Clive Owen Biography

Fast Facts

• His father, Jess Owen, is a British country-western singer
• Failed to get into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art on his first try; worked as a house cleaner for two years until he successfully won admittance
• Made professional stage debut as part of the Young Vic company, where he met his soon-to-be wife in a production of Romeo and Juliet
• Played Ross Tanner, a cop suffering from a virus that affects his vision, in the British series Second Sight
• Breakthrough movie role in 1998's Croupier was a flop in England but a sleeper art-house hit the following year in the U
• S
• Featured in a series of eight short films titled The Hire, produced by BMW and helmed by such international directors as Guy Ritchie, John Woo, Ang Lee and Wong Kar-wai
• Had an uncredited in-joke cameo as Secret Agent 006 in the Steve Martin remake of The Pink Panther; Owen was for a time rumored to be the next James Bond in Casino Royale (a part that went to Daniel Craig)
• Promoted Lancôme grooming products for men in spring 2007
• Re-created on-screen chemistry with Closer costar Julia Roberts five years later in the romantic spy thriller Duplicity