The role of Percy Fossett in the film "The Lost City of Z", which is currently in theaters, Charlie Hunnam considers it the best in his career. For her sake, he lost weight, refused personal life and became a lone wolf. What else can the 37-year-old British actor surprise?
From raspberries to fashion models
Charlie grew up in poor family and was the eldest of four boys. So before I started getting paid to impersonate someone in front of a camera, I tried a lot of less glamorous professions. For example, I was picking raspberries. Or he picked up sheep's wool from the ground after those who sheared it.
“Then it seemed to me that there was no worse job in life,” the actor recalls. “It seems like you’re just picking raspberries... But they choke in your hands, wasps flock to the sweet smell and sting you as hard as they can.” And collecting shorn sheep’s wool from the ground—sticky with fat or blood, if the animal has been slightly injured—is also not much fun.”
This nightmare ended when walking along shoe store Hannam noticed by the acting agent. The guy was offered to star in a small role as a fashion model in the TV series “Biker Grove”, then in another one. He really showed himself in the mini-series “Close Friends,” where he portrayed a teenager with a non-traditional sexual orientation.
Head over heels in sneakers
As a reminder of the difficult period of his life, he still has... 85 pairs of different models of Nike sneakers released in the 90s.
“It’s the poor boy syndrome of not being able to buy the shoes that all the kids wore at school,” he explains. “Sneakers cost £100 back then, and my family couldn’t afford that luxury.” When I turned 25, I said to myself: “I can buy the sneakers I want!” - and did it. Naturally, I never put on the larger half. At some point I realized that you have to be a complete idiot to keep such a collection, and gave part of it to a charity auction.”
I will love you forever
In personal life Charlie pretty constant. With his wife, actress Catherine Town, met at the casting of “Dawson’s Creek.” They never made it into the series, but, as it seemed to them, they found each other and three weeks later they got married in Las Vegas.
“We would not have been in such a hurry if not for one circumstance,” he later recalled Hunnam. “I had just arrived in America, and it was completely unclear whether my career would work out there. What if nothing works out and you have to return home? So Katherine and I came up with an idea: if we get married, nothing will separate us. I was 19 years old then, I fell in love for the first time - what should I take from me?
He did not have to return to England, but this did not save the marriage - three years later the couple separated. After this, there were rumors about his affairs with actresses Liv Tyler And Rashida Jones. Last 10 years Hunnam lives in a civil marriage with a jewelry designer Morgana McNelis and wears a ring she gave her, engraved with the words “I will love you forever.”
The kindest and most beautiful
Fans are jealous of the actor for his chosen one and constantly criticize her appearance on the Internet. Charlie I found out about this by accident (he is not a supporter of communication on social networks) and immediately spoke out in defense Morgans, recording a video message to fans:
“It seemed to me that social media was created for people to make new friends and share ideas, not to mock others. If you knew Morgana, your comments would make you feel terribly stupid. My friend is one of the kindest and beautiful girls that I've ever met. She was very patient and supported me long before I became successful and started making money. So stop attacking her and throwing mud at her! If you have something to say, say it to me."
McNalis responded to the statement Charlie on Instagram and Facebook:
“I appreciate everything you said in my defense and am eternally grateful for your support in both relationships and business. I was deeply touched by what you put into every word. It helps you stay strong and invulnerable.”
Friendship with chickens
Many years Charlie cherished the dream of settling on a farm. Four years ago it was realized. They With Morgana They bought a ranch in a secluded place near Los Angeles and lead an absolutely non-Hollywood lifestyle there: they garden, keep ducks, chickens and a couple of donkeys.
“Imagine, I learned to be friends with chickens! - laughs Charlie. “But I’m not going to eat them.”
Last year, the couple decided to buy another property for a change, which corresponds to star status Hannam, is a Renaissance-style mansion located in Hollywood. The two-story building with 4 bedrooms and the same number of bathrooms, a swimming pool and a fountain in the yard cost $2.8 million.
