Most of us know him as Miles Stewart (the man we just loved to hate) in This Life and neurotic Steve Taylor in the comedy series Coupling. To a wider audience, Jack Davenport became known through his roles as Peter Smith-Kingsley in The Talented Mr. Ripley and finally Commodore James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.
Jack Davenport was born on 1 March 1973 and is married to Scottish actress Michelle Gomez (Green Wing's wonderfully eccentric and lunatic Sue White).
Although he comes from a family steeped in acting - his parents are Maria Aitken and Nigel Davenport - Jack decided to study Film and English at the University of East Anglia.
"I dithered about whether to carry on or go to university and do something else for a while."
While taking a summer drama course, a director of the Welsh National Theatre (Clwyd Theatr Cymru) noticed Jack and asked him to come and work for him. So he headed for Wales, did some minor parts in Shakespeare's Hamlet and befriended actor Rhys Ifans.
Due to a misunderstanding, a letter asking John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) for a job behind the camera on the set of Fierce Creatures ended up on the desk of the casting director, and so Jack got a tiny part in the comedy as a junior zoo keeper, "which quite frankly a potato could have done just as well."
Jack got the part of Miles in the cult TV series This Life, leading roles in Coupling, Ultraviolet and the critically acclaimed Mary Bryant mini series followed. With the highly successful Hollywood productions The Talented Mr Ripley and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Jack Davenport has become a familiar - and welcome! - face on both small and big screen.
Finally Hollywood called (ok, CBS did), and from June 2008 on, Jack Davenport can be seen in CBS' new drama series Swingtown. With The Boat That Rocks, a new movie is in the pipeline as well, so 2008 and 2009 promise to be interesting years.
Parts of this biography have been pilfered from Jack Davenport's biography on the BBC website. Our knowledge in Davenportology is very limited, so if there should be any factual errors, please contact us.
And yes, the shirt inspired the layout of this website.