Jamie Harris, the son of renowned actor Richard Harris, has carved a name for himself in the acting industry with his powerful and dynamic performances.
In a recent interview, Harris spoke about his journey into acting, personal career highlights, creative process, and role in the hit fantasy show, Carnival Row.
The way Harris made himself heard and threw curveballs into conversations around the dinner table led him to pursue a career in acting. Although he initially fell in love with music and wanted to pursue it, he found his way into acting with the help and encouragement of director Jim Sheridan.
Harris’s personal career highlights involve working with some of the biggest names in the industry, including directors Terrence Malick, Jim Sheridan, Christopher Nolan, and Steven Spielberg. He described Christian Bale and Daniel Day Lewis as kind and giving actors who he worked with. As part of his recent observation, he has been watching documentaries so that he can see a real person rather than a trained actor acting or mimicking a person.
Harris stated that he has been pigeonholed into playing the serial killer, drug addict, pimp, or racist cop and would love to play more diverse roles.
Harris’ character in Carnival Row, Sergeant Dombey, is rough-around-the-edges. His research and reading about the character, as well as working with makeup and costume departments, helps him develop the character’s look. As a loyal and protective friend and colleague, he sees similarities between himself and the character Sergeant Dombey.
Harris worked hard to transform into his character in Carnival Row. The actor said, “Any similarities between me and the character well I had to do a lot of work on it and justify a lot of what he does. There weren’t that many similarities between him and myself. I do understand trying to break family ties that pass on pass on certain evils and demons to your children.”
Harris’ family and friends have seen the first season of Carnival Row and have been very supportive of his work. Playing Sergeant Dombey in Carnival Row has changed Harris as an actor by making him more confident in his abilities and allowing him to take on more complex and challenging roles.
The challenges Harris has faced while taking on this role include the physical demands of the role and the challenge of maintaining the intensity and focus required for the character. Harris said, “The more that you’ve done the work on the character and you know your lines and you know everybody else’s lines and you know where your character is set in the particular part of the story, it gives you a freedom that you otherwise may not have. A freedom to enjoy it. A freedom to take chances. A freedom to literally be in the moment.”
We look forward to seeing what’s next for Jamie Harris, we expect nothing but greatness, as that’s what he’s delivered each and every time.