King of the roads
Since childhood, he loved to ride a bicycle. But after seven years of filming in “Sons of Anarchy,” where he played a biker, he got so used to a motorcycle that now he can’t live without it:
“All this time I didn’t take off my plaid shirts, didn’t get off my motorcycle and constantly hung out with real bikers. When the project was closed, I got rid of everything that reminded me of it, and first of all, I changed my entire wardrobe. But I couldn’t give up motorcycles. So I ride around the city on a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide, feeling like the king of the roads.”
Wrong piece of the pie
A little over a month Hunnam was listed as the executor leading role in one of the most resonant projects of the third millennium - “50 Shades of Gray”. He talked about how excited he was that it was his candidacy that was approved by the producers and the author of the novel E.L. James. And suddenly he refused to act... The film bosses were shocked: between Charlie and his partner Dakota Johnson Already during the tests, such chemistry arose that it was impossible to take your eyes off them.
However, they failed to persuade the actor to play Christian Gray. When asked what made him break the contract, Hunnam each time he answered differently. He said that he is afraid of germs, so he avoids kissing his film partners so as not to infect them with something. Then he once mentioned that the woman he loved would not be delighted with such a quantity sex scenes with his participation. Fans of the actor like this version better:
“At some point I realized that I had bitten off a piece of the pie that I couldn’t chew. It's incredibly difficult to switch from Jackson Teller in Sons of Anarchy to Christian Gray in the space of 48 hours. I would either fail at such a large project or go crazy.”
Emeralds of Reconciliation
<Съемки «Затерянного города Z» стали для Charlie a serious test. Firstly, the climate of the Colombian jungle was very exhausting. Secondly, in order to get into the character of a British explorer traveling through the Amazon in terrible conditions, he deliberately avoided people. I didn’t even communicate with my common-law wife for four months. To make amends, he brought her emeralds as a gift from Colombia. She appreciated the present. Serious conversation though Hunnam could not be avoided.
Do not offer Green Arrow!
He says that he hardly turns on the TV at home and watches movies on the computer. In general, this is what most actors do. What's really strange is his preferences. Favorite series Charlie— “Deadwood” is an adventure series with western elements. He also likes... Downton Abbey. But this muscular handsome man can’t stand heroic pictures based on comic books.
“Even as a kid, I wasn’t a comic book fan and I hadn’t seen any of the Marvel movies. They're not my type."
That is why Charlie refused the role of Green Arrow, for which producers had been wooing him for years.
I only dream about Shaolin
“Directors and photographers like to shoot me in unbuttoned shirts and leave me no choice - I have to look good,” says the actor. — I have to do fitness, running, swimming, jiu-jitsu, and walk a lot. Of course, I would like to be in such physical shape that even at 70 years old I could run in the mountains. I’ll say more: when I lead an active lifestyle, my mood even improves. However, spending all my free time in the gym was not at all what I wanted. I'm terribly tired. Sometimes I dream of just relaxing and eating hamburgers.”
Whether you want to or not, you have to train... Before filming Sons of Anarchy, the producers set him a condition: to gain muscle mass. AND Charlie I carried pieces of iron four days a week. This continued the entire time I was working on the series. When he signed a contract for a role in the film The Legend of King Arthur, he was required to become more impressive, and he gained 10 kg. And then I immediately lost 20 kg for the sake of “The Lost City of Z.” With a height of 185 cm, he began to weigh... 65 kg! But what won’t you do for the sake of art!
By the way, recently Charlie He mentioned that he would like to learn kung fu. And I’m ready to take lessons from not just anyone, but from the best masters. To do this, I even agree to live in the Shaolin Monastery for some time. Well, when he has that time...
Dracula for Brad Pitt
Besides that Charlie is being filmed, it turns out he also writes film scripts. One of them is the story of Count Dracula, the second is about the American drug lord Edgar Valdez. By the way, the first one is rumored to be of interest Brad Pitta: His production company Plan B Entertainment is ready to finance the project.
Charles Matthew Hunnam is a British actor who became famous for his roles in the series “Sons of Anarchy”, the feature films “Pacific Rim”, “Hooligans”, “The Lost City of Z”, “The Sword of King Arthur”.Charlie Hunnam's childhood and family
Charlie Hunnam was born on April 10, 1980 in the English city of Newcastle, in the family of entrepreneurs William "Billy" Hunnam (1952-2013) and Jane (Bell) Hunnam. His maternal grandmother was a famous portrait artist, his mother was also interested in painting, but his father was far from creativity in the usual sense - he collected metal from landfills and handed it over. Charlie's parents, natures too different for a happy family life, separated when he was very young. 
