Charlie Cox

Cox was cast in his first significant professional role at age eighteen in the psychological thriller Dot the i, released in 2003. Following filming, he enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In the summer following his first year of study, Cox auditioned and was cast as Lorenzo in the 2004 Al Pacino-vehicleThe Merchant of Venice, breaking the school's policy of not allowing students to audition for outside productions.[9] He eventually decided to not return to drama school and continued working, appearing in guest spots on TV and supporting roles in movies like the 2005 historical drama Casanova and the 2006 BBC sci-fi film A for Andromeda.[10]

Cox's breakout role was as the main protagonist, Tristan Thorn, in the 2007 fantasy film Stardust which he starred in opposite Claire Danes. The film was successful with both critics and audiences globally and introduced Cox to a wider audience.[11][12] He made his West End debut the following year in Harold Pinter's The Lover/The Collection at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The production began previews on 15 January 2008 and opened on 29 January.[13]

He was next seen in the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, in which he played Ian Hamilton, and the 2009 historical drama Glorious 39, both of which were widely released in the United Kingdom. In 2010, he played the title role in Kleist's The Prince of Homburg at the Donmar Warehouse in London. In September of that year, he played the closeted gay Duke of Crowborough in the first episode of the ITV drama series Downton Abbey. In 2011, Cox played the part of St. Josemaría Escrivá in the Roland Joffé film There Be Dragons and appeared as Ishmael in Encore's Moby Dick miniseries.

Also in 2011, Cox signed on to play a recurring role in the second season of the Martin Scorsese-produced HBO original series Boardwalk Empire as Owen Sleater, an Irish enforcer with ties to the IRA.[14][15] His character became a regular for the series' third season, which was broadcast in September 2012. He received a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble of the show in 2011 in addition to another nomination the following year.

In 2013, he starred in the independent film Hello Carter and in the BBC Cold War thriller Legacy. He was cast in a lead role in two separate CBS TV pilots during this year, a political drama titled The Ordained and an untitled Wall Street show. Neither was ordered to series.[16][17]

Cox appeared in a supporting role in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, playing Jonathan Hellyer Jones, the second husband of Jane Hawking.

Cox portrayed Matt Murdock in Marvel's Daredevil TV series as well as the 2017 team-up miniseries event The Defenders, produced and released through Netflix.[18] His performance was praised and given a Helen Keller Achievement Award for his role by the American Foundation for the Blind.[19] The show ran for three seasons and was produced over four years, concluding in late 2018. Cox has said that, given the opportunity, he would be interested in reprising the role of Matt Murdock in a future project,[20] also noting his contractual obligations by Marvel Studios to do so.[21]

Between filming seasons of Daredevil, Cox made his New York theater debut co-starring in the off-Broadway production of Incognito at the Manhattan Theatre Club.[22] He also acted opposite Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone and others in the 2018 film King of Thieves, based on the true story of the 2015 Hatton Garden jewelry heist in London;[23] the film reunites him with James Marsh, who directed him in 2014's The Theory of Everything.

After Daredevil surprisingly ended, Cox took the opportunity to star opposite Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton in the West End production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal which opened on 14 March 2019 and closed on 8 June 2019.[24][25] Cox was sought for the role by director Jaime Lloyd who had previously directed Cox in the 2008 production of the Pinter play The Lover and The Collection. The play transferred to Broadway with the original cast for a seventeen-week limited engagement, beginning previews on 14 August and closing on 8 December 2019.[26]

Also during this period, Cox took part in some of his friends' projects. In late 2018, he acted in the short film The Knot, directed by Daredevil and The Defenders script supervisor Rebecca Schwab,[27] and he appeared in a 2019 episode of Daredevil costar Deborah Ann Woll's Dungeons and Dragons internet show Relics and Rarities.[28]

In late 2017, it was announced that Cox had joined the cast of Stripped, a thriller produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who also produced Cox's early breakout film Stardust.[29] The film has remained in pre-production since this time.[30]