James Cosmo

James Ronald Gordon Copeland MBE (born 1947),^[1] known professionally as James Cosmo, is a Scottish actor. Known for his character work,^[2] he has played supporting roles in films such as Highlander (1986), Braveheart (1995), Trainspotting (1996), Troy (2004), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Ben-Hur (2016), and Wonder Woman (2017). On television, he appeared as Father Kellan Ashby on the third season of Sons of Anarchy (2010), Jeor Mormont on HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2013), Farder Coram in the BBC series His Dark Materials (2019), and Luka Gocharov on the third season of Amazon Prime's Jack Ryan (2022). Cosmo appeared as a contestant on the nineteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, finishing in fourth place.

James Cosmo MBE
Cosmo in 2023
Born	James Ronald Gordon Copeland 1947 (age 77–78) Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Years active	1965–present
Spouse	Annie Harris ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	2

Cosmo in 2014

Early life

Cosmo is the son of actor James Copeland and Helen Goodlet Findlay.^[3] He attended Hartfield Primary School in Dumbarton. Through his father, young James played cricket on Hampstead Heath with Sean Connery while his father was in the pub with Peter O'Toole.^[4] He has a sister named Laura.^[4] When he was 11, he moved back to Glasgow and later he worked for a time at Arnott Young shipbreakers in Dalmuir.^[4]

Career

At the start of his career he adopted Cosmo, the middle name of his mother Helen, as his stage surname.^[5] Cosmo is best known for his film roles as Angus MacLeod in Highlander, Campbell in Braveheart and as Father Christmas in the adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.^[6] Over the years he has also had roles in other films such as Trainspotting, The Last Legion and 2081.^[7] He appeared in Troy with future Game of Thrones cast members Sean Bean and Julian Glover.^[8] He also appeared in UFO as SHADO operative Lieutenant Anderson, in Take the High Road as Alex Geddes from 1982 until 1983 and in 1984 played Jock McLeish in the Minder episode Senior Citizen Caine.^[9][6] He appeared as Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Drysdale in the seventh series of Soldier Soldier.^[9]

From 2011–2013, Cosmo portrayed Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and father of Jorah Mormont (played by Iain Glen), in the HBO series Game of Thrones.^[10] He was involved in the filming of the thriller Breakdown in which he appeared alongside Craig Fairbrass, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, Olivia Grant and Tamer Hassan.^[11] He played the antagonist in the Indian film, Jagame Thandhiram, which released in 2021.^[12] He played a Russian intelligence officer named Luka Gocharov in season 3 of the Amazon show Jack Ryan.^[13]

