James Ronald Gordon Copeland (born 1947), known professionally as James Cosmo, is a Scottish actor. Known for his character work, he has played supporting roles in films such as '' Highlander'' (1986), ''

Braveheart ''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American epic film, epic historical drama, historical war drama film directed and produced by Mel Gibson, who portrays Scottish warrior William Wallace in the First War of Scottish Independence against Edward I of Engl ...

'' (1995), '' Trainspotting'' (1996), ''

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'' (2004), '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005), '' Ben-Hur'' (2016), and ''

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'' (2017). On television, he appeared as Father Kellan Ashby on the third season of '' Sons of Anarchy'' (2010), Jeor Mormont on

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's ''

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'' (2011–2013), Farder Coram in the

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series '' His Dark Materials'' (2019), and Luka Gocharov on the third season of Amazon Prime's '' Jack Ryan'' (2022). Cosmo appeared as a contestant on the nineteenth series of '' Celebrity Big Brother'' in 2017, finishing in fourth place.

Early life

Cosmo is the son of actor James Copeland and Helen Goodlet Findlay. He attended Hartfield Primary School in Dumbarton. Through his father, young James played cricket on Hampstead Heath with Sean Connery while his father was in the pub with Peter O'Toole. He has a sister named Laura. When he was 11, he moved back to Glasgow and later he worked for a time at Arnott Young shipbreakers in Dalmuir.

Career

At the start of his career he adopted Cosmo, the middle name of his mother Helen, as his stage surname. Cosmo is best known for his film roles as Angus MacLeod in '' Highlander'', Campbell in ''

'' and as Father Christmas in the adaptation of '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''. Over the years he has also had roles in other films such as '' Trainspotting'', '' The Last Legion'' and '' 2081''. He appeared in ''

'' with future ''

'' cast members Sean Bean and Julian Glover. He also appeared in UFO as SHADO operative Lieutenant Anderson, in '' Take the High Road'' as Alex Geddes from 1982 until 1983 and in 1984 played Jock McLeish in the '' Minder'' episode ''Senior Citizen Caine''. He appeared as Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Drysdale in the seventh series of '' Soldier Soldier''. From 2011–2013, Cosmo portrayed Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and father of Jorah Mormont (played by Iain Glen), in the

series ''

''. He was involved in the filming of the thriller '' Breakdown'' in which he appeared alongside Craig Fairbrass, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, Olivia Grant and Tamer Hassan. He played the antagonist in the Indian film, '' Jagame Thandhiram'', which released in 2021. He played a Russian intelligence officer named Luka Gocharov in season 3 of the

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show '' Jack Ryan''. He is a patron of the charity Chance for Childhood.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmo, James Living people Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Scottish male voice actors People from Clydebank 20th-century Scottish male actors 21st-century Scottish male actors Members of the Order of the British Empire 1947 births Male actors from West Dunbartonshire