James Callis

James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is an English actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Bridget Jones's Baby. He joined the cast of the TV series Eureka, on Syfy, in 2010, and since 2017, he has voiced the character Alucard in the Netflix series Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne, based on the video game series of the same name. In 2022, he appeared in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard as Jean-Luc's father in childhood flashbacks. Early life Callis was born in Hampstead and brought up in London, where he attended St. Martin's Prep School in Northwood and then Harrow School in north-west London. His parents owned a bed-and-breakfast. He is of Russian, Polish and Jewish Ukrainian descent. Callis attended the University of York, graduating in 1993 with a BA in English and Related Literature. He was a member of Derwent College, for which he was an enthusiastic rugby player. At university he was also a keen student actor, director and writer. He was a key member of the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan society and appeared in productions put on by friends at Cambridge University, including a production of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter. Career Callis went on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1996. In the same year, he was awarded the Jack Tinker Award (Theatre Record Critic of the Year) for Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in Old Wicked Songs, a two-hander by Jon Marans, in which he starred alongside Bob Hoskins.