Clive Owen

Clive Owen began his career in television, starring as Gideon Sarn in the BBC production of Precious Bane and appearing in the Channel 4 film Vroom in 1988. During the 1990s, he became a regular presence on British television and stage, notably playing the lead role in the ITV series Chancer and appearing in the Thames Television production of Lorna Doone. He gained critical attention for Stephen Poliakoff's film Close My Eyes (1991), followed by appearances in The Magician, Class of '61, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native and the Carlton private-detective series Sharman.

In 1996, Owen appeared in his first major Hollywood film, The Rich Man's Wife, alongside Halle Berry. He played Max in Bent (1997) and gained international recognition as the title character in Mike Hodges' Croupier (1998), playing a struggling writer who takes a job at a London casino. In 1999, he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second, his first BBC production in about a decade. He subsequently starred in the BBC1 drama The Echo, the film Greenfingers and the BBC1 mystery series Second Sight. In 2001, he provided the voice-over for the BBC2 documentary Walk On By and starred in a revival of Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.

Owen became known to North American audiences in 2001 through The Hire, a series of short films sponsored by BMW and directed by several prominent filmmakers, in which he played "The Driver." He then appeared in Robert Altman's Gosford Park and the 2002 film The Bourne Identity. He reunited with Mike Hodges for I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003) and starred in Beyond Borders and King Arthur (2004).

Owen made his stage debut at the Royal National Theatre in Patrick Marber's Closer, playing Dan. He subsequently played Larry in the 2004 film adaptation. His performance in the film earned Golden Globe and BAFTA awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He later appeared in Derailed (2005), Sin City as Dwight McCarthy and Inside Man as a mysterious bank robber. In 2006, he appeared in The Pink Panther as Nigel Boswell, Agent 006, and starred in Children of Men. Owen also worked on the screenplay for Children of Men, although he was uncredited.

In 2007, Owen starred alongside Paul Giamatti in Shoot 'Em Up and played Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He also appeared in the Christmas special of Extras. He starred in The International (2009) and The Boys Are Back, an Australian adaptation of Simon Carr's book The Boys Are Back in Town.

Owen starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn, playing Ernest Hemingway. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman and written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl, was released in 2012. Owen also starred in Shadow Dancer, directed by James Marsh, and was cast as the lead in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror-thriller Intruders. In 2013, he starred in Blood Ties, directed by Guillaume Canet and co-starring Marion Cotillard.

Owen made his Broadway debut in 2015 in a revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre. In 2016, he served on the jury for the main competition section of the Berlin Film Festival. He returned to Broadway in 2017 as Rene Gallimard in a revival of David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly at the Cort Theatre.

In 2019, Owen played the defrocked Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in the West End production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana at the Noël Coward Theatre. That year, he also played Dovidl Rapaport in The Song of Names. He later portrayed Bill Clinton in the miniseries Impeachment: American Crime Story.

In 2021, Owen starred in the psychological romance horror miniseries Lisey's Story and also portrayed President Bill Clinton in the third season of American Crime Story. He then had further television roles in A Murder at the End of the World (2023) and Monsieur Spade (2024).