Paul Bettany

Biography:

Paul Bettany was born on 27 May 1971 in London to Anne (née Kettle), a stage singer, theatre teacher, and manager, and Thane Bettany, who worked as a dancer, actor, and drama teacher, and was also godfather to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Raised Roman Catholic, Bettany drifted from the faith after his confirmation and later explored other Christian denominations with his father before ultimately identifying as an atheist. During his father’s tenure teaching at Queenswood School, an all-girls boarding school in Hertfordshire, the family lived on the school’s campus.

At 16, Bettany experienced a personal tragedy when his younger brother, Matthew, died at the age of 8 after a fall. The event led him to leave school and home, earning a living as a street performer and busker in London. After a period of independence, during which his parents divorced, he worked in a care home for the elderly before enrolling at the Drama Centre London to pursue acting.

In 1990, he began formal training at the Drama Centre and made his stage debut in Stephen Daldry’s acclaimed revival of An Inspector Calls. He went on to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, earning a Charleson Award nomination. Early screen appearances included a BBC production of Oliver Twist (as Bill Sikes), the TV finale of Sharpe, and his film debut in Bent alongside Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellen. His first leading role came with Gangster No. 1, which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards.

Bettany’s Hollywood breakthrough arrived when director Brian Helgeland cast him as Geoffrey Chaucer in A Knight’s Tale (2001). The role brought critical acclaim and introduced him to Ron Howard, who later cast him in A Beautiful Mind (2001) opposite Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly. His Hollywood career grew with roles in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), which earned him a BAFTA nomination, and leading-man turns in Wimbledon (2004), Firewall (2006), and The Da Vinci Code (2006).

In subsequent years, Bettany appeared in Inkheart (2008), Creation (2009), Legion (2010), Priest (2011), and Margin Call (2011). He voiced J.A.R.V.I.S. in Marvel’s Iron Man films before portraying Vision on screen in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), reprising the role in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). In 2021, he starred opposite Elizabeth Olsen in Marvel’s WandaVision, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He has also appeared in The Tourist (2010), Transcendence (2014), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), A Very British Scandal (2021), and on stage as Andy Warhol in The Collaboration (2022), a role he will reprise in a forthcoming film adaptation. He is also attached to projects including Vision Quest (2026), Harvest Moon, and a drama based on the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

On 1 January 2003, Bettany married actress Jennifer Connelly, his co-star in A Beautiful Mind. Bettany has admitted he had admired her since first seeing her in Labyrinth (1986). Following the September 11 attacks, he reached out to her, proposed shortly afterward, and the couple married in Scotland. They later settled in Brooklyn Heights and have two children together, while Bettany is also stepfather to Connelly’s son from a previous relationship.

Bettany has maintained a close friendship with Johnny Depp since working together on The Tourist in 2010. Their private text exchanges surfaced during Depp’s defamation trials in 2020 and 2022.