Clive Owen

Biography: An English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991. He then garnered critical acclaim for his work in the film Close My Eyes (1991) before getting international notice for his performance as a struggling writer in Croupier (1998). In 2005, Owen won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance in the drama Closer (2004). He has since played leading as well as supporting roles in films such as Sin City (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), and The International (2009).

The fourth of five brothers, Owen was born in Coventry, in the English Midlands, a son of Pamela (nee Cotton) and Jess Owen, a country and western singer. His father left the family when Owen was three years old, and despite a brief reconciliation when Owen was nineteen, the two have remained estranged. Raised by his mother and stepfather, a railway ticket clerk, he has described his childhood as "rough." While initially opposed to drama school, he changed his mind in 1984, after a long and fruitless period of searching for work. Owen graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1987 with a class that included Rebecca Pidgeon, Serena Harragin, Mark Womack, and Liza Tarbuck. After graduation, he won a position at the Young Vic, performing in several Shakespearean plays.

In an incident he later described as "very schmaltzy", Owen met his future wife, actress Sarah-Jane Fenton, when they performed the leads in Romeo and Juliet at the Young Vic. The couple married on 6 March 1995 and live in Highgate, London and Wrabness, north Essex, with their two daughters - Hannah and Eve.

He enjoys the music of indie rock band Hard-Fi and has been seen at two of their concerts. He is also an avid Liverpool F.C fan