Early career Initially, Owen's career was in television. In 1988, he starred as Gideon Sarn in a
BBC production of
Precious Bane and the
Channel 4 film
Vroom before the 1990s saw him become a regular on stage and television in the UK, notably his lead role in the
ITV series
Chancer, followed by an appearance in the
Thames Television production of
Lorna Doone. He won critical acclaim for his performances in the
Stephen Poliakoff film
Close My Eyes (1991) about a brother and sister who embark on an
incestuous love affair. He subsequently appeared in
The Magician, ''Class of '61
, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native and a Carlton production called Sharman, about a private detective. In 1996, he appeared in his first major Hollywood film The Rich Man's Wife alongside Halle Berry, followed by an unforgettable lead performance as Max in Bent_(1997_film) in 1997. He then found international acclaim in a Channel 4 film directed by Mike Hodges called Croupier (1998). In Croupier
, he played the title role of a struggling writer who takes a job in a London casino as inspiration for his work, only to get caught up in a robbery scheme. In 1999, he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second'', his first BBC production in about a decade. Owen starred in
The Echo, a
BBC1 drama, before starring in the film
Greenfingers, about a criminal who goes to work in a garden. He appeared in the BBC1 mystery series
Second Sight. In 2001, he provided the voice-over for
Walk On By, a BBC2 documentary about popular music, as well as starring in a highly acclaimed theatre revival of Peter Nichols' play
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, about a couple with a severely disabled daughter.
Subsequent work , 2006 Owen became known to North American audiences in the summer of 2001 after starring as "The Driver" in
The Hire, a series of short films sponsored by
BMW and made by prominent directors. He appeared in
Robert Altman's
Gosford Park. He appeared in the 2002 film
The Bourne Identity. In 2003, he reteamed with director Mike Hodges in ''
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. He starred in Beyond Borders as well as King Arthur in King Arthur'', for which he learned to ride a horse. He appeared in the Royal National Theatre debut of the hit play
Closer, by
Patrick Marber, which was produced as a
film in 2004. He played Dan in the play, and played Larry in the film version. His portrayal of Larry in the film received very favourable reviews, as well as the
Golden Globe and
BAFTA awards, and an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Supporting Actor. He noted that the expectations of him since the Oscar nomination have not changed the way he approaches film-making, stating "I try, every film I do, to be as good as I can and that's all I can do." After
Closer, he appeared in
Derailed alongside
Jennifer Aniston, the
comic book thriller Sin City as the
noir antihero Dwight McCarthy and as a mysterious bank robber in
Inside Man. Despite public denials, Owen had been rumoured to be a possible successor to
Pierce Brosnan in the role of
James Bond. A public opinion poll in the United Kingdom in October 2005 by SkyNews found that he was the public's number one choice to star in the next instalment of the series. In that same month, however, it was announced that fellow British actor
Daniel Craig would become the next James Bond. In an interview in the September 2007 issue of
Details, he claimed that he was not offered or approached concerning the role. In 2006, Owen spoofed the Bond connection by making an appearance in the remake of
The Pink Panther in which he plays a character named "Nigel Boswell, Agent 006" (when he introduces himself to
Inspector Clouseau, he quips that Owen's character is "one short of the big time"). In 2006, Owen starred in
Children of Men. The film was nominated for various awards, including an
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Owen worked on the screenplay, although he was uncredited. The next year he starred alongside
Paul Giamatti in the film ''
Shoot 'Em Up'' and appeared as
Sir Walter Raleigh opposite
Cate Blanchett's
Elizabeth I of England in the film
Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in the Christmas special of the
Ricky Gervais and
Stephen Merchant show
Extras. Owen starred in
The International (2009), a film which he described as a "paranoid political thriller". He played the lead in
The Boys Are Back, an Australian adaptation of the book
The Boys Are Back in Town by Simon Carr. In June 2010, it was announced that Owen and
Nicole Kidman would star in an
HBO film about
Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with
Martha Gellhorn entitled
Hemingway & Gellhorn.
James Gandolfini served as executive producer to the film, written by
Barbara Turner and
Jerry Stahl. The film was directed by
Philip Kaufman and released in 2012. Owen played the lead in
Shadow Dancer, a joint UK/Ireland production about a young mother who is involved with
Irish republicanism. It co-starred
Andrea Riseborough,
Gillian Anderson, and
Aidan Gillen, and was directed by
James Marsh. In April 2010, he was cast as the lead in
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror-thriller
Intruders. Owen starred in the film
Blood Ties, directed by
Guillaume Canet, alongside French actress
Marion Cotillard. It was released in June 2013 at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Owen made his
Broadway debut in a revival of
Harold Pinter's
Old Times at the
American Airlines Theatre. He was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the
2016 Berlin Film Festival. In October 2017, Owen returned to Broadway as Rene Gallimard in a revival of
David Henry Hwang's
M. Butterfly at the
Cort Theatre in New York City. In 2019, Owen played the role of the defrocked Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in the
West End theatre production of
Tennessee Williams'
The Night of the Iguana at the
Noël Coward Theatre. Also in 2019, he played Dovidl Rapaport in
The Song of Names. He played
Bill Clinton in the miniseries
Impeachment: American Crime Story. ==Personal life==