James McAvoy returns to the big screen this week in X-Men: First Class - which sees him take over the role of Charles Xavier from Patrick Stewart.
X-Men: First Class takes the mutant story back to the sixties where Charles and Erik aka Magneto are accepting their powers.
James McAvoy burst onto the scene in 2004 with his role of Steve McBride in Paul Abbott's drama series Shameless.
And in recent years he has had a string of roles all of which have been different and show the range of this young actor who has finally caught the attention of Hollywood.
Inside I'm Dancing followed the same year as his Shameless success with the role of Rory O'Shea, who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and saw the actor confined to a wheelchair.
A blockbuster role followed in 2004's big screen adaptation of C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Mr Tumnus, a faun. The role included heavy prosthetics and was far removed from anything that he had done before.
After starring as Brian Jackson in the big screen adaptation of David Nicholls' novel Starter for Ten he moved onto the critically acclaimed The Last King of Scotland.
Based on Giles Foden's novel of the same name McAvoy took on the role of Nicholas Garrigan, a newly qualified doctor, who goes to Uganda looking for adventure and to escape from the pressures of his father.
Here he becomes the personal physician to Idi Amin, played by Forest Whitaker.
After this dramatic and violent picture, which saw Whitaker win a best Actor Oscar for the role, a fairytale was next for McAvoy with Penelope alongside Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon before moving onto period drama Becoming Jane, the story of the early years of Jane Austen and her romance with Thomas Lefroy (McAvoy) who inspired the character of Mr Darcy.
However it was his part as Robbie Turner in Joe Wright's adaptation of popular novel Atonement last year that caught the attention of American audiences and studios.
The romance epic/war movie saw Turner move from housekeeper's son who aspired to be a doctor, to being accused of rape to soldier in World War II.
McAvoy's performance earnt him best Actor nominations at the Bafta's and the Golden Globes as well as a Best Actor of the Year award at the London Film Critics Circle Awards.
Wanted saw him go from romantic lead to all out action hero as he teamed up with Angelina Jolie in the Timur Bekmambetov directed movie.
The movie was met well by the critics and enjoyed box office success - there are plans in the pipeline for a sequel.
McAvoy returned to the big screen last year with The Last Station, which saw him team up with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, before turning his attention to animation with Gnomeo and Juliet.
But X-Men: First Class is a first superhero movie for the British actor - and early reviews of the film have been very positive.
In 1963, Charles Xavier starts up a school and later a team, for humans with superhuman abilities. Among them is Erik Lensherr, his best friend... and future archenemy.
The actor is also set to star in The Conspirator later this year, which sees him work with actor turned filmmaker Robert Redford.
X-Men: First Class is released 1st June.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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