He is a patron of the charity Chance for Childhood.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Battle of Britain	Jamie
	The Virgin Soldiers	Waller
1971	Assault	Det. Sgt. Beale
1972	Doomwatch	Bob Gillette
	Young Winston	Officer on Train
1982	Living Apart Together	Priest
1986	Highlander	Angus MacLeod
1988	Stormy Monday	Tony
1990	The Fool	Mr. Bowring
1995	Braveheart	Campbell
	The Key	Gangster	Short film
1996	Trainspotting	David Renton
	Emma	Mr. Weston
1997	Santa/Claws	Santa Claus	Short film
1998	Urban Ghost Story	Minister
	Babe: Pig in the City	Thelonius (voice)
1999	Sunset Heights	MacDonald
	The Match	Billy Bailey
	Billy and Zorba	Zorba	Short film
	One More Kiss	Frank
2000	Honest	Tommy Chase
	Reflections Upon the Origin of the Pineapple	Narrator (voice)	Short film
2001	To End All Wars	Lt. Col. Stuart McLean
	All the Queen's Men	Archie
2002	Once Upon a Time in the Midlands	Billy
	The Four Feathers	Col. Sutch
2003	Skagerrak	Robert
	Man Dancin'	Donnie McGlone
	The Reckoning	Lambert
	Solid Air	Finn
2004	One Last Chance	Big John
	Troy	Glaucus
2005	The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby	James Brown
	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	Father Christmas
2006	Half Light	Finlay Murray
	Free Jimmy	HudMaSpecs (voice)	AKA Slipp Jimmy fri (Original title)
	The Lives of the Saints	Mr. Karva
2007	The Last Legion	Hrothgar
	The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising	Dawson
	Where Have I Been All Your Life?	John	Short film
2009	2081	George Bergeron
	The Clan	Hector McKinley
2010	Outcast	Laird
	Donkeys	Alfie
	The Runway	Sutherland
2011	No Saints for Sinners	Murphy
	The Glass Man	Pecco
2012	Citadel	Priest
	Songs for Amy	Murdo
2013	Get Lucky	Mr. Zigic
	The Golden Scallop	Judge Wellington
	Hammer of the Gods	King Bagsecg
	Justin and the Knights of Valour	Blucher (voice)
	The Christmas Candle	Herbert Hopewell
	Sea Out	Old Joe	Short film
	Dying Light	Policeman
2014	The Boogeyman	Dr. Harper	Short film
	We Still Kill the Old Way	Arthur
	Hole	Cooper	Short film
2015	Moonwalkers	Dawson
	Carried	Henry Hunter	Short film
	The Legend of Barney Thomson	James Henderson
	The Pyramid Texts	Ray
	January	Albert	AKA Estranged (Original title)
2016	Project 12: The Bunker	Brian Balanowsky
	Breakdown	Albert Chapman
	Mikelis	Mikelis	Short film
	Dark Signal	Alan
	Ben-Hur	Quintus
	Whisky Galore!	MacAlister, the Minister
	Monochrome	Roger Daniels
	Eliminators	Cooper
2017	London Heist	Ray Dixon
	T2 Trainspotting	David Renton
	Last Respects	Philip Drummond (voice)	Short film
	Wonder Woman	Field Marshal Haig
2018	Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Massacre	Narrator (voice)	Short film
	In Darkness	Niall
	Outlaw King	Robert Bruce Senior
	Ashes in the Snow	Mr. Stakas
	Malevolent	Grandpa Sayers
	Tomorrow	Mr. Charles
2019	The Hole in the Ground	Des Brady
	Forget Me Not	Benedict	Short film
	Get Duked!	Farmer
	Off Grid	John Tanner	Short film
	Shadow Boxer	Eddie Royce	Short film
2020	Skylines	Grant
2021	Jagame Thanthiram	Peter Sprott	Tamil film
	The Kindred	Frank Menzies
2022	Breath	Nick
	My Sailor, My Love	Howard
	Scrooge: A Christmas Carol	Mr. Fezziwig (voice)
2023	The Three Musketeers	Cardinal Richelieu
2024	The Beast Within	Waylon
	The Last Redemption	Lord Goran

