James Purefoy gives powerful men an appetite for the job that makes them entertaining company. We rate him most highly when the script lets that pleasure show; a crown and a succession of quips are not enough.
Fi1m perspective
In Rome (2005), James Purefoy’s Mark Antony makes being powerful look like something a man might enjoy. We enjoyed him because his appetite for the job spared us another solemn performance of duty. Ciarán Hinds gives Julius Caesar a quieter authority, providing a useful contrast to Purefoy’s relish. Around them, the ensemble makes private resentments worth following even before we have untangled everybody’s position. Purefoy belongs in that company: his Antony is entertaining without making the people around him seem surplus to requirements.
The earlier A Knight’s Tale (2001), in which he played Edward the Black Prince, fits the recurring demand for his physical presence and sword skills. The title role in Solomon Kane (2009) took that casting into dark fantasy. Television then offered a different sort of threat in The Following (2013), with Purefoy playing the serial killer and cult leader Joe Carroll. His ability to combine elegance with menace makes sense of that move. These are different jobs, but each needs an actor whose charm does not make the danger disappear.
Masters of the Universe (2026) gives him a crown again, as King Randor, but far less chance to make the authority matter. Travis Knight’s film has a bright, willing cast and a script that keeps changing its mind about how seriously to take anyone. Moments between Adam and the king and queen, played by Purefoy and Charlotte Riley, are interrupted by quips just as they begin to carry feeling. The family feeling might have helped the fantasy matter. We would rather have spent longer with that family than heard another joke about how daft the whole business is.
What we want from his next substantial part is room to speak and act without the script anticipating an embarrassed audience. His command of language and physical confidence suit larger-than-life characters, and we would rather a film trusted him to play them straight. Nor does he need to be the only forceful actor present, as Hinds, Polly Walker and Lindsay Duncan help demonstrate in Rome. He is worth casting opposite people who can resist him. Start with Rome, provided an uneven opening and plenty of cruelty do not put you off.
Biography
James Purefoy is an English actor. He was born in Taunton, Somerset, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He is known for playing Mark Antony in the HBO series Rome (2005–2007), Solomon Kane in the 2009 film of the same name, Hap Collins in Hap and Leonard (2016–2018), and Laurens Bancroft in the first season of Altered Carbon (2018). Other credits include A Knight's Tale (2001), Resident Evil (2002), John Carter (2012), High-Rise (2015), and King Randor in Masters of the Universe (2026). He has also appeared in The Following (2013–2015) and The Witcher (2025).
