Lewis once worked as a
telemarketer selling car alarms. His first television appearance was as a medical student in "Hickory Dickory Dock", a feature-length episode of ''
Agatha Christie's Poirot, an ITV Studios TV production, broadcast in 1995. He also appeared as a rakish student in an early episode of the drama series A Touch of Frost (1996). He appeared in Robinson Crusoe'' (1997) as Patrick Conner. At this time he was also working as an actor with the
Royal Shakespeare Company, playing among other roles Borgheim in
Adrian Noble's production of
Henrik Ibsen's
Little Eyolf and Posthumus Leonatus in
William Shakespeare's
Cymbeline. He would later go on to star in another of Ibsen's plays, as Karsten Bernick in
Pillars of the Community at the National Theatre in November 2005. He also appeared in
Jonathan Kent's production of
Hamlet, playing
Laertes. This production was seen by
Steven Spielberg, who later cast Lewis as lead role
Richard Winters, respected leader of
Easy Company in
Band of Brothers (2001), the first role of several that required him to have a credible American accent. He returned to the US to star in
Dreamcatcher, a
Lawrence Kasdan film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent. He played
Jeffrey Archer in the TV special
Jeffrey Archer: The Truth. Since 2004, he has appeared in a number of films, as well as the 2005
BBC TV adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy
Much Ado About Nothing, as part of the
ShakespeaRe-Told season. Lewis played the role of
Yassen Gregorovich in the film
Stormbreaker. In 2006, he appeared in
Stephen Poliakoff's
BBC drama
Friends and Crocodiles. He has appeared on BBC's
Have I Got News for You as guest host several times; on 10 November 2006, 1 May 2009, 18 November 2010, 27 April 9 November 2012 and 31 October 2014. In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the American television series
Life on
NBC. The show premiered in the US on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season's shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a
2008 AFI Award for best television series. Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night, and eventually cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for
The Jay Leno Show. Lewis appeared the following year in the lead role in
The Baker, a film directed by his brother, Gareth. Damian took a supporting role of Rizza in
The Escapist, which he also helped produce. He led the cast in
Martin Crimp's version of
Molière's comedy,
The Misanthrope, which opened in December 2009 at the
Comedy Theatre, London. Other cast members included
Tara Fitzgerald,
Keira Knightley and
Dominic Rowan. Lewis played
Tory Prime Minister Simon Laity in two seasons of
Number 10 on
BBC Radio 4. He played Gareth, the father of an 11-year-old
Liverpool F.C. fan, in the 2011 film
Will. From 2011 to 2013, Lewis had a starring role as
Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the
Showtime series
Homeland, for which he won a
Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he narrated poetry for
The Love Book App, an "interactive anthology of love literature developed by
Allie Byrne Esiri". In 2016 he began starring as billionaire
hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series
Billions. He left the show in 2021 after five seasons, but returned for half of season 7. In 2016 he appeared in the British spy film
Our Kind of Traitor. In 2024, he played a dual role as Peter Radley and his brother Will Radley, alongside
Kelly Macdonald in the vampire comedy film
The Radleys.
Music In an interview with
The Guardian in October 2022, Lewis said that he had long-standing ambitions to be a musician, and had been collaborating with jazz artist
Giacomo Smith, firstly on cover songs and then writing new material for an album that would be released in 2023: "I started writing and found out there was lots that I actually did want to write, and before we knew it we had a record's worth of songs. We’ve ended up with a rootsy, jazzy, rock’n’rolly, singer-songwritery-type album." His debut album,
Mission Creep, was released in June that year on
Decca Records. On 9 July 2023, he sang the
national anthem at the
British Grand Prix, accompanied by a
saxophonist. ==Other ventures==