The Walking Dead

Lennie James

Born in Nottingham and raised in South London, England, Lennie James trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His many theater credits include Etta Jenks opposite Miranda Richardson; Roy Williams’ Fallout at the Royal Court; August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; The Coup, with Norman Beaton at the National; The Young Vic’s production of A Raisin in the Sun; and the eponymous hero in the Tricycle’s Theatre’s production of Macbeth. James has had a rich and varied television career on both sides of the Atlantic. Most recently seen as the lead in the U.K. series Criticalfor Sky TV, his other television credits include Civvies and Comics by Lynda La Plante, Undercover Heart, Out of the Blue, the award-winning Buried (BAFTA), and Storm Damage (RTS). He starred in the critically acclaimed Run for C4 and Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty for BBC2, and was nominated for Best Actor for both roles at the RTS Television Awards in 2013 and 2014. In the U.S., he has been praised for his performances in the CBS history-making series Jericho, HBO’s Hung, and AMC’s Low Winter Sun and The Walking Dead. For his work on The Walking Dead, James received the Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series at the Online Film & Television Awards (OFTA) and was nominated for a Drama Guest Actor Award at the Golden Derby Awards in 2013. He was also nominated for Best TV Supporting Actor at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards in 2016. James has many notable film credits to his name as well, including Sol in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, starring Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro; Sahara, alongside Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz; Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People; Nick Love’s Outlaw, with Bob Hoskins; The Next Three Days, with Russell Crowe; Luc Besson’s Colombiana, with Zoe Saldana; and Lockout, opposite Guy Pearce. He most recently starred in the modern-day Western Swelter; Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic Get on Up, opposite Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman; and Double Play, the film adaptation of Frank Martinus Arion’s novel. James will next be seen in the much-anticipated Blade Runner sequel, due for release this October, and is currently filming the series Gone, a new production created and written by himself, in which he stars, for Sky Atlantic