Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Freeman's most notable roles are that of Tim Canterbury in the mockumentary series The Office (2001–2003), Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama series Sherlock (2010–2017), young Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), and Lester Nygaard in the first season of the dark comedy-crime drama series Fargo (2014). He has also appeared in films including the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004), the sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the action comedy Hot Fuzz (2007), the semi-improvised comedy Nativity! (2009), and the sci-fi comedy The World's End (2013). Since 2016, he has portrayed Everett K. Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the films Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and the Disney+ series Secret Invasion (2023).
Early life
Martin John Christopher Freeman was born on 8 September 1971 in Aldershot, Hampshire, the youngest of five children.
His parents, Philomena (née Norris) and naval officer Geoffrey Freeman, separated when he was a child. His father died of a heart attack when Freeman was 10 years old.
Freeman's paternal grandfather, Leonard W. Freeman, was a medic in the British Expeditionary Force during World War II and was killed in action at Dunkirk just a few days before the Dunkirk evacuation.
Leonard's father, Richard, was born blind and worked as a piano tuner and organist at St Andrew's Church in West Tarring before becoming a music teacher in Kingston upon Hull.
Freeman was raised in his mother's Catholic faith, and attended the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey, before attending Brooklands College in nearby Weybridge for media studies. His older brother, Tim, became a singer with the group Frazier Chorus.
Career
Freeman attended the Central School of Speech and Drama and has appeared in at least 18 TV shows, 14 theatre productions, and several radio productions. He became notable for his role as Tim Canterbury in The Office (2001–2003), a role which, he said in 2004, "cast a very long shadow" for him as an actor. He appeared in the sitcom Hardware (2003–2004). He also appeared in several films, including Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Love Actually (2003).
Freeman began to move into more serious dramatic roles on television with his appearance as Lord Shaftesbury in the 2003 BBC historical drama Charles II: The Power and The Passion. He can also be seen making a brief appearance in the first episode of the second series of This Life. Freeman also starred in the BBC television series The Robinsons and had a cameo in Episode 1 of Black Books. In 2007, he appeared in The All Together written and directed by Gavin Claxton, as well as the Bill Kenwright theatre production of The Last Laugh. Freeman is featured in the video for Faith No More's cover of "I Started a Joke". In May 2009, he starred in Boy Meets Girl, a four-part drama that charts the progress of characters Veronica and Danny after an accident which causes them to swap bodies.
Freeman played Dr. John Watson in Sherlock, the BBC contemporary adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. The first episode of Sherlock, "A Study in Pink", was broadcast on 25 July 2010 to critical acclaim. For his performance in the role, he won the 2011 BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.
Freeman played Bilbo Baggins, the main character, in the three-part Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film series. Accolades that his performance in the first part, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, garnered him include Best Hero at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards and Best Actor at the 18th Empire Awards.