Who Plays Laurens Bancroft on Altered Carbon?
This Altered Carbon Star Is Terrifying Your Subconscious For a Reason
Season one of Altered Carbon dropped Friday (Feb. 2) on Netflix, taking viewers on a violent, visceral journey into the future. Set 300 years from now, the series is about an ex-military operator named Takeshi Kovacs whose consciousness (or "stack") is taken out of storage and reuploaded into a new body (or "sleeve") by a millionaire named Laurens Bancroft. Bancroft wants to hire Kovacs to solve his murder — and if that sounds confusing, we aren't going to spoil the hows and the whys here, so just go watch the show already. But if you have been been watching and feel like Bancroft looks familiar, here's where you've seen that charming British face before.
US audiences will most likely recognize James Purefoy from the Fox drama The Following, which starred the actor as incarcerated serial killer Joe Carroll, whose followers start committing crimes in his name on the outside. He also currently stars on Sundance TV dramedy Hap and Leonard, an underrated, fun little show that stars Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams as two best friends in 1980s East Texas who stumble upon various dangerous situations and murders — a world Purefoy loves inhabiting.
"I'm a middle-aged British actor who lives in the countryside in England most of the time, so to go into this world for three months every year, it's really interesting for me," Purefoy told Rotten Tomatoes in an interview about Hap and Leonard's second season, "Mucho Mojo." " . . . getting into this world for three months every year is strange and alien to me, but one I've grown to love and cherish. It's really valuable to me."
Prior to his US television breakout role, Purefoy could be seen starring on Rome and in films A Knight's Tale, Mansfield Park, and Churchill. But in England, he is actually renowned for his stage work. In 1988, Purefoy joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in its productions of Macbeth, The Tempest, and King Lear, among others. At other theaters, Purefoy has appeared in Hamlet and Death of a Salesman. And in a fun bit of trivia, Purefoy was in the running to be the fifth man tapped to play famous spy James Bond, but he ultimately lost the role to Pierce Brosnan.
Purefoy is married to documentary director/producer Jessica Adams, with whom he has a daughter and twin sons; he also has a son from his previous marriage to actress Holly Aird.
