Martin Freeman

Early life

Martin John Christopher Freeman was born on 8 September 1971 in Aldershot, Hampshire, the youngest of five children. His parents, Philomena (née Norris) and naval officer Geoffrey Freeman, separated when he was a child. His father died of a heart attack when Freeman was 10 years old.

Freeman's paternal grandfather, Leonard W. Freeman, was a medic in the British Expeditionary Force during World War II and was killed in action at Dunkirk just a few days before the Dunkirk evacuation. Leonard's father, Richard, was born blind and worked as a piano tuner and organist.

Freeman was raised in his mother's Catholic faith, and attended the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey, before attending Brooklands College in nearby Weybridge for media studies. His older brother, Tim, became a singer with the group Frazier Chorus.

Career

Freeman attended the Central School of Speech and Drama and has appeared in at least 18 TV shows, 14 theatre productions, and several radio productions. He became notable for his role as Tim Canterbury in The Office (2001–2003), a role which, he said in 2004, "cast a very long shadow" for him as an actor. He appeared in the sitcom Hardware (2003–2004). He also appeared in several films, including Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Love Actually (2003).

He began to move into more serious dramatic roles on television with his appearance as Lord Shaftesbury in the 2003 BBC historical drama Charles II: The Power and The Passion. He made a brief appearance in the first episode of the second series of This Life. He starred in the BBC television series The Robinsons, and had a cameo in Episode 1 of Black Books. In 2007, he appeared in The All Together written and directed by Gavin Claxton, and in the Bill Kenwright theatre production of The Last Laugh. He is featured in the video for Faith No More's cover of "I Started a Joke". In May 2009, he starred in Boy Meets Girl, a four-part drama that charts the progress of characters Veronica and Danny after an accident which causes them to swap bodies.

He played Dr. John Watson in Sherlock, the BBC contemporary adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Its first episode, "A Study in Pink", was broadcast on 25 July 2010 to critical acclaim. For the role, Freeman won the 2011 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Freeman played lead character Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's three-part The Hobbit film series. For his performance in the first part, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Freeman won Best Hero at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards and Best Actor at the 18th Empire Awards.

Freeman appeared in all three films of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's comedic Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, commencing with a brief non-speaking role in Shaun of the Dead as Yvonne's boyfriend, Declan, followed by a brief cameo in Hot Fuzz as a police officer. He was a main cast member in the 2013 finale to the trilogy, The World's End. On 5 October 2013, he was presented with a fellowship bearing his name by the members of University College Dublin's Literary & Historical Society. In April 2014, he played insurance salesman Lester Nygaard in the dark comedy-crime drama series Fargo, for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Critics' Choice Television Award. He opened in the title role in Shakespeare's play Richard III in July 2014 at Trafalgar Studios.

In 2015, Freeman starred as producer Milton Fruchtman in the television film The Eichmann Show, based on blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz's filming of the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. It intercut dramatic scenes with historical footage from the trial. The Daily Telegraph described it as "absolutely enthralling". Freeman also played Everett K. Ross, a Central Intelligence Agency agent in Captain America: Civil War, which was released in May 2016.

In 2017, Freeman starred in Cargo, a feature-length remake of a 2013 short film of the same name, which premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 6 August 2017. Later that year he appeared opposite Tamsin Greig in Labour of Love, a political comedy by James Graham, at the Noël Coward Theatre. Freeman portrayed fictional Labour MP David Lyons, whose modernising ideas pit him against the traditional left-wing constituency agent Jean Whittaker (Greig).

In 2018, he reprised his role as Everett K. Ross in Black Panther, which was set around two weeks after the event in Captain America: Civil War, making it his second appearance in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Between May 2017 and July 2019, he starred in numerous adverts for Vodafone.

In June 2018, Freeman was part of To Provide All People, a BBC Wales drama celebrating 70 years of the National Health Service.

Since March 2020, Freeman has starred in the FX/Sky One comedy series Breeders, of which he is also a creator and executive producer. On 18 May 2020 FX and Sky One renewed it for a second season.

Personal life

Freeman lives in the Belsize Park area of London. He previously lived in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, with actress Amanda Abbington; they were together from 2000 to 2016, and have a son and a daughter. They appeared together in productions such as Sherlock, Swinging with the Finkels, The Debt, The Robinsons, and The All Together. On 22 December 2016, it was reported that they had separated.

Freeman is a former pescetarian who returned to eating red meat in 2024. He is a non-practising Catholic. He is a close friend of actor Simon Pegg, who is the godfather of his son. Freeman's personal style follows that of British mod subculture, and he cites Paul Weller as one of his heroes and influences on his style.

In 2011, Freeman umpired a charity cricket match to raise money for victims of the Christchurch earthquake.

Freeman's brother, singer-songwriter and website designer Jamie Freeman, died of brain cancer in December 2022.

Music

Freeman is a fan of soul, Motown and jazz music, and presented an episode of BBC Two's The Culture Show in 2009 titled "Martin Freeman Goes to Motown". He also selected music for a 2006 Motown compilation, Made to Measure, and worked on a jazz compilation with his friend Eddie Piller, Jazz on the Corner; released on Acid Jazz Records on 23 March 2018, it features tracks by Kamasi Washington and The Brand New Heavies. The pair presented The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on 31 March 2018. In 2019, a follow-up album, Soul on the Corner, was announced, with tracks by Leroy Hutson and Bobby Womack.

In 2023, Freeman provided spoken word vocals for several tracks on Madness' No. 1 album Theatre of the Absurd Presents C'est la Vie.

Political views

Freeman is a supporter of the Labour Party. As a teenager, he supported the now-defunct political group Militant and volunteered with the Labour Party Young Socialists. In 2015, he appeared in a party political broadcast to endorse the Labour Party ahead of the 2015 UK general election. In August 2015, he supported Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

References

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7. Meritt, Stephanie. (22 February 2004). "Tim for a change". Guardian.
8. (21 February 2014). ""Faith No More — I Started A Joke (Official Music Video)"".
9. [http://tv.sky.com/boy-meets-girl-interview-martin-freeman Boy Meets Girl Interview: Martin Freeman profile] {{webarchive. link. (2 May 2009 , Tv.sky.com (30 April 2009); retrieved 27 August 2011.)
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28. (11 April 2018). "BBC Wales marks NHS at 70 with all-star production To Provide All People".
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31. (22 December 2016). "Martin Freeman on Sherlock, politics and why he's not on Twitter". Financial Times.
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35. McTaggart, India. (2024). "Actor Martin Freeman eats pork pies again after 38 years".
36. Pelly, Rich. (16 July 2022). "Martin Freeman: 'I'm one of few people in my family who would ever unironically go into a church'". The Guardian.
37. (8 July 2013). "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Q&A". blogspot.co.uk.
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46. "Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller sit in, The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show – BBC Radio 6 Music".
47. "Acid Jazz Records {{!}} Martin Freeman & Eddie Piller present Soul On The Corner".
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