Charles Matthew Hunnam (; born 10 April 1980) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Pete Dunham in Green Street Hooligans (2005) and as Jax Teller in the FX series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014). For the latter, he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor. Hunnam also portrayed the title role in Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Raleigh Becket in Pacific Rim (2013), Alan McMichael in Crimson Peak (2015), Percy Fawcett in The Lost City of Z (2016), the title role in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), William "Ironhead" Miller in Triple Frontier, Raymond Smith in The Gentlemen (both in 2019), and Detective Charlie Waldo in Last Looks (2022). His other notable television roles include Nathan Maloney in the Channel 4 drama Queer as Folk (1999–2000), Lloyd Haythe on the Fox series Undeclared (2001–2002) and Dale Conti/Lindsay "Linbaba" Ford in the Apple TV+ series Shantaram (2022). Early life Charles Matthew Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 10 April 1980, the son of Jane Bell, a ballet dancer and business owner, and William Hunnam. One of his grandmothers was a portrait artist. He has said that his mother "did a very good job" of being a single parent. He has an older brother named William and two younger half brothers on his mother's side named Oliver and Christian. At age 12, when his mother remarried, the family moved to Melmerby, Cumbria. During his adolescence, he played rugby football and fought with his classmates. After that, instead of going to university, he decided to go to the Cumbria College of Art and Design in Carlisle (now part of the University of Cumbria) to study performing arts. He graduated with a dual degree in film theory and film history with a side in performing arts. He planned to write and direct his own films. Career Early work Hunnam was discovered at the age of 17 in a branch of JD Sports on Christmas Eve, while playing around with his brother during a trip to buy shoes. A production manager for the Newcastle-based teen drama Byker Grove approached Hunnam and he was later cast in his first role as Jason for three episodes of the show. He also had a brief modelling career where he did a photo shoot for Kangol Caps and then decided modelling was not for him. Hunnam's first