damian lewis

Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor and producer. He starred as Soames Forsyte in the ITV remake of The Forsyte Saga and as Detective Charlie Crews in the NBC drama Life, but is best known in both the US and UK for his portrayal of Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

Lewis was born in St John's Wood, London, the son of Charlotte Mary (née Bowater) and J. Watcyn Lewis, a City broker. His paternal grandparents were Welsh.His maternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London Ian Frank Bowater and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn (a doctor to the royal family) and philanthropist Alfred Yarrow.Lewis was brought up an Anglican.

Lewis made several visits to the United States to visit relatives during his summers as a child. He first decided to become an actor at age 16. He was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in the village of Forest Row in East Sussex and at Eton College and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993, after which he served as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his time with the RSC, he played Borgheim in Adrian Noble's production of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, as well as Posthumus in William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. He has also starred in another of Ibsen's plays, Pillars of the Community.