Jeremy Northam spent the early years of his life in Bristol. His father was a professor while his mother worked as a potter. He belonged to England basically. He has very good looks. He became a popular stage actor in England. Also, his first breakthrough role in the movies was also a hit. He worked as a villain in the movie which was called "The Net". The movie starred Sandra Bullock. He played the role of the villain which he managed very well. This movie was released in 1995.

Northam was a skilled actor from the very beginning. He got admitted in the Bristol old Vic theatre school but did not complete the degree program. At that time he started acting in television and got hold of few important roles. He worked in "Journey's End", a drama of 1988. He also worked in the Theater presentation of Hamlet. Till 1992 he performed many roles on stage which became popular. He performed in "Wuthering Heights" which became his first major role. This movie was released in 1992. After wards he worked in a lot of movies and did many other stage performances. Just like his first performance he always chose unique roles and excelled in performing each one of those. He has proved himself to be a versatile actor. In more than one movie he has performed roles of altogether different nature and he managed to do well.

Before 1996 Northam was more inclined towards villainous or other roles. He turned towards romance in 1996 with his movie "Emma". All his movies till 1999 had very different types of roles. He proved his versatility yet again.

"An Ideal Husband" made on Oscar Wilde's work was released in 1999 in one of the few movies which were released in 1999. The year was a very good one for Northam as many of the movies did well. He has worked in the 2000 production "The Golden Bowl" and the movie released in 2002 called "Possession".