James Cosmo starred in Game of Thrones (as Jeor Mormont, 2011–2013), Sons of Anarchy (as Father Kellan Ashby in season 3, 2010), and Braveheart (as Campbell the Elder, 1995). He's a Scottish actor known for supporting roles in historical and fantasy films/TV.
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James Cosmo, born James Ronald Gordon Cosmo on May 24, 1948, in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, is a prolific Scottish actor with over 200 credits spanning film, TV, and theater. Raised in a working-class family, he discovered acting in his teens through local theater groups. After national service in the British Army (1966–1968), he trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1970. Early career struggles saw him taking odd jobs like bar work before breaking into TV with roles in BBC dramas such as The Onedin Line (1972–1973) as Alex McPhail.
His film breakthrough came in the 1970s with supporting parts in British cinema, including The Beast in the Cellar (1970) and Pauline Kael: A Film (1971). Cosmo gained international notice in the 1980s via fantasy epics: he played the villainous Kurgan in Highlander (1986) opposite Christopher Lambert, and appeared as a henchman in Die Hard (1988). The 1990s solidified his reputation in historical dramas, most notably as Campbell the Elder, a resilient Scottish warrior, in Mel Gibson's Braveheart (1995), earning praise for his stoic intensity amid the film's epic battles.
Transitioning to TV prestige, Cosmo portrayed Jeor Mormont, the honorable Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2013), appearing in 19 episodes and mentoring Kit Harington's Jon Snow until his shocking death by mutiny. That same era, he played Father Kellan Ashby, a manipulative Irish priest aiding Jax Teller's arc, in season 3 of FX's Sons of Anarchy (2010). Other key roles include Bauer in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy (2004) alongside Brad Pitt, and the grizzled farmer MacIldowney in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
Cosmo's versatility shines in diverse genres: he voiced characters in Defiance (2013–2015) and Olympus (2015), played the tyrannical Count Rostov in World Without End (2012), and embodied historical figures like Benjamin Franklin in the miniseries Saints & Strangers (2015). Recent work includes the no-nonsense patriarch in Bastard Executioner (2015), a role in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), and the villainous Lord Merrick in the Disney+ series The Sandman (2022). In 2023–2024, he appeared in The Baby-Sitters Club adaptation and voiced in video games like For Honor.
Personally, Cosmo married actress Annie Harris in 2000 after his first marriage to Jean Maund ended in divorce; they have three children from previous relationships and one together. An advocate for Scottish independence, he resides in London and Glasgow. At 77, Cosmo remains active, blending gravitas with a rugged charm that has made him a go-to for authority figures in global blockbusters. He has no formal awards but is celebrated for authenticity in roles drawing from his Scottish roots.
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