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	Dr. Finlay's Casebook	Peter Randall	Episode: "The Vision"
1966	Ransom for a Pretty Girl	Charlie Milne	Mini series, 6 episodes
	This Man Craig	Douglas McGrath	Episode: "Nurinder"
1967	St. Ives	Dalmahoy	2 episodes: "The Assembly Ball" and "Journey's End"
	The Revenue Men	Andrew	Episode: "A Pretty Flat Kind of Existence"
1968	Detective	Det. Sgt. MacGregor	Episode: "Dover and the Deadly Poison Pen Letters"
	Splash O.K.	Hamish MacPherson	Television film
1969	Dr. Finlay's Casebook	Private Davidson	Episode: "Single or Return"
	Softly Softly	McBride	Episode: "In at the Death"
1970	The Borderers	Hector	Episode: "A Woman or an Epitaph"
	The Wednesday Play	Senior Under Officer Patterson	Episode: "Sovereign's Company"
1971	Long Voyage Out of War	Thorpe	Episode: "Battle at Tematangi"
	UFO	Lt. Anderson	Episode: "Reflections in the Water"
	The Persuaders!	Inspector Williams	Episode: "Element of Risk"
	The View from Daniel Pike	Det. Con. Sanderson	Episode: "A Tale of Two Cities"
1972	Sutherland's Law	Ian Campbell	Television film
	The Stone Tape	Cliff Dow
1973	ITV Playhouse	Sgt. Robbins	Episode: "Professional"
	Sutherland's Law	Ian Campbell	Episode: "The Sea"
1973–1977	Warship	Leading Regulator ("Sheriff") Pat Fuller	21 episodes
1974	Play for Today	Loch	Episode: "The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil"
1975	Churchill's People	Robert Bruce	Episode: "The Wallace"
	Quiller	Hamilton	Episode: "Target North"
1976	Survivors	Lenny Carter	Episode: "The Chosen"
	Orde Wingate	Brigadier Calvert	3 episodes
1977	George & Mildred	Keith	Episode: "The Dorothy Letters"
	The Mackenzie Affair	James Mackenzie	Mini series, 5 episodes
1977–1978	Midnight Is a Place	Davey Scatcherd	3 episodes
1978	The Standard	Harry Bray	Episode: "New Standards"
	The Sweeney	Det. Sgt. Davy Freeth	Episode: "Hard Men"
	Kidnapped	Beggar	Mini series, episode: "Uncle Ebenezer"
1979	Dick Barton: Special Agent	Jock Anderson	29 episodes
	Thundercloud	CPO Hawkins	13 episodes
	The Onedin Line	Glasgow McDade	Episode: "To Honour and Obey"
	The Professionals	Glover	Episode: "Runner"
1980	Hammer House of Horror	Willis	Episode: "The Thirteenth Reunion"
1981	The Nightmare Man	Sergeant Carch	4 episodes
	The House on the Hill	Bonfield	Episode: "Semper Fidelis"
	Strangers	Det. Sgt. Galbraith	Episode: "A Dear Green Place"
1982	King's Royal	Colin Lindsay	4 episodes
1982–1984	Take the High Road	Alex Geddes	42 episodes
1984	Minder	Jock McLeish	Episode: "Senior Citizen Caine"
	Murder Not Proven?	Sergeant Munro	Episode: "Death on the Mountain"
	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Dr. Ian McCarran	Episode: "The Legend of Das Geisterschloss"
	Fairly Secret Army	Crazy Colin Carstairs	2 episodes: "Romance Plughole" and "The Pulses Quicken"
	The Master of Ballantrae	Horseman (uncredited)	Television film
1985	Lytton's Diary	Harry Owen	Episode: "Daddy's Girls"
	Big Deal	McFee	Episode: "Down and Under"
	Operation Julie	Longfellow	Television film
1985-1986	C.A.T.S. Eyes	McNeill / Howard	2 episodes: "Under Plain Cover" and "Fit"
1986	Running Scared	Detective Inspector McNeill	6 episodes
	Lost Empires	Inspector Furness	Mini series, episode: "#1.6"
1987	Super Gran	Mr. McBigg	Episode: "Supergran Snookered"
	Brond	Primo	3 episodes
1988	Codename: Kyril	Bonham	Mini series, episode: "#1.1"
	Taggart	Victor Baird	3 episodes: "Dead Giveaway: Parts 1, 2 & 3"
1989	William Tell	Anton	AKA Crossbow (Original title). Episode: "Silver Rider"
	Winners and Losers	Frank Kerr	Mini series, 3 episodes
	The Justice Game	Glen	4 episodes
	Saracen	Miekera	Episode: "Into Africa"
	Casualty	John Breckman	Episode: "A Grand in the Hand"
	The Bill	D.C.I. Cameron	Episode: "Seen to Be Done"
