Dominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor.
He is best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The
Wire.
Early life West was born into an Irish Catholic family
in Sheffield, Yorkshire, the son of George West, who owned a plastics factory, and Moya,
a housewife.
West attended Eton College and Trinity College, Dublin.
He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, in 1995.
Career Film and TV
West made his debut in 1991 in a short called 3 Joes.
His other screen appearances include True Blue, Chicago, Richard III and Mona Lisa Smile.
His most notable television role has been Baltimore police detective Jimmy McNulty on
the HBO television police drama The Wire.
During his stint on The Wire, West directed the season 5 episode, "Took".
In film, he portrayed the heavy metal guitarist Kirk Cuddy in the 2001 film Rock Star.
In 2006 West made a guest appearance as an actor in a sketch in The Catherine Tate Show,
alongside "Frankie Howerd impressionist".
In 2007, he played the Spartan politician Theron in 300 and a detective in Hannibal
Rising and then in 2010 a Roman General in Centurion.
West also starred in the 1999 film version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's
Dream as Lysander.
West appeared in the role of Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 series The Devil's Whore.
West played the villain, Jigsaw, in the 2008 film Punisher: War Zone.
He also features in "Dr. West", the opening track on Eminem's 2009 album Relapse, as a
doctor discharging Eminem from a rehab facility.
West played the part over the phone in January 2009 while Eminem was recording it in a Miami
studio.
In December 2009, he starred as Hank in a radio adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's expressionist
play The Hairy Ape for BBC Radio 3, was a guest presenter on the BBC show Have I Got
News for You, and ended the year alongside Joan Rivers and Sarah Jessica Parker with
an appearance on Graham Norton's New Year's Eve Show.
West portrayed General Virilus in Neil Marshall's adventure thriller Centurion and stars in
the UK Ghost film The Awakening.
In 2011, West appeared as a news presenter on the BBC-TV period drama series The Hour.
He also played serial killer Fred West in the ITV series Appropriate Adult, giving a
performance that the serial killer's daughter described as capturing the "evil essence of
[Fred West] - his character, his mannerisms, even his gait."
In 2012, West was offered a role in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, but turned
it down due to the amount of time he would have to spend away from his family.
Theatre As a theatre actor, West has appeared as Konstantin
in the Peter Hall-directed The Seagull at the Old Vic.
In 2005, he returned to the stage to play Orlando in David Lan's As You Like It at the
Wyndham's Theatre in London.
He played Edward in Harley Granville Barker's The Voysey Inheritance directed by Peter Gill
at the Royal National Theatre in 2006.
In late 2006 and early 2007, he played the lead role of Jan in Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n'
Roll in London's West End.
Continuing his theatre work, he starred at London's Donmar Warehouse as the protagonist
in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s existential drama Life is a Dream, for which he received
glowing reviews.
In February 2011, it was announced that he would take on the title role in Simon Gray's
classic comedy, Butley, playing at the Duchess Theatre in London from 1 June 2011 and in
the September he returned to his native Sheffield to play Iago to his former Wire co-star Clarke
Peters's Othello at the Crucible Theatre.
From mid December 2012 to January 2013 West starred as Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair
Lady at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Advertising In 2009, West starred in a series of online
films known as "The Carte Noire Readers".
Made to promote French coffee brand Carte Noire, they consist of actors reading love
scenes from a selection of sources.
West reads extracts from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Lady Chatterley's Lover by
D.H. Lawrence; High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Life
Class by Pat Barker; The Moment You Were Gone by Nicci Gerrard; and Something Childish But
Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield.
Personal life In 1998, West and his then-girlfriend Polly
Astor had a daughter named Martha, who appeared in the 2009 film Creation.
The two broke up when Martha was three.
West then rekindled his romance with Catherine FitzGerald who he had dated during university.
West and FitzGerald married in Glin, County Limerick, Ireland, on 26 June 2010.
They have three children together: Dora, Senan, and Francis.
FitzGerald is an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, being the daughter of Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight
of Glin, and was formerly married to Edward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham.
In November 2010, West was awarded an honorary degree for services to the Arts by Sheffield
Hallam University, and in November 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the
Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated from with a degree
in English in previous years.
West has become a supporter of care charity Helen's Trust in response to their assistance
to his mother prior to her death.
West was the leader of Team Canada/Australia for Walking with the Wounded, a fundraising
event for wounded soldiers.
He trekked to the South Pole against Team UK and Team America.
A few days into the trek, it was decided that the competition part of the race would be
cancelled due to hazardous terrain and weather conditions, so the teams combined forces and
continued.
Alongside Harry, Skarsgård, and several wounded soldiers, West successfully made it to the
South Pole on 13 December 2013.
Filmography Film
Television References
External links Dominic West at the Internet Movie Database
Dominic West talks about his work with Eminem on Relapse