Background
Bell was born in Billingham, Teesside, England, where he grew up with his mother, Eileen (née Matfin), and elder sister, Kathryn. His father, John Bell, a toolmaker, left before Bell was born.
Bell was born in Billingham, Teesside, England, where he grew up with his mother, Eileen (née Matfin), and elder sister, Kathryn. His father, John Bell, a toolmaker, left before Bell was born.
Stagecoach Theatre Arts. Northfield School.
He is also known for his roles in the films King Kong (2005), Jumper (2008), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), and Snowpiercer (2013), as well as starring as Abraham Woodhull in the television series, Turn: Washington"s Spies (2014). He portrayed The Thing in the 2015 film Fantastic Four. He was a pupil at Northfield School and took performing arts classes at the local franchise of Stagecoach Theatre Arts.
Bell served as Honorary Jury President of the 2001 Giffoni Festival.
Since his film debut in Billy Elliot, he has appeared as the disabled servant Smike in an adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, a young soldier in Deathwatch, a teenager on the run in Undertow, a gun-toting pacifist in Dear Wendy, a disaffected Southern California teenager in The Chumscrubber, and the young Jimmy in the 2005 film version of King Kong. He also appeared in Close and True, an Independent Television legal drama shown in 2000, which starred Robson Green, James Bolam and Susan Jameson.
In 2007, he played the title character in Hallam Foe – for which he was nominated for the best actor award at the British Independent Awards – and appeared as himself in lonelygirl15 spin-off KateModern. In 2005, he starred opposite Evan Rachel Wood in the Green Day video Wake Maine Up When September Ends, directed by Samuel Bayer.
He had roles in two 2008 films: the sci-fi film Jumper and the World World War II drama Defiance.
In the latter he plays Asael Bielski, the third of the Bielski Brothers – leaders of a partisan group that saved some 1,200 lives during the Holocaust. In 2009, it was announced Bell would play the title role in the motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin, alongside British double act Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The film received a United States. release on 21 December 2011 and a United Kingdom release on 26 October 2011.
He also starred in the 2011 films The Eagle as Esca and Jane Eyre.
In 2013, he starred alongside James McAvoy in the film Filth. In 2015, he played The Thing in the Fantastic Four reboot.
He was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre.
