Biography
James Edward Carter (born 19 August 1948) is an English actor. He is best known for his role in Downton Abbey (2010–2015) playing Mr Carson, a role that has earned him four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2012–2015). He reprised his role in the feature film Downton Abbey (2019).
Known For
Complete Filmography

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
2025
as Charles Carson
When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of soc...

Wonka
2023
as Abacus Crunch
Willy Wonka – chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time – is proof that the best things in life begin with ...

The Sea Beast
2022
as King (voice)
When a young girl stows away on the ship of a legendary sea monster hunter, they launch an epic journey into uncharted waters — and make history to bo...

Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
as Charles Carson
The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa. Meanwhile, a...

Turtle Journey: The Crisis in Our Oceans
2020
as Dad Turtle
The story of a turtle family making their way home through a damaged and changing ocean. A powerful message about the threats the oceans are facing, a...

The Good Liar
2019
as Vincent
Career con man Roy sets his sights on his latest mark: recently widowed Betty, worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two draw closer...

Downton Abbey
2019
as Charles Carson
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England w...

Swimming with Men
2018
as Ted
A man who is suffering a mid-life crisis finds new meaning in his life as part of an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team.

King Lear
2018
as Earl of Kent
An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

The Little Vampire 3D
2017
as Rookery (voice)
Tony, a thirteen-year-old boy on vacation in rural Germany, is fascinated by the idea of vampires. Meanwhile Rudolph, a vampire of "similar" age (313!...

Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
as Cogman (voice)
Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history ...

Jim Carter: Lonnie Donegan and Me
2016
as Self
Jim Carter tells the story of Lonnie Donegan - a crucial trailblazer in the birth of pop music and modern culture who inspired Lennon and McCartney.

Punk Strut: The Movie
2016
as Skippy
A feature-length tribute to the age and spirit of Punk, which begins as a gentle ramble through the pasture of popular culture and spirals into a stor...

Hitler's Supergun
2015
as Narrator (voice)
Historians and engineers investigate how Allied forces conspired to destroy Hitler's "supergun".

Nordic Noir - The Rise of Scandi Drama
2014
as Self
A documentary that investigates the phenomenon of Scandinavian crime drama and its worldwide success.
One of a Kind
2014
as Narrator (voice)
Exploring various aspects of history and the human species including war, love & sex, all with a playful, tongue-in-cheek humour.
Rock 'n' Roll Britannia
2013
as Self
Documentary about the pre-Beatles rock era, when a series of British acts created a unique copy of American rock 'n' roll
Secrets of the Stonehenge Skeletons
2013
as Narrator (Voice)
It's Britains greatest prehistoric monument but for millennia the origins of Stonehenge have remained a mystery. Now, archaeologist Mike Parker Pears...

My Week with Marilyn
2011
as Barry
London, 1956. Genius actor and film director Laurence Olivier is about to begin the shooting of his upcoming movie, premiered in 1957 as The Prince an...

Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb
2011
as Narrator (Voice)
In 1939, visionary aircraft designer Barnes Wallis designed a very special bomb that would bounce across water and destroy German dams. The raid in 19...

Alice in Wonderland
2010
as The Executioner
Alice, now 19 years old, returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny.
Burlesque Fairytales
2010
as The Compere
A fairytale thriller film set one night in a 1930's London theatre where all is not what it seems.

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
2009
as Harold Angus
After 6 years of brutal murders, the West Yorkshire Police fear that they may have already interviewed The Ripper and let him back into the world to c...

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983
2009
as Harold Angus
Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson is forced to remember the very similar disappearance of Clare Kemplay, who was found dead in 1974, and t...

Creation
2009
as Parslow
A psychological, heart-wrenching love story that provides a unique and inside look at Charles Darwin. Torn between faith and science, he struggles to ...

The Oxford Murders
2008
as Inspector Petersen
At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try and stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symb...

The Golden Compass
2007
as John Faa
After overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherwor...

Cassandra's Dream
2007
as Garage Boss
The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

Recovery
2007
as Mr. Lockwood
Alan and Tricia Hamilton are blissfully happy. Until one day their perfect life is torn apart when Alan steps in front of a passing car, and he is lef...

