James McAvoy made his screen debut in the 1995 British film ‘The Near Room’ directed by David Hayman. The film received a mixed response from critics. Following his debut, he went on to star in films like ‘Regeneration’ (1997), ‘Swimming Pool’ (2001), ‘Bright Young Things’ (2003), ‘Wimbledon’ (2004), and ‘Inside I'm Dancing’ (2004). He portrayed ‘Mr. Tumnus’ in the 2005 fantasy film ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ directed by Andrew Adamson. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a major financial success, grossing over $745 million on a $180 million budget. He continued to star in films like ‘The Last King of Scotland’ (2006), ‘Penelope’ (2006), ‘Becoming Jane’ (2007), ‘Atonement’ (2007), ‘Wanted’ (2008), ‘The Last Station’ (2009), ‘The Conspirator’ (2010), and ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ (2011). In 2011, he portrayed ‘Charles Xavier’ in the American superhero film ‘X-Men: First Class’ directed by Matthew Vaughn. The film was well-received by critics and grossed over $353.6 million on a budget of $160 million. That same year, he also appeared in the computer-animated Christmas science fantasy comedy film ‘Arthur Christmas’ directed by Sarah Smith. The film earned praise from critics and received a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
He next starred in films like ‘Welcome to the Punch’ (2013), ‘Trance’ (2013), ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ (2014), ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (2014), ‘Victor Frankenstein’ (2015), ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (2016), ‘Split’ (2016), ‘Atomic Blonde’ (2017), ‘Sherlock Gnomes’ (2018), ‘Glass’ (2019), ‘Dark Phoenix’ (2019), ‘It Chapter Two’ (2019), and ‘My Son’ (2021). He was last seen in the 2022 American comedy film ‘The Bubble’ directed by Judd Apatow. The film was largely panned by critics and scored a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.