Sewell's breakthrough year was 1993, in which he starred as the unpleasant Tim in
Michael Winner's film
Dirty Weekend. Winner chose him after seeing him in a play at the
Criterion Theatre. Sewell is known for his villainous roles, such as those in ''
A Knight's Tale, The Legend of Zorro, Bless the Child, Helen of Troy and The Illusionist''. He spoke of his unhappiness about this, saying that "[I] don't want to play a baddie again." He co-starred in the controversial film
Downloading Nancy, which was released on 5 June 2009. At the Sundance Film Festival in 2008, audiences walked out of the screening. Despite the controversy, Sewell continues to staunchly support the film. "It's a film I'm very proud of, whether you consider that it fails or succeeds, whether you like it or don't like it. I'm proud to be in it." He played
Petruchio in the BBC's 2005 version of
William Shakespeare's
The Taming of the Shrew, a modern retelling of the story which earned him a Best Actor nomination at the
2006 BAFTA Television Awards. This was the fourth time that Sewell had acted in a Shakespeare play since becoming a professional actor: he previously portrayed
Hotspur in
Henry IV, Part 1 in 1995,
Fortinbras in
Hamlet in 1996 and the title role in
Macbeth in 1999. He appeared in the premiere and first run of
Tom Stoppard's play ''
Rock 'n' Roll'' at the
Royal Court Theatre from June to July 2006 and at the
Duke of York's Theatre from July until November 2006. He has recorded eleven of
Ian Fleming's
James Bond books on 36 CDs for Collins. He continues to work in film, television and theatre, playing the lead role of Dr. Jacob Hood in the CBS TV series
Eleventh Hour. He finished filming in November 2009 for the miniseries
The Pillars of the Earth, which was shown on TV in 2010. In 2010 he played the Italian detective
Aurelio Zen, based on the best-selling novels by
Michael Dibdin, for the
BBC One drama series
Zen. The three episodes were filmed in Rome and shown on BBC One in early January 2011. The series was cancelled by the BBC after just one season. He also had a small part in the film
The Tourist, which also starred
Angelina Jolie and
Johnny Depp and was released in cinemas in 2010. He played the lead vampire, Adam, in the film
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which was filmed in
New Orleans and released in June 2012. Sewell played the role of Ethics Man in
Darkside,
Tom Stoppard's 2013 radio drama based on
Pink Floyd's album
The Dark Side of the Moon. Sewell co-starred with
Dwayne Johnson, as Autolycus, in the film
Hercules, which was released in July 2014. In 2015, Sewell voiced the role of Sir Claude, a feral cat, in
Blinky Bill the Movie. Sewell has most recently appeared as high-ranking American-turned-Nazi official John Smith in
The Man in the High Castle, and as
Lord Melbourne in
Victoria. In February 2023, it was announced that Sewell had been cast as
Prince Andrew, Duke of York in
Scoop, a
Netflix drama about Andrew's 2019
Newsnight interview, co-starring
Gillian Anderson as
Emily Maitlis,
Billie Piper, and
Keeley Hawes. ==Personal life==