Clive Owen A Famous English Actor

Clive Owen is a Golden Globe and BAFTA winning critically acclaimed famous English actor. Now a regular performer in Hollywood and independent American films. In 2005, Owen was nominated for an academy award and won a golden globe and BAFTA for best supporting actor for his role in the film version of Closer.

Clive Owen was born in October, 1965, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. His father a country and Western singer walked out when he was three and he was raised by his mother and stepfather the latter working in the ticket office for British Rail. Clive was the fourth of five brothers. The eldest was Garry, now a salesman. Then came Alan and lee, musicians, then Clive and Scott.

Attending Binley Park Comprehensive school, Clive was initially a good student, in the top stream. His persistence was amazing, really. When he first announced in class that he wanted to act, his teacher laughed at him. Thankfully the steely intensity he exudes onscreen is a real part of his character and he kept at it.

He changed his mind in 1984, after a long and fruitless period of searching for work. Owen graduated from RADA in 1987 in a class including both Ralph Fiennes and Jane Horrocks. After graduation, he won a position at the Young Vic, performing in several William Shakespeare plays. In an incident he later described as "very schmaltzy," he met his future wife Sarah-Jane Fenton while they were performing the title roles of Romeo and Juliet. They married in 1995, and have two daughters, Hannah and Eve. They lived in London before moving to Essex. He has stated that he is a Liverpool F.C fan.

After he graduated he made his professional stage debut as a member of the Young Vic Theatre. He then went on to make a guest appearance in the TV series "Boon" in 1986. This was closely followed in by his first film Vroom (1988) in which he teamed up with David Thewlis and Diana Quick. The following year Owen appeared on screens in the BBC's adaptation of Mary Webb‘s "Precious Blane" (1989).

In 1990 he got his big break as Stephen Crane in the popular ITV mini-series "Chancre". 1991 saw Owen earn praise for his performance in Steven Poliakoff's film Close My Eyes (1991), in which he played an ambitious businessman who is seduced by his older sister, Saskia Reeves. This was followed in 1993 by another Poliakoff project, Century (1993), in which Clive played a Jewish doctor opposite Charles Dance.

1994 was a very productive year for Clive with one film, The Turnaround (1994), and four television appearances - "Doomsday Gun"; "Nobody's Children"; "An Evening with Gary Lineker"; and "The Return of the Native" for which he received high acclaim. In 1996 he starred as private investigator Nick Sharman in the series "Sharman"; and then returned to film in The Rich Man's Wife (1996).

In 1997 Owen took on his most challenging film role to date, playing a concentration camp inmate in the Holocaust drama Bent (1997) with Sir Ian McKellen. This was followed in 1998 by his role as Jack Manfred in Mike Hodges' Croupier (1998); the film flopped in Britain but was a sleeper hit in the US. On TV that year Owen appeared as Michael Deacon in the BBC drama "The Echo" with Joely Richardson. In 1999 Clive's played Detective Inspector Ross Tanner, a policeman suffering a virus that affects his ability to see, in the BBC series "Second Sight", and Colin Briggs, a prisoner with a flair for gardening in the film Green fingers (2000).

In 2001 he played the valet to a visiting guest in Robert Altman’s period mystery Gosford Park (2001). Owen next starred in a villainous turn as an assassin opposite Matt Damon in The Bourne Identify (2002). That same year he starred as an international relief worker alongside Angelina Jolie in the story of star-crossed lovers in Beyond Borders (2003), and teamed up again with director Mike Hodges’ in the gritty film noir I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003). In 2004 he played Arthur in the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster King Arthur (2004).

He also appeared in the West End and Broadway hit play closer, by Patrick Marber, which again became a film which was released in 2005, before he starred in Derailed alongside Jennifer Aniston. He became well known to American audiences after starring as The Driver in the BMW films. In 2005, Owen was nominated for an academy award and won a golden globe and BAFTA for best supporting actor for his role in the film version of Closer.