The Wind in the Willows
2006
as Engine Driver
Jailed for his reckless driving, rambunctious Mr. Toad has to escape from prison when his beloved Toad Hall comes under threat from the wily weasels, ...

The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton
2006
as Henry Dorling
In 19th century Victorian England, Mrs. Isabella Beeton produced what became an essential book for housewives of the day. She was married at a relativ...

Aberfan: The Untold Story
2006
as Lord Robens
Documentary about the tragedy which struck the Welsh mining village of Aberfan in 1966, when a mountain of coal slurry engulfed a school, claiming 144...

The Thief Lord
2006
as Victor
A tale about two young boys, Prosper and Bo, who flee to Venice after being orphaned and dumped in the care of a cruel auntie. Hiding in the canals an...

The Man Who Is Obsessed With The Number 12
2005
as Narrator
Hugh Williams is a father trapped in an endless nightmare of repetition and ritual as family life continues around him. This observational documentary...

House of 9
2005
as The Watcher
Nine strangers wake up in a house with no recollection how they got there and no way out. The voice on the PA introduces them to a grisly game they mu...

The Story of Alton Towers
2005
as Narrator/The Earl
This is the story of Alton Towers today and yesterday. We take a privileged journey through images dating back to the 1870s - through film dating back...

Out of Season
2004
as Michael Philipps
When a young drifter is forced to stay the winter in a small seaside town, he inadvertently becomes the catalyst for deceit, double crossings and murd...
Von Trapped
2004
as Larry Lavelle
Hairdresser Maria is fixated by The Sound of Music - it was the film she saw the night she was jilted 18 years ago. In a bid to confront her demons, M...

Casablanca Driver
2004
as Joe Mateo, l'agent
This mockumentary follows the world's worst boxer and the events that led to his meteoric rise in the year 1969.

Modigliani
2004
as Achilles Hebuterne
Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo...

Ella Enchanted
2004
as Nish
Ella lives in a magical world in which each child, at the moment of their birth, is given a virtuous "gift" from a fairy godmother. Ella's so-called g...

Wilde Stories: The Nightingale and the Rose
2003
as Red Rose (voice)
A nightingale sings for a lovesick student. The student is pining for a girl who will only dance with him if he presents her with a red rose. The nigh...

Cromwell: Warts and All
2003
as Oliver Cromwell
Using drama and documentary this film tells the remarkable story of Cromwell, one of the most important characters of British history, yet revered and...

Pompeii: The Last Day
2003
as Polybius
In 79 AD, one of the infamous natural disasters in human history occurred when Mount Vesuvius erupted. With speculative dramatizations of various inha...

Bright Young Things
2003
as Chief Customs Officer
During the 1930s in England, a group of young socialites dominate the national gossip with extravagant and outlandish antics. Among the group is the a...

16 Years of Alcohol
2003
as Director
16 Years of Alcohol is a 2003 drama film written and directed by Richard Jobson, based on his 1987 novel. The film is Jobson's first directorial effor...

Heartlands
2003
as Geoff
Gentle Colin 'Col' Lawes happily lead a quiet life, running a news agency with his soiled-rotten wife Sandra and playing competition darts in the Atle...

Hornblower: Duty
2003
as Etheridge
Admiral Pellew interrupts Hornblower's wedding reception and tasks him to locate a British ship which has disappeared off the French coast, where Napo...

Discovering Dinotopia
2002
as Mayor Waldo
The citizens of Waterfall City flee for the tenuous safety of Earthfarm, abandoning their city to the dangerous Outsiders - who discover the key to Di...

Dinotopia
2002
as Mayor Waldo
After a plane crash strands two brothers on a lost continent where dinosaurs and humans live together in harmony, they disagree over escape plans. (C...

According to Beryl
2001
as Samuel Johnson
Beryl Bainbridge on Samuel Johnson and her novel According To Queenie - Johnson through the eyes of Queenie Thrale, the eldest daughter of Henry and H...

The Little Vampire
2000
as Rookery
Based on the popular books, the story tells of Tony who wants a friend to add some adventure to his life. What he gets is Rudolph, a vampire kid with ...

