With Hollywood this year turning most Britons into bad guys, things are looking rosy for Jason Isaacs (right). And - true to form - he turns up as the dastardly British Colonel William Tavington in the American Revolution drama The Patriot, which opens today.
Born in Liverpool on June 6, 1963, Isaacs at first charted a course towards a law degree, studying at Bristol University. While at Bristol, he also became involved in student theatre groups where - as American film executives were soon to learn - he began to build a reputation for excellence in brooding, dark roles. After starring in or directing 20-odd productions, he dumped law and jumped over to the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Isaacs' breakthrough came in 1989 when he was cast alongside Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson in The Tall Guy, and he also landed a role in British TV's Capital City. More TV work was to follow - including the mini-series Taggart and Civvies - before Isaacs hooked up with director Paul Anderson. With him, he has produced the films Event Horizon, Soldier and the cult favourite Shopping and showed his versatility along the way. From there he played 'the smartest man on the planet', Ronald Quincy, in the blockbuster Armageddon (1998) - his first foray into the big league. And you don't get much bigger than playing next to Mel Gibson, which Isaacs does in The Patriot, in a role that frightened even him. 'I don't think I've ever seen anybody as evil as I am,' he remarked. 'I kill everything in my path. I think I cross every boundary known to man.' And don't the big boys in Hollywood just love it.