Background and career
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He began his career in British theatre before landing small roles in various television productions and feature films. Law gained international recognition for his role in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award in the same category.
Law found further critical and commercial success in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition (2002), Minghella's Cold Mountain (2003), for which he earned Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, in addition to the drama Closer (2004) and the romantic comedy The Holiday (2006). His subsequent roles were as Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), a young Albus Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), and Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel (2019); all of which rank among his highest-grossing releases. Other notable films include Contagion (2011), Hugo (2011), Side Effects (2013), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Spy (2015), as well as the television series The Young Pope (2016), The New Pope (2020), and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024), earning a Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performer nomination for the latter.
In addition to his film work, Law has performed in several West End and Broadway productions including Les Parents terribles in 1994, Hamlet in 2010, and Anna Christie in 2011. These earned him nominations for two Tony Awards. He has also been awarded the Honorary César in 2007.
David Jude Heyworth Law was born on 29 December 1972 in the London borough of Lewisham to Peter Robert Law and Margaret Anne Heyworth, who were both teachers. His father later became, according to Law, "the youngest headmaster in London". His maternal grandmother is Welsh and had originally been "long lost" from his family because Law's mother had been put up for adoption as a child. Law was given the first name David after the best friend of his father, but has always been referred to by his middle name, Jude, which was taken both from the protagonist of Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure and the Beatles' song "Hey Jude". He grew up in Blackheath, an area in the borough of Greenwich, with his older sister, Natasha, where he was educated, first at John Ball Primary School, then briefly at Kidbrooke School, and then at Alleyn's School.
How Jude Law makes money
Law also portrayed Yon-Rogg in the 2019 Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Captain Marvel, which was a global box office success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2025-09-10), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
