James Callis

For the editor, see Jim Callis.

James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is an English actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Bridget Jones's Baby. He joined the cast of the TV series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010, and since 2017, he has voiced the character Alucard in the Netflix series Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne, based on the video game series of the same name. In 2022, he appeared in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard as Jean-Luc's father in childhood flashbacks.

James Callis
Callis at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	James Nicholas Callis (1971-06-04) 4 June 1971 (age 53) Hampstead, London, England
Nationality	English
Education	Harrow School
Alma mater	University of York (B.A., English and Related Literature, 1993) London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Neha Callis ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	3

Early life

Callis was born in Hampstead and brought up in London, where he attended St. Martin's Prep School in Northwood and then Harrow School in north-west London. His parents owned a bed-and-breakfast.^[1] He is of Russian, Polish and Ukrainian Jewish descent.^[2][3] Callis attended the University of York, graduating in 1993 with a BA in English and Related Literature. He was a member of Derwent College, for which he was an enthusiastic rugby player. At university he was also a keen student actor, director and writer. He was a key member of the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan society and appeared in productions put on by friends at Cambridge University, including a production of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.

Career

Callis in 2007

Callis went on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1996. In the same year, he was awarded the Jack Tinker Award (Theatre Record Critic of the Year) for Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in Old Wicked Songs, a two-hander by Jon Marans, in which he starred alongside Bob Hoskins.

Callis has appeared in various West End productions and television series as well as on radio. He has also been involved in writing and directing. His directorial debut was Beginner's Luck, a co-production of his and writer/director Nick Cohen's Late Night Pictures and Angel Eye Film & TV, starring Julie Delpy, Steven Berkoff and Fenella Fielding. Beginner's Luck was critically panned, but ran for almost three weeks on one print (all the low-budget film could afford) in one cinema in central London, then went on a tour of student cinemas around the UK.

Callis finished filming his first role in a cinema film, Bridget Jones's Diary, alongside Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant, in the summer of 2000 and between a few further film and TV roles went back on stage in the Soho Theatre in December 2002.

In 2003, Callis played the role of Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and continued the role in the regular series that followed. In 2006, Callis won the Best Supporting Actor Saturn Award and an AFI award for his performance as Baltar.

Personal life

Callis has two sisters. He married on 30 December 1998 and has two sons and a daughter, born 2003, 2005, and 2009.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Weekend Bird	Mike	Short film
1999	Surety	Ben	Short film; Also director and producer
2001	Bridget Jones's Diary	Tom
	Beginner's Luck	Mark Feinman	Also co-director, co-producer and writer
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Tom
	Dead Cool	Josh
2006	One Night with the King	Haman, the Agagite
2010	Reuniting the Rubins	Danny Rubins
	Meet Pursuit Delange	Pursuit	Short film
2013	Austenland	Colonel Andrews
	Believe	Man in Mac
2016	The Hollow	Vaughn Killinger
	Bridget Jones's Baby	Tom
2017	House by the Lake	Scott
2025	Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy	Tom	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Murder Most Horrid	Mark	Episode: "Confess"
	Soldier Soldier	Maj Tim Forrester	9 episodes
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Gwinnett	Episode: "Post War"
1998	Heat of the Sun	Asst. Supt. Clive Lanyard	Episode: "Private Lives"
	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Guy Curran	Episodes: "Going Wrong: Part 1", "Going Wrong: Part 2" and "Going Wrong: Part 3"
1999	Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll	The Wolf	Miniseries
	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Henri	Episode: "Valentin Gautier"
2000	Arabian Nights	Prince Ahmed	Miniseries
	Jason and the Argonauts	Aspyrtes	Miniseries
2001	As If	Sebastian	Episode: "Nicki's POV"
	Victoria & Albert	Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha	Television film
2002	Relic Hunter	Raoul	Episode: "Faux Fox"
2003	Helen of Troy	Menelaus	Miniseries
	Battlestar Galactica	Dr. Gaius Baltar	Miniseries
	Blue Dove	Dominic Pasco	Miniseries
2004–2010	Battlestar Galactica	Dr. Gaius Baltar	73 episodes
2007	Battlestar Galactica: Razor	Dr. Gaius Baltar	Television film
2008	Late Show with David Letterman	Gaius Baltar / Top Ten Presenter	Uncredited
2009	Merlin and the Book of Beasts	Merlin	Television film
	Numb3rs	Mason Duryea	Episode: "Angels and Devils"
2010	FlashForward	Gabriel McDow	Episodes: "The Garden of Forking Paths", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Course Correction" and "The Negotiation"
2010–2012	Eureka	Dr. Trevor Grant	10 episodes
2011	Merlin	Julius Borden	Episode: "Aithusa"
	17th Precinct	Jeff Bosson	TV pilot
2012	Midsomer Murders	Toby & Julian DeQuetteville	Episode: "The Dark Rider"
	DCI Banks	Owen Pierce	Episodes: "Innocent Graves – Part 1" and "Innocent Graves – Part 2"
2013	Arrow	The Dodger	Episode: "Dodger"
	Key & Peele	Shakespeare	Episode #3.8
2013–2014	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	John Merchiston	Episodes: "Skin in the Game", "The Devil and D.B. Russell" and "Boston Brakes"
2014–2016	The Musketeers	Emile Bonnaire	Episodes: "Commodities" and "The Queen's Diamonds"
2015	A.D. The Bible Continues	Herod Antipas	Miniseries
	Gallipoli	Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett	Miniseries
	Rick and Morty	Pat Gueterman (voice)	Episode: "The Wedding Squanchers"
2017–2021	Castlevania	Alucard (voice)	27 episodes
2017–2018	12 Monkeys	Athan / The Witness	5 episodes
2017	Once Upon a Date	Ed Holland	Television film
2019–2022	Blood & Treasure	Simon Hardwick / Karim Farouk	Main cast
2020	MacGyver	The Merchant	Episodes: "Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan" and "Psy-Op + Cell + Merchant + Birds"
2022	Star Trek: Picard	Maurice Picard	Episodes: "Monsters" and "Hide And Seek"
2023	Castlevania: Nocturne	Alucard (voice)	Episode: "Devourer of Light"
2024	Slow Horses	Claude Whelan	4 episodes

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Daisy Miller		Winterbourne
1997	HMS Ulysses	Kid Carpenter	Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse[4]

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Caper	Doc English	Through Geek and Sundry

References

1. "James Callis Biography (1971–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
2. "Message 27: 30-Sep-2002". Jamescallis.tripod.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
3. "It is a matter of opinion for time being. But doesn't look like it's going to plan... and consequence we've never seen? I'm a descendent of Ukrainian Jews – I've seen it. Nuclear war – he won't see that either! I think the aggressor is afraid! I'd be – in his position". Twitter.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
4. "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 14 June 1997. Retrieved 30 October 2022.

External links

• James Callis at IMDb
• James Callis at TV Guide