Jamie Bamber was born in Hammersmith, a suburb of London, on April 3rd, 1973. His given name is Jamie St.John Bamber Griffith . He is one of six boys and has one sister. Jamie's American father Ralph was a management consultant and the family lived in France for Jamie's first few years. Trained to be an actress, his Irish mother Elizabeth set aside her career to raise the children. Later, Jamie would follow in her footsteps and enter the London Academy of Dramatic Arts (LAMDA), but not before earning a 1st Class Honors Degree in Modern Languages (Italian & French specifically) at St. John's College, Cambridge University.

While at Cambridge, Jamie appeared in an ambitious student film entitled "Shifting Sands".

Jamie left LAMDA after one year to accept the role of Midshipman Archie Kennedy in the debut of A&E's Emmy-winning mini-series "Horatio Hornblower." During a break in Hornblower filming, he portrayed Lord Tony Dewhurst in A&E's "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and later played James in "Bob Martin" and the ill-fated George Tolboys in the PBS/Mystery! production of "Lady Audley's Secret." In addition to film roles, he has performed in numerous BBC Radio plays including a version of Shakespeare's "Richard II." Most recently, he can be seen as Ralph Paton in A&E's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - A Hercule Poirot Mystery." which aired on A&E in June, 2000 (in the U.S.).

Jamie has revived his role as Kennedy in a second series of A&E's "Horatio Hornblower" which is due to air in the spring of 2001. He has a role as American soldier "Lt. Jack Foley" in the Steven Speilberg/Tom Hanks production for HBO titled "Band of Brothers." which will air in September 2001.

Jamie currently lives in London (although he is spending a good deal of time in L.A. for career reasons) and his interests/skills cover rugby, golf, skiing, rap music, horse-riding and dancing.

Jamie stands 5'9 1/2" tall, has blond hair and blue eyes. "Jamie speaks fluent French and Italian and has a degree from Cambridge. Is there anything he can't do? 'Plenty of things,' laughs Jamie." - excerpt from "The Making of Horatio Hornblower" by Tom McGregor © Simon Birkenhead