Callum Turner

Callum Turner (born February 15, 1990, Hammersmith, England) is an English actor known for his film performances in the Fantastic Beasts franchise (2018 and 2022), the Jane Austen adaptation Emma. (2020), and the sports drama The Boys in the Boat (2023). He has also garnered acclaim for his roles in several television series, including Anatole Kuragin in War & Peace (2016) and the American pilot Maj. John Egan in the World War II drama Masters of the Air (2024). Turner is married to English pop star Dua Lipa.

Upbringing and modeling work

Callum Turner grew up on a council estate (public housing development) in Chelsea, London, an economically diverse district that includes both mansions and working-class housing. He was raised by his single mother, Rosemary Turner, who worked as a nightclub promoter. She had connections to Chelsea’s punk and fashion scene, counting singer Steve Strange and the son of designer Vivienne Westwood as friends, and she introduced her son to a range of colorful, creative people. Another early influence was the Chelsea FC football (soccer) team. From his home Turner could hear cheering from the team’s matches at the nearby Stamford Bridge stadium. He played football constantly as a kid and was good enough to briefly play on several semiprofessional teams starting at age 16.

In his late teens Turner, while also working as a DJ in clubs, was encouraged by one of his mother’s friends to try modeling. He worked in that field for several years, often traveling to Milan, Paris, and Tokyo for photo shoots and fittings with brands such as Burberry and Comme des Garçons. He then settled back in London when he was 19 years old and found a job at the designer department store Dover Street Market in London’s fashionable Mayfair neighborhood. During this time Turner became intent on pursuing an acting career and began frequently auditioning.

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Early acting career

Although Turner had no formal training, his raw talent soon caught the eye of several television directors. In 2012 he appeared in several episodes of the ITV miniseries Leaving and The Town. Turner gained greater recognition in 2014 after starring in the crime series Glue, about a young man investigating his brother’s death. The Guardian wrote that Turner was “[g]angly, good-looking and with a swagger that contrasts sharply with his brooding on-screen demeanour” in the role. That same year he made his feature-film acting debut in Queen & Country, a semiautobiographical drama written and directed by John Boorman. Turner played a restless man drafted into the British Army in the years after World War II. In recognition of his rising profile, Turner was named one of the breakthrough Brits by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in 2014. In 2015 Turner appeared in supporting roles in the A24 horror film Green Room and the drama Victor Frankenstein.

War & Peace, Fantastic Beasts franchise, and The Capture

Turner’s career as an actor further blossomed over the next several years. In 2016 he portrayed Anatole Kuragin in the BBC miniseries War & Peace and landed a supporting role in the video game adaptation movie Assassin’s Creed. The following year he starred as a young man who becomes romantically involved with his father’s mistress in the coming-of-age drama The Only Living Boy in New York.

Turner then entered the Harry Potter cinematic universe when he was cast as the wizard Theseus Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), the second movie in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The films serve as prequels to the events of the original series. Turner reprised the role of Scamander, the elder brother of the lead, Newt (Eddie Redmayne), in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). In 2019 he portrayed Shaun Emery, a former soldier who is falsely accused of a violent crime in the first season of the techno-thriller series The Capture. Turner’s performance earned him a BAFTA nomination for best actor.

In 2020 Turner gained a wider audience with his performance as the charismatic Frank Churchill in the film Emma., a well-received adaptation of the Jane Austen novel starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role. He played another romantic part, opposite Shailene Woodley, in the drama The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021).

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The Boys in the Boat, Masters of the Air, and One Night Only

Turner’s skill with American accents helped him earn the role of Joe Rantz in George Clooney’s film The Boys in the Boat (2023), a drama depicting the true story of the men’s rowing team from the University of Washington that won a gold medal at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games. Turner next played the hard-drinking, charismatic Maj. John (“Bucky”) Egan in the Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air (2024), about the 100th Bombardment Group that undertook numerous dangerous bombing missions against German targets during World War II. The series was developed in part by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who had produced the series Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), which centered on the activities of the U.S. Army and Marines, respectively, in the conflict.

In 2025 Turner showed his eclectic tastes, appearing in the romantic drama Eternity, the war on terrorism satire Atropia, and the low-budget art-house mystery Rose of Nevada. The following year he was part of an ensemble cast in the dark comedy Rosebush Pruning and appeared opposite Monica Barbaro in the dystopian romantic comedy One Night Only, set in a New York City where premarital sex is legal only one day a year. During this time Turner’s name was frequently included on the list of actors being considered to play James Bond in the next entry of the long-running franchise, which is set to be directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Personal life

Turner was in a relationship with English actress Vanessa Kirby, his costar in Queen & Country (2014), from 2015 to 2020. He began dating English singer Dua Lipa in 2024, and they married in 2026.