About James Wilby
James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor. He is best known for his performance in the romantic film Maurice (1987), playing the titular main character, for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. == Early life and education == Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma, to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, then studied, for a degree in mathematics, at Grey College, Durham, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. == Career == Wilby's first appearance on screen was in the Oxford Film Company production Privileged (1982) alongside Hugh Grant. He acted with Grant again in the Merchant Ivory period film Maurice (1987), which brought him to the attention of an international audience and earned Wilby and Grant the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award. He then starred in A Handful of Dust (1988), for which he won the Bari Film Festival Best Actor award. His further roles included A Tale of Two Cities (1989) for Granada Television, Howards End (1992), Regeneration (1997), Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary (1999), Gosford Park (2001), and Alain Robbe-Grillet's C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle (2006), co-starring Arielle Dombasle, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. On stage, Wilby starred in the 1995 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre. He then appeared in a production of Helping Harry at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2001; and in 2004 as the title character in a run of Don Juan at the Lyric Theatre.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.