Brit child star unrecognisable 25 years after movie that launched his Hollywood career – can you guess who he is?
HE shot to fame as the brave boy who battled gender stereotypes in a working class northern town to follow his dream.
The impressive performance as a ballet-dancing youngster earned him a Bafta and proved a stepping stone to Hollywood.
He has since starred alongside Daniel Craig in Defiance, played a superhero in Fantastic Four, and played Elton John‘s writing partner Bernie Taupin in the award-winning biopic Rocketman.
Now he’s working alongside Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd on a new BBC drama about the relationship between two brothers in Half Man.
The acclaimed actor has been pictured looking very different on the set of the six-part series in Glasgow, sporting a bushy beard.
During a break from filming, he was seen wearing an olive green long sleeve top having a cigarette outside a dreary office building.
It is, of course, Billy Elliot actor Jamie Bell, 38.
He previously said of signing onto the project: “I’m so excited to join this incredible creative team. Richard has once again crafted something poignant and singular. I’m honored to have been asked to bring this to life with him.”
Richard Gadd, creator, writer and executive producer, said: “When I wrote the show, I did it with him in mind, never thinking for a second we would manage to land him.
“So I could not be happier for everything that has come to pass in getting him on board. He is one of the greatest actors of his generation and I am so looking forward to seeing what he does with the role.”
Dad-of-two Jamie is married to American actress Kate Mara, who he tied the knot with in 2017. Before that, he had a two-year marriage to actress Evan Rachel Wood.
He put his dancing skills to good use at his second wedding, however, the first dance wasn’t the one they initially had in mind.
Wife Kate explained: “We spent about four weeks doing this swing dancing lesson and learning this whole dance and then literally the week before the wedding he was pacing around the room and I said, ‘What’s the matter,’ and he was like, ‘The choreography is just not good enough. We’ve got to scrap the dance.’
“We didn’t do it for the wedding. We ended up slow dancing to our favorite Mexican song.”
At one stage, Jamie appeared to be a strong favourite to become the next James Bond after Daniel Craig, though in recent years other names have surpassed him in the bookmakers’ predictions.
Despite this, his stock remains high and last year he appeared on the big screen as the dad in haunting novel adaptation All of Us Strangers, which starred Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.