The actor grew up in a neighborhood where all issues were resolved with fists. The constant threat of danger strengthened the future actor, and in his adult life, Charlie always used the experience acquired in his youth for the roles of “tough guys.” The actor still remembers his time at school as lessons in survival.
Charlie is the second child in the family; the actor has an older brother, William "Billy". When Hannam was 12 years old, his mother remarried and the family moved to the village of Melmerby in Cumbria, England. In her second marriage, Jane gave birth to two more brothers, Oliver and Christian.
During his school years, the future actor was fond of playing rugby. He was expelled from high school due to dyslexia, so he was forced to graduate as an external student, after which he entered the Cumbria College of Art and Design, where he graduated in theory and film history.
Charlie Hunnam's career
Hunnam's acting career began in an unusual way: film studio agents noticed a 17-year-old boy in a shoe store in Newcastle. The young man was invited to play the role of model Jason in the BBC series Byker's Grove. His character appeared in three episodes.In 1999, two episodic serial roles later, Hunnam was cast in the lead role in the TV series Queer as Folk about the lives of gay men. The series became so popular that Charlie, who brilliantly played 15-year-old gay Nathan Maloney, was considered knowledgeable enough to take part in a parliamentary debate on the discriminatory law that set the age of sexual consent in the UK at 16.
After success at home, the young man tried his hand at Hollywood. But at first, no one wanted to invite the actor, who moved to Los Angeles, to play the role of “cool heroes,” justifying the refusals by saying that Charlie was “too nice and polite.” Hunnam began to work out intensely and began the habit of showing up to auditions unshaven.
At the beginning of his career, the desperate actor even wrote a script for a film about Vlad III the Impaler, known as Vlad Dracula. In 2002, while filming the war drama Cold Mountain in Romania, in which Charlie played a small role, he collected stories about the bloody prince from local residents. Hunnam said that after that he had no work for almost a year and a half, and if he had not sold the script to the film studio Summit Entertainment, he would have had to return to his mother in England. Hunnam's script was bought by Brad Pitt's studio.
Charlie Hunnam in the movie "Hooligans"
But in 2004, he was approved for a role in the film “Hooligans”: Charlie played the tough leader of a group of fans of the London club West Ham United. The film with the participation of Elijah Wood and Hunnam received high marks from critics and viewers, and Charlie began to be inundated with interesting job offers. This was the young actor's first breakthrough in big cinema.
Now in Charlie Hunnam's filmography there is a variety of genres - from cute comedies (Undecided, 2001-2003; Frankie Makes a Rustling, 2011) and stories about incredible love (The Price of Passion, 2011; Nicholas Nickleby, 2002) to films in the genre of adventure and fantasy (Crimson Peak, 2015; The Lost City of Z, 2016) and crime stories (Sons of Anarchy, 2008-2014; Blackbird, 2011).
Here's Why Charlie Hunnam Wasn't At Comic Con
In 2013, Universal Pictures studio announced Hunnam for the lead role in the film adaptation of the scandalous novel “Fifty Shades of Grey,” but some time later Charlie refused to participate in the project, citing being busy with other projects. Hunnam became the third actor to turn down the role of handsome billionaire Christian Grey, who was eventually played by model Jamie Dornan.
In September 2016, filming began on a remake of The Moth, starring Hunnam and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek. The director's chair was taken by Danish director Michael Noer.
Charlie Hunnam in The Legend of King Arthur
In May 2017, Guy Ritchie's new film The Sword of King Arthur was released in Russia, in which Hunnam played the main role of Arthur. Interpretation from the scandalous director of “Snatch” and the film “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” One should not expect a classic interpretation of the legend. And so it happened - in the film, Arthur appeared as the leader of a youth gang fighting for power.
