"We are all looking for love"
"I owe Happy Valley everything; he says. "Coming back was a complete no-brainer. The series was massive for me. If you're going to break into the public consciousness. and you want to be mercurial and undefinable, that was the perfect companion of two shows."
Hearing him speak about Happy Valley, you are reminded that in a parallel universe there is a version of Norton - after boarding school at Ampleforth, theology at Cambridge and drama training at RADA - where he is condemned to a lifetime of playing foppish poshos. It might have been a perfectly happy existence, but he would not have had so many opportunities to explore darker roles.
"I think about that all the time: he says. "Britain is obsessed with class, and our industry Is obsessed with pigeonholes. Having been to Cambridge and speaking with a (specific) accent I did run that risk. When Happy Valley came out I had people ringing my agent and saying 'We have this part. but It's a bit posh, I'm not sure James is right for it'. My agent was punching the air. It's a perfect part, a hand of aces, and you don't get many of those throughout your career.
"EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS TO HAVE MESSED UP FAMILIES THAT YOU CAN'T TEAR YOURSELF AWAY FROM"
Happy Valley zeroes in on the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, a place you might mistake for being sleepy. It has been described as a British Fargo for the way it uses the crimes as a way to explore the lives of the people living here. Something so idiosyncratically British is an unexpected candidate for a transatlantic hit, but Happy Valley has acquired a cult following in the US, too.
"People find our little island fascinating; says Norton. "When you ask Americans where they're from, they're still obsessed with our heritage because it's in some ways theirs. Happy Valley is quintessentially British in its specificity to that part of England. There's a fascination with that. It's a brilliant police procedural but at its heart it's about family. What translates across the world is that everyone knows what it is to have messed up families that you can't tear yourself away from. It's cool. I got a DM from Amy Schumer. Bob Dylan loves the show!"
It's a part of the world Norton knows well. He grew up in Yorkshire. the son of two academics. His sister has two children and lives nearby, which he says frees him to gallivant around as an actor. "None of them have anything to do with the [acting] Industry, which is great". Though his parents have spent time on set as extras. Norton boarded at Ampleforth, a Catholic boarding school run by monks. If he seems to have had a charmed life as an adult, perhaps that's because his adolescence was not always easy.
"I had a complicated time at school." he says. "It wasn't helped by the fact that I was bullied, but I owe that school a lot. I loved theatre. I made some good friends. There's a sort of magic to the place, where you're playing every day and giving thanks. Its intoxicating to be part of something so big, with that atmosphere of grandeur, when you're in such a period of flux".
The period gave him a lifelong fear of causing offence, he says. "I'm hyper aware socially Probably to a fault.
"I'M HYPER AWARE SOCIALLY. PROBABLY TO A FAULT. I CONSTANTLY CRITIQUE HOW I'M AFFECTING PEOPLE AND HOW I'M BEING JUDGED"
"I constantly critique how I'm affecting people and how I'm being Judged. But a lot of actors are like that, especially when the world is such a reactionary place. I've always loved chewing over big conversations," he adds. "I would much rather talk about dark personal fears and ugliness rather than what's on TV or the football scores. I'm straight into the deep and personal."
The interest in religion gave way to studying theology at Cambridge, where he was a star of student theatre, and then RADA, which he dropped out of early to pursue professional work. He starred in the original production of Posh at the Royal Court. the play that would become the film The Riot Club, slowly building up a body of work, also including big roles in War and Peace and McMafia, that reveals an actor with rare range.
"I WOULD MUCH RATHER TALK ABOUT DARK PERSONAL FEARS AND UGLINESS THAN WHAT'S ON TV OR THE FOOTBALL SCORES"
For his next role Norton is returning to the theatre, to star as Jude in the West End adaptation of A Little Life. Hanya Yanagihara's bestselling novel about a man reckoning with a lifetime of being abused. It's another part you suspect he wouldn't have been offered had he not already done his share of dark roles.
"It's one of the most terrifying things rve taken on", he says. "But that's the reason to do it, to get out of my comfort zone". He is slimming down for the role. "I need to be fit, because it's a four-hour say and I get thrown around a lot, but I want to give myself help to feel my physical vulnerability. I draw a line where it becomes unhealthy," he adds. He'll play madness, but he'll leave the Method for other actors. "I'm not going to explode my weight or do The Machinist thing [a reference to the film for which Christian Bale severely lost weight). Its a job. It's a livelihood. It's fun."
Beyond his star turns, he now has a production company, Rabbits Track, with several projects at various stages of development, including a historical epic in which he will also star. Then there's the matter of a wedding: he got engaged to Imogen Pools, a fellow actor. They have a place in New York, where she spends a lot of time, and are fixing up a house in east London.
Eventually the conversation comes round, as all interviews with Norton must, to the B Question. His name has been mentioned in connection with James Bond for years. He would be a traditional kind of 007: he has the look, the accent, the experience onscreen wearing sharp suits and wooing women. Nobody knows how these rumours start, but once established they hang around until definitively proven otherwise.
"It's flattering to be in the conversation," he says, but other than that he has little to add. Perhaps as a result of the people-pleasing aspect to his character. He admits to reading the speculation about himself, to being flattered by nice reviews or annoyed by negative comments.
"I'M NOT GOING TO EXPLODE MY WEIGHT OR DO THE MACHINIST THING. IT'S A JOB. IT'S A LIVELIHOOD, IT'S FUN"
"I'm an actor," he says, laughing. "We're all looking for love." Between the directors who keep casting him in plum roles, the production companies filming his grand projects, adoring fans from California to Cleethorpes, a film-star fiancee, and interviewers wooed over oat milk, there's no shortage of love for lucky James Norton.
A BIG LIFE JAMES NORTON'S CV
Born
James Geoffrey Ian Norton Was bon on 16 July 1985 to Lavinia Jane Norman and Hugh Biddiph Norton - both teachers - in Lambeth London.
Education
He boarded at Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic school in North Yorkshire, before shipping off to Cambridge University to read theology. Afterwards, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London for three years, but left six months shy of graduating to pursue professional opportunities.
Fun fact
James has type 1 diabetes and shared photos of his insulin pens on Instagram during Diabetes Awareness Month. "Our condition is a constant faff", he said to his 230K followers.
Key works
Happy Valley (2014-23). In his breakout role, Norton plays a psychopathic murderer in a small West Yorkshire village. This chilling turn earned him a 2015 BAFTA nod.
War and Peace (2016). In this big budget BBC adaptation of Tolstoy's classic novel, Norton stars opposite Paul Dano and Lily James as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.
McMafia (2018). Another BBC outing, this time a crime series based on the book by Misha Glenny. Norton stars as Alex Godman, an English fund manager caught up in the Russian undenworld.
A Little Life (2023). Norton is gearing up to star as the unlucky protagonist, Jude St Francis, in the West End adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara's novel.
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