Clive Owen Biography

Clive Owen is a rugged and intense leading man of films who made a splash as the title character of Croupier (1998).

Owen studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the late 1980s, and after an impressive start on the stage he went on to television and film.

He made his big-screen debut in 1988’s Vroom, but it was the gradual success of Croupier that made him an international celebrity (British audiences already knew him better as DCI Ross Tanner in the 1999 television mini-series Second Sight.)

Owen became a major movie star whose films included low-key dramas, thrillers and costumers.

In the early 2000s Owen’s credits included Gosford Park (2001), Closer (2004, with Julia Roberts), King Arthur (2004, with Owen as the king and Keira Knightley as Guinevere), Sin City (2005, based on the comic books by Frank Miller), Inside Man (2006, directed by Spike Lee), Children of Men (2006, with Michael Caine) and Shoot ‘Em Up (2007, with Paul Giamatti).

Since then he’s had a busy and mixed career, working in television, on stage and in movies mostly based in the United Kingdom.

Clive Owen’s television credits include Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012, he was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Ernest Hemingway), The Knick (2014-15) and, as President Bill Clinton, American Crime Story: Impeachment (2021).

Owen’s films include Killer Elite (2011, with Robert De Niro), The Confirmation (2016), Anon (2018) and Gemini Man (2019).