Cosmo Jarvis is a British actor who’s making a mark in Hollywood with just a handful of acting credits. With a mastery of creating music, films, and now acting, it’s evident that Jarvis is a talented star who’s just getting started. Jarvis started as a singer in the UK as soon as he was done with school. He became a popular artist experimenting with various musical genres, which earned him a large number of fans.
However, it’s his acting talents that are putting him on the map and on the lips of critics and entertainment fans. While many now know him from his rough and somewhat clownish role in FX’s Japanese historical drama, Shogun, Jarvis has other roles on TV and in movies that show his skill in the power of transformation. With each role, he takes on a new persona, and it’s entertaining to see. Here are some of Cosmo Jarvis’ best roles in TV and films.
1. Shogun (2024)
Based on James Clavell’s historical novel, Shogun is a political miniseries about the power struggle that led to the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The 2024 FX series follows John Blackthorne, an English navigator who finds himself in the middle of a war during the 16th century. Clavell based the book loosely on real historical figures but changed their names and character traits to add some intrigue to his novel. The FX series is filled with a pool of talented actors, including Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada, to bring about a timeless TV series that has fans begging for more.
Sadly, the series will not be getting a second season, but one thing that stood out for viewers was Jarvis’s portrayal of the marooned Englishman, Blackthorne. He is wild yet calm, with a sense of inner turmoil that translates perfectly on screen. This series perfectly portrays how talented Jarvis is and how effective his preparation for the role affected his performance. Like his co-stars, the role of Blackthorne took a toll on his mental health because of the high standards required. In an interview with Collider, Blackthorne revealed that everyone was working so hard, but there was a joy in it. The series received praise from fans and critics alike.
2. Persuasion (2022)
Netflix’s adaptation of the popular Jane Austen novel, Persuasion, was met with mixed reviews from viewers. The major difference between the adaptation and the book is that the latter is just a skeleton of the novel, but the language and tone are too modern compared to what Austen’s fans have come to love. Despite what fans think about the Netflix machine churning out endless hollow movies, Dakota Johnson and Jarvis portrayed their characters’ longing and emotion well enough to keep fans glued to the end. Jarvis portrays Captain Frederick Wentworth as a shy and broody character who, as the book describes, is mature but just not aware of his feelings. He gives a mesmerising performance as Wentworth, making fans believe that he would do perfectly in a more accurate period of drama in his future acting career.
3. Lady Macbeth (2016)
Jarvis will always leave an impression in every role he takes on, whether it’s in a high-budget historical drama or an indie film. Florence Pugh, also a newcomer with a handful of credits at the time, had amazing chemistry with Jarvis on screen. The film is a brooding romantic drama based on a Russian novella, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk, about Katherine, who is a bored and sexually frustrated wife, which leads her to an affair with the farmhand played by Jarvis. The film takes on a darker tone, which makes it stand out from other period dramas set in the 19th century. Jarvis easily brings out the contained torture that his character is grappling with as he falls into Katherine’s dark hole in Lady Macbeth.
4. Calm with Horses (2019)
Calm with Horses is a crime drama based on a short story by Colin Barrett. The film follows Cosmo Jarvis’ Arm, an ex-boxer who has a complicated personal relationship with his ex and son while working for a criminal. Things take a different turn when he is sent to kill a man, which he usually has to do. It is a dark movie with brutal scenes but also heart-wrenching moments that will make viewers pause for a minute. Jarvis was attracted to the role due to the writing style, which was a first for him. It also helped that the director and producer were his age mates, making it more thrilling to work with them as they told the story of this man who is brutally honest and has no political agenda—a position he says many men have found themselves in during an interview with Article magazine.
5. It is In Us All (2022)
It is In Us All, a film about Hamish (Cosmo Jarvis) who, wanting nothing to do with his father’s legacy, travels to his mother’s home and feels her presence immediately before a car crash ruins the clenched control he had struggled so much to cultivate. Jarvis does an amazing job of bringing an emotionally distant character intertwined with the life of the crash survivor, Ethan. Jarvis’s performance is electrifying, from his physical presence to the aching feeling of a life his character could have had if raised by his mother.
6. Peaky Blinders
Jarvis guest stars in the fifth season of Peaky Blinders. His character, Barney Thompson, stands out among a packed pool of stars and easily shines despite not watching the film before he was cast in it. That was because he doesn’t lean into what’s popular among the masses, managing to stay out of social media for as long as possible. His character is that of a world war veteran and a former comrade of Tommy Shelby. His character dies, so fans are unlikely to see him again, but there is still hope with the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie. Here is everything you need to know about Cosmo Jarvis.
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