Personal life of Charlie Hunnam
In 1999, while casting for the TV series Dawson's Creek, Charlie met actress Catherine Towne. Neither she nor he were approved for the role, but a spark broke out between the young people, and a month after they met, the actors got married in Las Vegas. In 2002, the family broke up.In 2005, Hunnam began dating artist and jewelry designer Morgana McNelis. The couple settled in the suburbs of Los Angeles and started a small farm with chickens and ducks. The actor has admitted more than once that he does not like clubs and the glamorous Hollywood party, and his girlfriend fully supports him in this. 
Hunnam has two cats - George and Mavis. In one of his interviews, Charlie admitted that of all the scents in the world, he likes the smell of his cats' fur the most.
The actor collects Nike sneakers. His collection includes more than 85 pairs of models from the 90s. “You know, as a child I couldn’t afford such shoes and was envious of my peers who sported Nikes. And guess what now? Yes, I can buy every pair in this world!” Charlie once opened up.
Charlie Hunnam now
The film “The Moth,” directed by Michael Noer, a film adaptation of the autobiographical novel of the same name by former prisoner Henri Charrière, was shown in Russia only a year after the world premiere in 2017; due to the lack of an advertising campaign, the box office was significantly lower than expected. However, critics appreciated the performance of Charlie, who received the main role, noting that the film can be compared with the greatest film, “The Shawshank Redemption.”brief information
Date of Birth : 10.04.1980
Place of Birth: Newcastle, England, UK
His career began when he was simply walking through a shoe store in his hometown of Newcastle and met agents. He was invited to star in the BBC series Byker Grove as a recurring long-haired model. After this series, Charlie played in the same BBC teen series Microsoap, followed by his starring role in the Channel 4 television series Queer As Folk in 1999.
Over the course of the eight-part film about the life of a gay man, Hunnam portrayed how Nathan (the main character) grows from a modest, inquisitive and innocent guy into a determined and self-confident playmaker. In 2000, Charlie reprized this role in the two-hour sequel Queer as Folk 2. The role of Nathan has become a kind of model for young homosexuals. And the influence of this series spread so widely that the young actor was invited to take part in a parliamentary debate to discuss Britain's discriminatory coming of age law.
In 2000, Hunnam made his debut in the American teen drama series Young Americans on The WB, where he played a recurring character. He then landed a recurring role on the Fox sitcom Undeclared, a college-life series based on an earlier short-lived series, Freaks and Geeks.
The key to the success of The Unacknowledged, like its predecessor, was in thoughtful details and clearly formed characters. For example, Hunnam's character, Lloyd, the main actor of the college theater studio, turned out to be a completely atypical character. Charlie's charm and swaggering manner allowed his character Lloyd to reach the limits of the possible, and the series itself went far beyond the typical teen stereotypes.
The first film in which Hunnam starred was released in 1999 in the actor’s homeland, and in 2001 it was released in American cinemas. It was the British comedy What Happened to Harold Smith? (Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?), in which Charlie played the role of a rock singer. In American cinema, Hunnam made his debut opposite Katie Holmes in the 2002 thriller Abandon, and at the end of the same year he starred in the feature drama based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby.
In 2003, Charlie appeared in Anthony Minghella's next drama, Cold Mountain, in which his colleagues included such famous Hollywood stars as Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger. The film Cold Mountain, based on the novel by Charles Frazier, covers the events of the American Civil War.
As for the actor’s personal life, Charlie already had experience in family life: from 1999 to 2002, he was married to Katarina Towne, whom they met during the filming of the film “Unacknowledged.”
