Background
Callis was born in Hammersmith and brought up in London, where he attended Saint Martin"s Preparatory School in Northwood and then Harrow School in north-west London. In a comment to a fansite, Callis repudiated the rumour that he comes from aristocratic roots by saying that he is the descendant of poor immigrants from Russia and Poland.
Education
Callis attended the University of York, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor in English and Related Literature.
Career
He joined the cast of the television Series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010. At university he was also a keen student actor, director and writer Callis went on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1996.
In the same year, he was awarded the Jack Tinker Award (Theatre Record Critic of the Year) for Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in Old Wicked Songs, a two-hander by Jon Marans, in which he starred alongside Bob Hoskins.
Callis has appeared in various West End productions and television series as well as on radio. He has also been involved in writing and directing.
His directorial debut was Beginner"s Luck, a co-production of his and writer/director Nick Cohen"s Late Night Pictures and Angel Eye & television, starring Julie Delpy, Steven Berkoff and Fenella Fielding. Beginner"s Luck was critically panned, but ran for almost three weeks on one print (all the low-budget film could afford) in one cinema in central London, then went on a tour of student cinemas around the United Kingdom The United Kingdom distributor was Guerrilla son
The film is still on the Icon Catalogue.
Callis finished filming his first role in a cinema film, Bridget Jones"s Diary, alongside Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant, in the summer of 2000 and between a few further film and television roles went back on stage in the Soho Theatre in December 2002. In 2003, Callis played the role of Doctor Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries, and continued the role in the regular series that followed.
Membership
He was a member of Derwent College, for which he was an enthusiastic rugby player. He was a key member of the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan society and even appeared in productions put on by friends at Cambridge University, including a production of Harold Pinter"s The Birthday Party.