Jim Carter Biography

Jim Carter is an English actor best known for his role of Charles Carson in the TV series ‘Downton Abbey’. After graduating from Ashville College, he attended University of Sussex with a law major but changed it to English before accepting a title role in ‘Serjeant Musgrave's Dance,’ Gardner Arts Centre theatre’s first student production. He dropped out of university after two years to join a fringe theatre group in Brighton. His first paid job was in Howard Brenton’s ‘Gum and Goo’ in 1969. He made appearances in numerous plays with various theatre groups before moving to America to enroll in a circus school where he learned juggling, unicycling and tightrope walking. In addition to playing magic acts in cabarets, he began making onscreen appearances. He took up roles in the movie ‘Flash Gordon’ and the television show ‘Fox’. He made appearances in many TV series, movies, and theatrical productions in the ensuing years. He is also a cricket lover and has once served as the Chairman of Hampstead Cricket Club. He married actress Imelda Staunton in October 1983 and has one daughter. In the 2019 New Year Honors, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to drama.