Filmography
1999 f What happened to Harold Smith? (film) Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? Daz
1999 with Close Friends (TV series) Queer as Folk Nathan Maloney
2000 with Close Friends - 2 (TV) Queer as Folk Nathan Maloney
2000 with Young Americans (TV series) Young Americans Gregor Ryder
2001 with Undeclared Lloyd Haythe
2002 f Abandoned (film) Abandon Embry Larkin
2002 f Nicholas Nickleby (film) Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby
2003 f Cold Mountain (film) Cold Mountain Bosie
2005 f Green Street Hooligans (film) Green Street Hooligans Pete Dunham
2006 f Children of Men (film) Children of Men Patric
2011 f Stanford Prison Experiment William H. Pitsenbarger
2010 f The Last Frontier (film) Last Full Measure
2008-2011 with Children of Anarchy Sons of Anarch Jackson "Jax" Teller
2012 f Blackbird Blackbird Jay
2013 f Pacific Ocean Pacific Rim
The actor starred for the April Men's Health and in his interview spoke about numerous body transformations for the sake of roles, as well as about life before Hollywood and hobbies
Photo: DR
Charlie played the biker from the Sons of Anarchy project for seven years. To play his character, he studied Brazilian jiu-jitsu for about a year, watched all the matches and practiced wrestling in his backyard. This spring, two large-scale projects with his participation will be released at once - “The Sword of King Arthur” (premiere in May) and “The Lost City of Z” (in April), in which he needed to be in excellent physical shape. In addition, he recently completed filming in the drama “The Moth” (the plot of this film, as well as its release date, are still unknown).
However, it’s not just filming that motivates him to keep himself in good shape.
“I'm interested in being at a high level in all forms of fitness,” he says. “Running, swimming, jumping, lasso, hiking, jiu-jutsu - I do it all. I also try to have sex as often as possible. This is an important part of a fitness program. I want to be active at seventy. I want to run in the mountains at this age.”
For his role in the film "The Sword of King Arthur" he gained about 10 kilograms. Then he dropped 20 for the role of British Colonel Percival Fossett in The Lost City of Z. He ate practically nothing. Filming took place in the deadly heat of the Colombian jungle. But the hardest thing, according to Hunnam, was being isolated - he deliberately did not talk to anyone on set and did not even call his girlfriend for four months.
“I had to play this man [hungry, suffering] every day, so I just decided to live in it. I felt fear and loneliness." He says the scenes were shot in sequence, so that by the end of the period everyone on the crew went a little crazy, even director James Gray.
To film The Moth, he again had to transform his body. First, he gained weight (after working in The Lost City of Z), and then lost it again - already about 25 kilograms. “The second time my body was reluctant to do it,” says the actor. He went on a vegan diet again, and also... started smoking. And he smoked like crazy, diluting it with liters of coffee for three months. “My body became a dump,” says Charlie. “And then it was hard to quit smoking.”
Charlie Hunnam, now 36 years old, was born in Newcastle, England. He says it was a violent place where children were constantly picking on each other, and he was often the target of bullies - he had to fight. But he had many friends and interesting hobbies: drawing, photography, rugby.
When he was 12, his mother moved him and his brother to a small town in Wales, and everything changed: he became an outsider. He spent all his free time alone and watched movies. Although the boys' parents divorced when Charlie was 2, he remained close to his father, a metal trader who died four years ago. But Charlie says that he feels him nearby:
“My father was one of the most difficult rebels I have ever met. It seems to me that in my work I often embody his image.”
Charlie arrived in Los Angeles when he was 18. He had no education, but only an abstract dream of becoming an actor. He began a career in modeling and television, which eventually led to Sons of Anarchy. He is always passionate about something: he wants to speak Spanish fluently - he takes lessons; loves to cook - learns from tutorials. And Hunnam wants to get a black belt in jiu-jitsu by age 45.
He says that he is not close to a luxurious lifestyle. He drives a beat-up Cadillac that is already 14 years old, he doesn’t care much about fame, and he doesn’t like social networks - it seems to him that they divide people. He has been living with his girlfriend Morgana McNeils for 11 years, and his dream is to roam the world with her.
Celebrity biographies
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10.04.15 10:06
The fact that he did not play Gray in the film “Fifty Shades of Gray” is probably for the best: Jamie Dornan, who received this role, is not delighted with the film. Although, perhaps, a new stage would begin in Charlie Hunnam’s biography along with this image, he is still a good actor, and the movie collected an impressive box office.
Biography of Charlie Hunnam
"Gay Icon"
A native of Newcastle, Charles Matthew Hunnam comes from a large family. His parents raised four children, and Charlie turned out to be the second child of the Hunnams. He was born on April 10, 1980, and grew up as an active and athletic boy. And Charlie’s hopes for a great acting future were born with his participation in the show “Biker Grove”. He got the role of Jason by chance: casting assistants met a handsome blond guy in a Newcastle store - Hunnam was choosing his shoes and ended up on the set.
