The character Liam Connor in Coronation Street and Thomas Barrow in British historical period drama TV series Downton Abbey which was aired in the U.K on ITV in 2010 and in the U.S in 2011 on PBS is Rob James-Collier a British actor and model. Rob has starred in several other TV series and Films which include Shameless, Down to Earth, Perfect Day, Casualty, Moving On, Love Life, A Christmas Star, Spike Island, The Level, among many others.
Brief Bio
He was born on 23rd September 1976 in the city of Salford, Greater Manchester. His birth name is Robert Collier before he changed it to Robert James-Collier to comply with the rules of British Actors’ Equity Association( now simply known as Equity).
He attended St Patrick’s Roman Catholic High School, Eccles, Greater Manchester and later earned two degrees; one from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and the other from the University of Huddersfield.
Career
Rob actually came into acting by chance. According to him, he never had a game plan for his career because he got into it quite ad hoc.
His first attempt at acting was as a favor for a friend, who asked him to fill in for an actor who didn’t show up for a film shoot. With this little experience which impressed him, he began taking acting classes when he is off from work.
Come the year 2000, with no concrete experience in acting, Rob auditioned for the BBC One TV series, Down to Earth, and was given the role of the womanizing pub landlord, after Denise Welch and Ricky Tomlinson saw his potentials. In 2006, he landed the role of Stud in the third series of Shameless, episode 5, with the name Rob Collier. That same year, he also appeared in New Street Law.
Counting on these works, he began appearing on the British Soap Opera Coronation Street as Liam Connor and remained on the Soap till early 2008 when he announced in an interview that he was leaving the show but plans to come back in the future. But in June, the character he played, Liam Connor, was reported killed in the Soap and three residents were being investigated for the crime.
After leaving the Coronation Street, Rob James-Collier landed a lead role as Thomas Barrow in the British historical period drama TV series Downton Abbey, which aired from 2010 to 2015. He also starred in the West End stage version of Calendar Girls, directed by Nigel Cole. In 2016, he appeared in the British crime drama, The Level as Kevin O’Dowd, followed by his starring in the British horror film, The Ritual, as Hutch. In addition to this, the thespian has also starred in several other films like Perfect Day, Casualty, Moving On, Love Life, A Christmas Star, Spike Island and many more.
Asides acting, Rob is also into modeling. The good-looking Briton has modeled for Argos and appeared in their Autumn/Winter 2007 and Spring/Summer 2008 catalogs.
He is a two times winner of the British Soap Awards for Sexiest Male, and in addition to this Rob James-Collier has also won the “Best Exit” at the 2009 British Soap Awards and the Sexiest Male and Best Newcomer at 2007 Inside Soap Awards.
Is Rob James-Collier Married and who is His Wife, and Son?
Rob James-Collier is not married but has a girlfriend Lauren Chandiram, with whom he has a son; Milo James-Collier. Their tot was born in 2010. The couple has been together but is yet to talk about tying the knots as husband and wife. Rob describes Lauren as being a great support to him.
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Other Lesser Known Facts About Rob James-Collier
- His parents were so keen on giving them an academic background that they put his siblings through the University.
- He loves big sharks and has cage-dived with great whites sharks in South Africa.
- Rob’s favorite movie is Jaws and if he were a superhero, he would be Captain Lethargic.
- He tries to read one classic book a month and loves anything old: books, buildings, people, etc.
- On Kissing co-actor Charlie Cox in Downton Abbey, Rob says it’s easier kissing a man to kissing a woman in a movie. According to him, when kissing a woman, you want to make it look and appear real and at the same time, you are bothered about overdoing it which may result in taking an advantage of her. But that when kissing a man, such thoughts don’t cross his mind, except that he is more scared of it looking false, so he just goes head focused on making it appear real.