Dominic West Biography

Dominic West is a star both in the U.K. and the U.S. and has been cast in many leading roles in international film, U.S. television and the London stage.  After graduating from Trinity College in Dublin, and then from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, West won the Ian Charleson Award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Peter Hall’s production of The Seagull.

A very successful film career soon followed with West winning leading roles in studio movies such as 28 Days, opposite Sandra Bullock; Mona Lisa Smile, opposite Julia Roberts; and The Forgotten, opposite Julianne Moore.  He also starred as Theron in Warner Bros.’ 300.  His other credits include Chicago, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, True Blue, Hannibal Rising, Rock Star, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Surviving Picasso and Richard III.

In 2000, he won the role of McNulty in HBO’s The Wire,which became one of the most critically acclaimed television programmes ever made.  The show ran for five seasons with West directing an episode in the final season.  More recently, West played Oliver Cromwell in Channel 4’s BAFTA-nominated series The Devil’s Whore. 

His theatre credits include Peter Gill’s production of Harley Granville-Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance, at The Royal National Theatre; David Lan’s production of As You Like It, in which he starred opposite Helen McCrory, in the West End in the summer of 2005; and Trevor Nunn’s West End production of Rock ’n’ Roll, Tom Stoppard’s play that opened to huge plaudits at the Royal Court in the summer of 2006.

At the end of 2009, West played the lead in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Life Is a Dream,at the Donmar Warehouse in London.  Last year, his work included Andrew Stanton’s John Carter and The Awakening, with Rebecca Hall, and more recently, he has completed filming The Hour,a new drama for the BBC. 

He can currently be seen as the eponymous lead on stage in Simon Gray’s Butley, at The Duchess Theatre.  In the fall, he moves on to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to play Iago in Othello, alongside his The Wire co-star Clarke Peters.


John Carter by Andrew Stanton - 2012
The Awakening by Nick Murphy - 2011
Johnny English Reborn by Oliver Parker - 2011
Words of the Blitz by Paul Copeland - 2010
Jackboots on Whitehall by Edward McHenry, Rory McHenry - 2010
Centurion by Neil Marshall - 2010
From Time to Time by Julian Fellowes - 2009
Punisher: War Zone by Lexi Alexander - 2008
Hannibal Rising by Peter Webber - 2007
300 by Zack Snyder - 2006
The Forgotten by Joseph Ruben - 2004
Mona Lisa Smile by Mike Newell - 2003
Chicago by Rob Marshall - 2002
Ten Minutes Older: The Cello by Bernardo Bertolucci, Claire Denis - 2002
Rock Star by Stephen Herek - 2001
28 Days by Betty Thomas - 2000
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace by George Lucas - 1999
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Michael Hoffman - 1999
Spice World by Bob Spiers - 1997
Diana & Me by David Parker - 1997
The Gambler by Kroly Makk - 1997
True Blue by Ferdinand Fairfax - 1996
Surviving Picasso by James Ivory - 1996
E=mc2 by Benjamin Fry - 1996
Richard III by Richard Loncraine - 1995

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