JJ Field was born in Boulder Colorado but moved to England
as a baby. He was brought up in and around London, but frequently
travelled back to the States to visit family and friends.
JJ has enjoyed the best of both worlds.He spent his entire
time at school performing in school plays and subsequently
chose schools with good theatre departments. During his A-levels,
much time was spent in the local pub. There he and his friends
put on plays to the confused audiences - confused to watch
a couple of teenagers trying to put on Shakespeare and Brecht
in the basement of the pub.After travelling across Tibet at
seventeen, JJ was lucky enough to gain a place on the three
year course at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Returning
with a shaven head, three days before the course started,
he found it hard to settle back into London life.
JJ was fortunate to land several TV jobs on completion of
his course and he spent his first year learning the technicalities
of screen work in five different shows. After playing Richard
in Six Degrees of Separation at the Crucible, he was approached
by an American manager who took him to the strange and wonderful
world of LA LA land. After a hectic few months to no avail,
JJ returned to England to play Frank Cheerable in Nicholas
Nickleby for Company Television with Charles Dance. This led
on to the wonderful opportunity of playing Richard, the forgotten
disturbed son, in Stephen Poliakoff’s acclaimed Perfect
Strangers. JJ felt very lucky to learn from such a good character
part, starring alongside an amazing cast, including Michael
Gambon, Lindsey Duncan, Clair Skinner, Matthew McFadden and
Toby Stephans. The response from this led to the opportunity
of stepping into film.Before his first film, JJ popped back
to LA to audition for Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story
for CBS. He spent two months acting in front of a very charismatic
blue screen with Matthew Modine, Vanessa Redgrave, Mia Sara
and Sir Richard Attenborough. Dressed in a very green costume
he played the 'Jack'.
The first of JJ’s three films marked an exciting step
in his career, playing Jack Dodds in Last Orders, directed
by the remarkable Fred Schepisi. He shared the part with Michael
Caine and once over the nerves of playing the younger version
of him, enjoyed the experience beyond words. The cast included
Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Tom Courtney, David Hemmings and
Ray Winston. After great response from the London Film Festival,
it will be released in January 2002. Michael Caine gave JJ
many great pointers and delighted him by describing him on
Film 2001 as, "A lovely guy who not only is a great actor
but better looking than me so therefore a good double".
The next four months were spent jumping off submarines into
the North Atlantic in K19: The Widdowmaker, playing the shaky
Andrei Pritoola alongside Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. K19
is set for release, summer 2002.Straight from the freezing
seas, JJ flew to Borneo to play his first lead role in Christian
Leverings "Innocence". This is also due for release
in summer 2002, although under a new name. Loosing 21 pounds
and taking dialect lessons for a northern accent, JJ plays
a surveyor stranded in the rainforest. He was stretched to
the limits, playing the broken down lover of Janet McTeer,
tormented by Brenda Fricka and Olympia Dukakis.In the two
and a half years since Drama school, JJ hasn't so far had
any time off. He has played American, RP, Russian, Northern
and London and looks forward to the next accent to learn.
He hopes that with three films coming out in 2002, he will
keep moving forward.
JJ is incedibly excited due to the fact he is in fianl negotians
with Peter Greenaway for the title role in his upcoming trilogy,
"The Tulse Luper Suite Case". Further news will
be posted.