	The Nightwatch	James Smithson	Television film
1990	The Campbells	Sgt. Henderson	Episode: "Old Ways and New"
	El C.I.D.	Sands	Episode: "Getting Even"
	Treasure Island	Redruth	Television film
1991	The Sharp End	Carmichael	Mini series, 8 episodes
	Stay Lucky	Bigmac	Episode: "Hard Times, Hard Men"
1992	Screaming
	Medics	Harry Liverege	Episode: "#2.4"
	Heartbeat	Matthew Chapman	Episode: "Nowt But a Prank"
	Rab C. Nesbitt	Teacher	Episode: "Lesson"
1993	Scene	Reception Officer	Episode: "Pig Boy"
	Between the Lines	D.C.C. Birman	Episode: "Manoeuvre 11"
	Casualty	Tony	Episode: "Cat in Hell"
1994	The House of Eliott	James Maxton	Episode: "#3.5"
	Alleyn Mysteries	Major Keith Ballantyne	Episode: "Dead Water"
	Screen Two	Jerry	Episode: "Sin Bin"
1994–1995	Roughnecks	Tom	13 episodes
1996	Bad Boys	Tam Devlin	Episode: "Dead Men Don't Wear Bunnets"
1997	Ivanhoe	Cedric	Mini series, 5 episodes
	Ain't Misbehavin'	Malky Fraser	Mini series, 3 episodes
	Soldier Soldier	Lt. Col. Philip Drysdale	9 episodes
1998	Two Lives	Eddie	Episode: "Golden Wedding"
1999	Cleopatra	Agrippa	Mini series, 2 episodes: "Parts 1 & 2"
	Comedy Lab	David (voice)	Episode: "Heart and Sole"
	The Bill	Patrick Grainger: Lennox's Story	Episode: "Haunted"
	Split Second	Donald Paterson	Television film
2000	The 10th Kingdom	Blind Woodsman	Mini series, 2 episodes: "#1.4" and "#1.10"
	Tales from the Madhouse	The Centurion	Mini series, episode: "The Centurion"
	Badger	Charlie Maddox	Episode: "Predators"
	The Last of the Blonde Bombshells	McNab	Television film
2000–2001	Rebus	Morris Gerald Cafferty	2 episodes: "The Hanging Garden" and "Mortal Causes"
2001	Best of Both Worlds	William Landucci
2004	Biography	Narrator (voice)	Documentary series, episode: "Tchaikovsky"
2005	Little House on the Prairie	Mr. Scott	Mini series, 4 episodes
2007	Midsomer Murders	Jack 'Axeman' McKinley	Episode: "The Axeman Cometh"
	Impact Earth	Brenden Kelly	Television film
2008	The Colour of Magic	Galder Weatherwax	Mini series, episode: "Part 1: The Colour of Magic"
2009	Merlin	Hengist	Episode: "Lancelot and Guinevere"
	The Narnia Code	Narrator	Television film
2010	Castle	Finn Rourke	Episode: "Sucker Punch"
	FlashForward	Philip	Episode: "Revelation Zero: Part 2"
	Sons of Anarchy	Father Kellan Ashby	8 episodes
	One Night in Emergency		Television film
	The Santa Incident	Nick
2011–2013	Game of Thrones	Jeor Mormont	12 episodes
2012	Silent Witness	Arnold Mears	Episode: "Paradise Lost: Parts 1 & 2"
2013	Death in Paradise	Roger Seymour	Episode: "Murder on the Plantation"
	Case Histories	Len Lomax	Episode: "Started Early, Took My Dog"
2014	New Worlds	Goffe	Mini series, episode: "#1.1"
2015	Magnum Opus	Moshe Navon	Episode: "Fuck Da Babylon" (Pilot)
2016	Shetland	Arthur McCall	4 episodes
	Stag	The Gamekeeper	Mini series, episodes 1 & 2
	The Collection	Jules Trouvier	4 episodes
2016, 2018–2019	The Durrells	Captain Creech	4 episodes
2017	Celebrity Big Brother	Himself	Series 19 finalist and third runner-up, 19 episodes
	SS-GB	Harry Woods	Mini series, 5 episodes
2018	Mystery of the Lost Paintings	Narrator (voice)	Documentary series, 8 episodes
2018–2019	Hold the Sunset	Bob	9 episodes
2019	The Name of the Rose	Jorge da Burgos	8 episodes
	Chernobyl	Miner	Episode: 'Open Wide, O Earth'
	His Dark Materials	Farder Coram	6 episodes
2021	The Bay	Bill Bradwell
2022	Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan	Luka Gocharov	8 episodes
2023–2025	Highland Cops	Narrator (voice)	Documentary series, 18 episodes (3 Series)
	Six Four	Jim Mackie	Mini series, 4 episodes
2024	Nightsleeper	Fraser Warren	6 episodes
2025	Karen Pirie	Brodie Grant Snr	3 episodes
2025	Hostage	Max Dalton	3 episodes

|- |2025 |Talamasca |Houseman