Lennie James

Lennie Michael James (born 1965) is a British actor. He is best known for portraying Morgan Jones in the AMC series The Walking Dead and in its spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, and starring as DCI Tony Gates in Line of Duty series one.

Among James' more notable roles in television is Glen Boyle in the medical drama Critical on Sky 1. On American television, he portrayed the mysterious Robert Hawkins in the CBS series Jericho and Detective Joe Geddes in the AMC series Low Winter Sun.

James created and starred in Sky Atlantic drama series Save Me which was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. Its second season, titled Save Me Too, won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series 2021.

In 2024, James starred as Barrington Jedidiah "Barry" Walker in the BBC TV series Mr Loverman, adapted from the novel of the same name by Bernardine Evaristo, for which James won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor at the 2025 British Academy Television Awards.

Lennie Michael James was born in Nottingham, England, in 1965. The son of Afro-Trinidadian parents, he lived in South London and attended school at Ernest Bevin College. His mother, Phyllis Mary James, died when he was 10, after which he and his elder brother, Kester, chose to live in a children's home instead of being sent to the United States to reside with a relative. James remained in foster care for eight years.

James aspired to be a professional rugby player as a teen, and was introduced to acting after following a girl he was interested in to an audition for a play. James attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1988. While there, he helped run a campaign against the school's plan to expel another student, which he has said is the bravest thing he's ever done. "That involved being taken in front of the head and threatening to boycott a big event for the Lord Mayor, even though the head said it would mean they would throw me out," James said in 2015. He was once employed by the social security office.

James has appeared in more than 20 films, including Les Misérables (1998), Snatch (2000), 24 Hour Party People (2002), Sahara (2005), and Outlaw (2007). He starred in the 2010 film Tic and appeared in the action film Colombiana (2011) and the sci-fi film Lockout (2012).

He began his career in theatre. In 1982, while studying social work, he was accepted at a workshop at the Cockpit Theatre. The following year he submitted his play Trial and Error to the National Youth Theatre-Texaco Playwriting Competition, winning Most Prominent Playwright Under 21. While studying for his a-levels he performed at Shiftwork, a youth theatre program at the Lyric Theatre, while Trial and Error was published by Faber and Faber in 1984. In 1992, he received the Clarence Derwent Award for his supporting role in The Coup by Mustapha Matura at the Royal National Theatre.