The Smoke
From military captain Lee Adama in the cult sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica (20042009) to Dr Tyler Wilson in 2013 medical show Monday Mornings, Jamie Bamber’s proved his versatility. Now he’s playing a sexy but psychologically damaged fireman in The Smoke (2014). So what’s the British actor all about?
Jamie was born in Hammersmith in London in 1973. His mom Elizabeth is from Northern Ireland and his dad Ralph Griffith is from the US. Jamie holds British, Irish and US citizenships. His mom ran a children’s theatre group and cast him in his first role when he was five years old – it was as the Wicked Witch Of The West in a production of The Wizard Of Oz in 1978. Jamie spent his early school years in Paris and moved back to the UK in 1980. “I have many childhood memories of Paris and I’d love to go back,” he says. He’s got looks and brains – Jamie achieved a 1st Class MA Honours in Modern Languages (Italian and French) in 1996 at Cambridge University in England – it’s the highest mark you can achieve. If you’re curious about what the actor likes, his favourite colours are blue and green, the 1999 movie American Beauty and Divine Comedy (written by Dante Alighieri and published in 1555). He met his British actress/singer wife Kerry Norton when they worked on the 2000 movie The Devil’s Tattoo. They married in 2003 and have three daughters: Isla (11) and identical twins Darcy (10) and Ava (10). They also have a dog called Flint. He ran the 42km London Marathon in 2002, finishing in just under three hours. Jamie later said that he liked the challenge but “it hurt like hell” and that he’ll never do it again. Jamie’s sister is actress Anastasia Griffith, better known as Princess Abigail/Kathryn Nolan in Once Upon A Time (2011-current) in 2011 and 2014. NB! See more on p11.