Biography
With his fair-haired charm and refined voice, British actor Paul Bettany established himself as a gifted actor well before catapulting to blockbuster fame as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Born in London to a family rooted in the theater, he began performing as a teenager before attending the Drama Centre. He soon began earning roles on stage, including appearing in Royal Shakespeare Company productions of "Richard III" and "Romeo and Juliet." He made his screen debut with an appearance on the crime drama "Wycliffe" (ITV, 1993-98). His film debut came when he joined Clive Owens and Jude Law for the drama "Bent" (1997). Mixing stage and TV roles, the actor soon earned the lead in the crime drama "Gangster No. 1" (2000). That brought him to the attention of Hollywood, and he was cast as Chaucer alongside Heath Ledger's jousting champion in "A Knight's Tale" (2001). He then appeared with Russell Crowe in Ron Howard's Oscar-winning drama "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), where he met his future wife, actress Jennifer Connelly. After appearing in Lars von Trier's "Dogville" (2003), he once again paired with Crowe for the high seas drama "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (2003). Returning to a leading man role, he appeared opposite Kirsten Dunst in the tennis romance "Wimbledon." One of the other actor's in that film, fledging director Jon Favreau, started Bettany down a long path to superhero status when he used him as the voice of Tony Stark's computer J.A.R.V.I.S. in "Iron Man" (2005). The actor continued working steadily in Hollywood, including playing the murderous monk, Silas, in the Tom Hanks' action thriller "The Da Vinci Code" (2006). He also had the opportunity to work again with Connelly in "Inkheart" (2008) and when he played Charles Darwin in "Creation" (2009). In the MCU, he continued to voice J.A.R.V.I.S. in the films "Iron Man 2" (2010), "The Avengers" (2012), and "Iron Man 3" (2013). Bettany finally got to join the onscreen action when his computer alter ego transitioned into the android superhero The Vision in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015). From then on, he became a prime component of the Marvel films, appearing as the character in "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) and "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018). Outside of his Marvel commitments, the actor formed a loose partnership with Johnny Depp, joining him for three films, "The Tourist" (2010), "Transcendence" (2014), and "Mortdecai" (2016). He also starred as the archangel Michael in "Legion" (2010) and as a vampire hunting clergyman in "Priest" (2011). In addition, he made his directorial debut with "Shelter" (2014), featuring Connelly and his future "Avengers" costar Anthony Mackie. On television, he appeared as notorious criminal Ted Kaczynski in "Manhunt: Unabomber" (Discovery Channel, 2017-). Already a part of cinematic lore, he then joined the expansive "Star Wars" universe when he played Dryden Voss in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (2018).
