Freeman Martin. Filmography, facts from life

2025 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-24 17:46

Over the past five years, the name of an actor like Martin Freeman (photo can be seen in the article) has become famous all over the world. The English actor rose to fame with his role as John Watson in the British BBC series Sherlock.

Freeman Martin: the beginning of a creative journey

The British actor was born on September 8, 1971 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. In the family of a naval officer in which Freeman was born, Martin was the youngest child, in addition to three eldest sons and an only daughter. True, his father passed away early, when Martin was only 10 years old. The actor was an obedient and reserved child. He has been performing in the school theater since the age of 15. After the secondary Roman Catholic school, the future Watson went to London, to the famous Central School, to comprehend the basics of dramatic art and stage speech. By the way, the Martin brothers also chose professions that are somehow related to art. The actor's career began in 1997 with a small role in the famous series "Purely English Murder".

First successes

Sporadic roles in more or less popular British TV shows - that's where Freeman started. Martin has a rather rustic and unremarkable appearance, so he definitely did not shine with the main roles of on-screen machos and tough guys. In the career of an actor, participation in several short films also appears. He appeared in such series as "Catastrophe", "This Life", "Black's Bookstore" and others. The first film role, albeit a TV movie, was in 2000. The project was called “Only Men” and it was released the following year, 2001. It is noteworthy that this film became a landmark in the life of the actor, because on the set he met the love of his life and his future wife, Amanda Abbington. However, the first significant work in Martin's filmography was the role of Tim Canterbury in the comedy series The Office, which aired on the BBC from 2001 to 2003. This unusual TV show was highly appreciated by both viewers and critics. Martin Freeman was even nominated for several prestigious awards, but never received the award.

Career before Sherlock

After a successful "Office" in Martin's career, there was a slight decline. The roles were minor or unremarkable. Among the works of that period in which the actor starred, one can single out the tragicomedy "Love Actually" with quite eminent actors in the lead roles. Freeman played a rather serious role of Lord Shaftesbury in the dramatic mini-series of the same Air Force called The Last King. Even there were also not particularly noteworthy "Pide", "Zombies named Sean" and the series "Weapon". But in 2005, Martin Freeman played the main character, ArthurDent, in the famous science fiction comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The tape became a box office, collecting more than one hundred million dollars at the worldwide box office. This work can definitely be considered a big breakthrough in the filmography of the actor. Although after it, until 2010, no major roles were noticed. Freeman was noted in the dramatic thriller Invasion (2006), where he played on the same platform with such stars as Jude Law and Juliette Binoche, as well as in the comedy action movie Hard Humps (2007). In the same year, a biographical drama about the life of Rembrandt and the history of the creation of his masterpiece The Night Watch was released, in which Freeman played the main role. Martin was really convincing in this image, but the screenwriter and director of the picture, Peter Greenaway, won awards at film festivals. And in 2008, at the film festival in Korea, the continuation of the picture was shown, only in a documentary version called “Rembrandt. I blame.”

Two key roles

In 2010, the BBC aired a modern-day story about the legendary detective Holmes. Freeman got the role of friend and partner. Martin was awarded the prestigious British Baft Award for this role in 2011. Although the creators of the project were tormented by the search for an actor for the role of Watson, in the end they admitted that the choice turned out to be ideal. Already after the first season, interesting offers rained down on Martin as if from a cornucopia. The creator of the cult trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" Peter Jackson, even before the start of the general casting, was sure that Bilbo Baggins during the adventures of his youth inThe Hobbit should be played by Martin Freeman. Since 2012, the actor's filmography has been replenished with as many as three adventure blockbusters: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, as well as the sequels The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). For the role of young Baggins, Martin also received many awards.

Global fame

Due to the busy schedule of filming in The Hobbit, the actor could hardly even find time for the continuation of Sherlock. And although Freeman had more than enough offers, and there was very little time, in 2013 he agreed to shoot in the sequel to "The Type of Tough Hop" called "Armageddian". In 2016, the long-awaited fourth season of Sherlock will be released, and Martin will also enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. True, it is not yet known exactly who Freeman will play in Captain America: Civil War.