But Charlie Hunnam’s truly creative biography began with the mini-series “Close Friends.” The nineteen-year-old Briton became the star of the project, playing one of the central roles in it. His hero, the young modest Nathan, is seduced by the handsome Stuart (Aidan Gillen, who created the image of Petyr Baelish in “Game of Thrones”). Gradually the guy falls in love with his older friend and becomes, like him, a playmaker. Nathan became a real “gay icon”, because Charlie played him very convincingly, without being embarrassed by explicit scenes.
In America!
Having starred in his homeland in the low-budget comedy “Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?”, the Englishman moved to the States. There he made his debut with a role in the show “Young Americans”, and then joined the large cast of the sitcom “Undecided”. The script for the show was written by Jude Apatow, so it was full of quite bold jokes and unusual situations, and along with Charlie in the series (which was a kind of continuation of “Hooligans and Geeks”), Apatow’s favorite Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel played.
In between filming the sitcom, Charlie Hunnam's biography was supplemented with several films. Among them was the English classic, Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby. Despite the excellent casting (in addition to Hunnam and the young Jamie Bell, the film featured the experienced Jim Broadbent, the beautiful Anne Hathaway and the funny Alan Cummings), the drama failed at the box office. Apparently Dickens is not to everyone's taste. And the film was not bad: it even competed for the Golden Globe.
Fan and biker
Hunnam's cameo in Minghella's Cold Mountain and his role in Cuarón's post-apocalyptic film Children of Men were not very well received by the public and critics. But the low-budget American-British sports drama “Hooligans” unexpectedly exceeded the costs of the film by almost 10 times, and the film’s ratings were unrealistically high. The main roles in the film were played by American Elijah Wood and Briton Charlie Hunnam. Interestingly, the film about London football fans was directed by a female director, Lexi Alexander.
Charlie always said that he approaches the choice of a role very carefully, because it determines the course of the artist’s future career. So he happily plunged into the biker-criminal world of the Sons of Anarchy series, sensing that this was a story that could hook viewers. The show was launched in 2008, and in December 2014, Americans saw the last, seventh season. Hunnam gives a brilliant performance as Jax Tayler, the leader of a motorcycle gang trying to bring order to his town.
Commercial success
Charlie's participation in the blockbuster "Pacific Rim" also did not go unnoticed.
Guillermo del Toro's epic high-tech fantasy film earned more than $411 million - it was the first commercially very successful film in which a Briton had a leading role.
You won't be nice by force
When Robert Pattinson refused James's offer to play in the film adaptation of her book Fifty Shades of Gray, Ryan Gosling could have applied for the leading male role, but the project seemed uninteresting to him. Then the role of Gray was offered to Hunnam. After much hesitation, Charlie agreed, but unexpectedly met with a whole stream of negativity from fans of the novel. He decided that “you can’t be nice by force” and left the project.
Victorian thriller and Arthurian legend
Film fans were eagerly awaiting del Toro's next film with Hunnam in the title role - the Victorian mystical thriller Crimson Peak was released in October 2015. Along with Charlie, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska and Tom Hiddleston are starring in the film. The horror (or rather, gothic drama) turned out to be: atmospheric, rich in bright colors, intense.
And in the spring of 2017, Hunnam appeared in the image of the legendary King Arthur (who has not yet sat on the throne) in the new film by Guy Ritchie. The antagonist of the future monarch was played by Jude Law.
Personal life of Charlie Hunnam
Early marriage
As soon as Charlie moved to the USA, he almost immediately met Catherine Towne - this happened at one of the castings. Both auditions for Dawson's Creek didn't work out, but Catherine and Charlie's wedding followed. The marriage turned out to be short - already in 2002, the young people divorced it.
Many years together
Charlie Hunnam has never made a big secret of his personal life; for almost ten years now he has been dating the same girl. His lover is Morgana McNelis, she designs jewelry. The star is in no hurry to formalize her relationship - apparently, the mistake of youth reminds of itself, well, these two are fine without any formalities.
