988 The Storyteller Prince Episode: "Sapsorrow" 1989 A Tale of Two Cities Sydney Carton TV mini-series Mother Love Christopher "Kit" Vesey TV mini-series 1991 Screen One Michael Evans Episode: "Tell Me That You Love Me" 1993 You, Me and It Charles Henderson TV mini-series, 3 episodes Lady Chatterley Sir Clifford Chatterley 4 episodes 1994 Crocodile Shoes Ade Lynn TV mini-series, 6 episodes 1996 The Treasure Seekers Henry Carlisle TV movie Witness Against Hitler Helmuth James von Moltke TV movie Tales from the Crypt Nick Marvin Episode: "Horrors in the Night" 1997 The Woman in White Sir Percival Glyde TV movie Original Sin Gerard Etienne TV series 1999 The Dark Room Dr. Alan Protheroe TV movie 2000 Trial & Retribution James McCready 2 episodes 2001 Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years Zippo Montefiore 1 episode 2002 Bertie and Elizabeth King George VI TV film Westlife: Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits, Volume I High class customer ("Uptown Girl") video George Eliot: A Scandalous Life George Spencer TV film 2003 Murder in Mind Daniel Morton/Sir Richard Morton Episode: "Echoes" Sparkling Cyanide Stephen Farraday TV movie 2004 Island at War Sen. James Dorr TV mini-series, 3 episodes Silent Witness Matt Gibb TV series, 2 episodes: "Nowhere Fast" Foyle's War Major Cornwall Episode: "They Fought in the Fields" 2005 Jericho Alan Mills TV series (1 episode: "The Hollow Men") 2006 Surviving Disaster David Sheahan Episode: "Fastnet Yacht Race" Agatha Christie's Marple: The Sittaford Mystery Stanley Kirkwood TV movie Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire Ofonius Tigellinus Episode: "Nero" 2007 Lewis Hugh Mallory Episode: "Expiation" The Last Days of the Raj Lord Mountbatten TV movie Clapham Junction Julian Rowan TV movie Little Devil Adrian Bishop TV mini-series, Episode: "Episode #1.3" Impact Earth Josh Hayden TV movie 2008 A Risk Worth Taking Patrick Trenchard TV film Agatha Christie's Poirot Andrew Restarick Episode: "Third Girl" 2010 Midsomer Murders Edward Milton Episode: "The Made-to-Measure Murders" 2011 Secret Diary of a Call Girl Henry Episode: "Episode #4.4" 2012 Titanic J. Bruce Ismay TV series, 4 episodes The Best Possible Taste Wilfred De'Ath BBC TV movie2013 The Great Train Robbery John Wheater TV mini-series, Episode: A Copper's Tale 2014 Law & Order: UK Charles Hutton Episode: Bad Romance Endeavour ACC Clive Deare Episode: Neverland 2015 Death in Paradise Elias Thomson Episode: Stab in the Dark 2015 Strike BackCharles Ridley TV series, 5 episodes 2016–2017 Casualty Archie Grayling 6 episodes 2016 Churchill's Secret Brendan Bracken TV movie 2017–2018 Poldark Lord Falmouth 10 episodes 2018 Father Brown Sefton Scott Episode: "The Cat of Mastigatus" 2024 The Famous Five Mr Vincent Episode: "Mystery at the Prospect Hotel" 2025 I, Jack Wright Max Preston TV series, 5 episodes