102 Dalmatians
2000
as Detective Armstrong
Get ready for a howling good time as an all new assortment of irresistible animal heroes are unleashed in this great family tail! In an unlikely allia...

Tube Tales
1999
as Ticket Inspector (segment "Steal Away")
Nine short stories based on the true experiences of London Underground passengers: "Mr. Cool" (Amy Jenkins, dir.); "Horny" (Stephen Hopkins); "Grassho...

Tube Tales
1999
as Ticket Inspector (Steal Away)
Nine short stories based on the true experiences of London Underground passengers: "Mr. Cool" (Amy Jenkins, dir.); "Horny" (Stephen Hopkins); "Grassho...
The Bass Player
1999
In the 1800s, a bass player's attempts to woo a young woman lead to both parties being trapped in an awkward situation.
Trial by Fire
1999
as Geoffrey Bailey
Juliet Stevenson stars as prosecutor Helen West from the popular crime novels by Frances Fyfield. Helen and her significant other, Chief Superintenden...

Shakespeare in Love
1998
as Ralph Bashford
Young Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," before it's even written. When a lovely noblewoman a...

Legionnaire
1998
as Lucien Galgani
Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attempts to flee to America with the mobster's girlfrie...

Vigo
1998
as Bonaventure (uncredited)
Based on the life of a classic french cineast Jean Vigo, the story follows his daily struggle with sanity, normal life and uncompromising filmmaking. ...

Bill's New Frock
1998
as Mr. Platworthy
Bill wakes up one morning to discover - he's a girl!

Keep the Aspidistra Flying
1997
as Erskine
Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius, a marvelous poet and quits...

The Chest
1997
as Roland Blood
Comedy drama about John Croft (Neil Morrissey), a failed businessman who is heavily in debt when he finds a wallet which contains a map which he late...

The Missing Postman
1997
as DS Lawrence Pitman
When Dorset postman Clive Peacock is forced into early retirement, the years ahead look bleak. But on his last day in the job, in a moment of unexpect...

Bright Hair
1997
as Norman Devenish
A solitary schoolgirl, prone to sudden blackouts after she's stumbled into a murder scene, gets involved with her English teacher. Then, when his wife...

Harpur and Iles: Protection
1997
as Tenderness Mellick
Underworld boss Bernie 'Tenderness' Mellick is certainly paying a heavy price for maiming Ivor Wright in a firebombing. For Wright's men have now kidn...

Brassed Off
1996
as Harry
A Yorkshire coal mine is threatened with closure and the only hope is for the men to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competiti...

Richard III
1995
as Lord Hastings
A murderous lust for the British throne sees Richard III descend into madness. Though the setting is transposed to the 1930s, England is torn by civil...

The Grotesque
1995
as George Lecky
Sir Hugo is more interested in reconstructing dinosaur bones than in paying attention to his wife, Lady Harriet. He's not thrilled when daughter Cleo ...

Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre
1995
as Inspector
When a shy young man arrives on her doorstep, Alice Hartley grabs the chance to escape from her loveless marriage. She and Michael open a Growth Centr...

The Madness of King George
1994
as Fox
Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confu...
Midnight Movie
1994
as Henry Harris
American producer James Boyce and his airhead wife Amber rent an English country mansion where the British horror flick "Smoke Rings" was filmed twent...

Julius Caesar
1994
as Mark Antony
A compelling study of personal ambition versus the good of the state.

Open Fire
1994
as DCS Young
Based on real events from 1983; DC Peter Finch is awarded a medal for the courage he showed in arresting a dangerous criminal. Meanwhile transvestite...

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994
as Executioner (uncredited)
Victor Frankenstein is a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead ...

Black Beauty
1994
as John Manly
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.

In The Cold Light Of Day
1994
as Father
It is the late 1930s and some British households still eagerly await the arrival of electricity. When a pylon is erected in the garden, Morris's mothe...

The Hour of the Pig
1993
as Mathieu
In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and politic...
Resnick: Rough Treatment
1993
as Grabianski
A kilo of cocaine. Hardly what two small-time crooks were expecting to find when they broke into TV director Harold Roy's shabby mansion. But nor was ...

Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
1993
as Commander
When the lead star of 'The Gourmet Detective' mystery show is mysteriously bumped off. A bunch of various detectives from television shows from the se...

Stalin
1992
as Sergo
The life and career of the brutal Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin. Through the eyes and memories of Anna Aliluyeva, Stalin’s granddaughter, the film tra...

A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia
1992
as Meinertzhagen
In 1919, the great English military man T. E. Lawrence tries to help Emir Feisal, ruler of Arabia, retain his political power during the Conference of...

Blame It on the Bellboy
1992
as Rossi
Mike Lawton, Maurice Horton, and Melvin Orton are three men who come to Venice. One of them is a hit man sent to take out a mobster. Another is a lech...

Hancock
1991
as Ray Galton
Screen One biopic detailing the final eight years in the life of comedian Tony Hancock, from the peak of his powers as Britain's number one comedian t...
The Fool
1990
as Mr. Blackthorn
A costume drama / satire about financial skull-duggery, and confidence tricksters in both the upper and lower classes in Victorian London. A working c...
Crimestrike
1990
as The Detective
What would happen if the nation’s criminals decided to go on strike? A comedy drama based on an idea by Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek.

The Witches
1990
as Head Chef
A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand H...

Erik the Viking
1989
as Jennifer the Viking (Another Rapist)
Erik the Viking gathers warriors from his village and sets out on a dangerous journey to Valhalla, to ask the gods to end the Age of Ragnorok and allo...

The Rainbow
1989
as Mr. Harby
Born to a rich landowner in the waning days of the Victorian era, Ursula Brangwen grows into a beautiful young woman full of imagination and ambition....

Here Is the News
1989
as News Editor
Freelance journalist David Dunhill stumbles onto the biggest story of his career - but his personal eccentricities seem likely to thwart him.

Precious Bane
1989
as Sarn
In the early 19th century, a young woman with a harelip falls foul of her family's ambition and the superstitions of the local community, but meets a ...

The Tenth Man
1988
as Pierre
During World War 2 the Germans arrested people at random off the streets of Paris and in retaliation to sabotage by the resistance announced the execu...

The Raggedy Rawney
1988
as The Soldier
During WWII a youth deserts his country's army after a combat experience, but not before wounding his commanding officer with a knife in order to esca...

Soursweet
1988
as Mr. Constantinides
Just married Hong Kong couple Chen & Lily emigrate to England, soon to become parents to a little baby boy and generally struggle through life. Chen w...

The First Kangaroos
1988
as Arthur Hughes
The story of the Australian Rugby League's first visit to England.
Star Trap
1988
as Dr. Wax
Two rival detectives investigate a murder that involves black magic.
Duck
1988

The American Way
1987
as Castro
A group of Vietnam vets disturbs television programs from a B-29 airplane. They want to sabotage Mrs Westinghouse's political campaign who is running ...

A Month in the Country
1987
as Ellerbeck
A destitute WWI veteran is hired to help carry out restoration work on a medieval mural in a rural Yorkshire church. While living in the quiet village...

Haunted Honeymoon
1986
as Montego
Radio personalities Larry Abbot and Vickie Pearle are stars of a mystery show. Since they announced their engagement, Larry has been plagued by speech...

Rustlers' Rhapsody
1985
as Blackie
A singing cowboy roams the Wild West with his sidekick, dancing horse and fancy wardrobe.

Hiawatha
1984
as Nawadaha - The Story Teller
A Quintet Film in association with the National Theatre

A Private Function
1984
as Inspector Noble
In the summer of 1947, Britain prepares to commemorate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. To get around food-rationing laws, Dr. Ch...

The Company of Wolves
1984
as Second Husband (uncredited)
An adaptation of Angela Carter's fairy tales. Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which i...

Top Secret!
1984
as Déjà Vu
Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillar...

The Oresteia
1983
as Agamemnon
Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan war and is murdered by his wife, setting off a chain of revenge that stretches across this trilogy of play. Dir...
Fox
1980
as Cliff Ryan
The thirteen-part series recounted the lives of the titular Fox family, who lived in Clapham in South London and had gangland connections.