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Original poster

AIBU to feel that James Norton is perfect?

112 replies

valentinka31 · 22/08/2025 21:54

Just that, really.

Taking my time through the canon of his work.
Subscribing for 7 days to whatever streaming service that keeps him close.
(omg I'm so going to have to remember to cancel within 7 days)

He's the most beautiful person, and best actor, ever. Isn't he? Or is it just me?

OP posts:
Original poster
valentinka31 · 27/08/2025 10:58

XelaM · 27/08/2025 08:40

Yes, he's very posh and proper sounding 😃 boarding school/Cambridge background. Very far removed from Tommy Lee Royce 😂

I think a PP is totally right that he isn't actually that hot when he is being himself in real life, but is totally hot and magnetic on screen/theatre as he's such a great actor. In interviews and when I have met him he doesn't actually exude sex-appeal and his dress sense is terrible, but he's an amazing actor and very nice.

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being an actor means he has to be a certain kind of person. He is very smiley, positive, accessible, expressive, in some ways kind of compliant, sort of emotionally flexible and also humble and quite self-effacing in the interviews I've seen. But this gives him the space within himself to be completely someone else. And the energy to control and project that. To paint the picture, using himself as the material.

Well, that's how I see it. So I think you can't put much store by how he is as 'himself', as that is still also a role, if a little crumpled.

I like how he chooses to use his body as himself, and his face. How he dresses, that recent shoot in the Guardian Saturday supplement. How he chooses to adorn his frame. It's up to him. And it is interesting. (below, for those who haven't seen his pink cardi - personally I think it looks nice):

www.instagram.com/p/DNIS42zIpr5/?img_index=1

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Noshadelamp · 27/08/2025 10:58

I went off him as a person when he started seeing a 25yr old at age 39.
They've split up now so keeping my eye on how old his next girlfriend is, hoping he's not another Leonardo DiCaprio!

Edit just realised he's recently dated Lily Allen, at least the age gap isn't questionable!

lotsofpatience · 27/08/2025 10:54

His brother Edward is even better.

Original poster
valentinka31 · 27/08/2025 10:50

hididdlyho · 27/08/2025 08:30

He looks like a cross between Jamie Oliver and Martin Clunes!

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I think our eyes must work differently haha

Both of those have puffy cheeks, gap teeth, paunches and watery blue eyes. They also would love a roast dinner for breakfast (every day). I am not seeing that in JN..

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Original poster
valentinka31 · 27/08/2025 10:48

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 01:46

Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Jamie Dornan? James Norton isn’t from Northern Ireland.

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he had that accent in the film.

Tbf Jamie Dornan is also on my top 10 list of leading men. Just watched 'The Fall' all through and really really wanted to hug him. ...

OP posts:
Original poster
valentinka31 · 27/08/2025 10:45

LegoTherapy · 27/08/2025 00:15

@valentinka31https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wn4qRk0MFqsH3jubbiX5QoTF7r7tUY5KyQ_qrIIt4MM/mobilebasic

Maybe he, like many others in the public eye, is afraid of being cancelled, and didn’t have the cojones like JKR, to actually stand up for what is right and factual. Very disappointing from him but it seems a lot of actors are choosing the path of least resistance and their own popularity first and foremost. He’s an actor, I love him in everything I’ve seen him in and my baptism
of fire was Happy Valley, but who knows what he’s really like and what his beliefs are deep down away from publicity.

thank you - very useful to have that reference.

You are right, of course. No actor can really risk putting their head above the parapet at all (weirdly apt given his role as king : ) ... they can't. Because if they do, their whole life can be destroyed. Clearly a wildly wrong situation, but that's it.

So we can't really know what anyone actually dares to think.

I'm glad he is on our screens, we are lucky to have him. Glad he's not risked being cancelled.

Mind you, there might be an uprising of mothers if he was 😊

OP posts:
ToffeeSheep · 27/08/2025 10:24

chaiselozenges · 22/08/2025 22:20

He’s a Type 1 diabetic like my DS. So I love him because of that. He talks about the reality of living with Type 1, which is fucking hard.

Same here Chaise!💙

XelaM · 27/08/2025 10:01

Ohhh I remembered another great role of his - as Sir Clifford Chatterley in Lady Chatterley's Lover. He was so beautiful there

Ultravox · 27/08/2025 09:32

He would have been THE best Rupert Campbell Black. I think that’s the highest award I can give to a man. He is swoon.

KimHwn · 27/08/2025 09:27

Listen to him on the Off Menu podcast, OP, he's lovely and a bit weird!

XelaM · 27/08/2025 08:40

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 08:04

That’s not his real accent.

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Yes, he's very posh and proper sounding 😃 boarding school/Cambridge background. Very far removed from Tommy Lee Royce 😂

I think a PP is totally right that he isn't actually that hot when he is being himself in real life, but is totally hot and magnetic on screen/theatre as he's such a great actor. In interviews and when I have met him he doesn't actually exude sex-appeal and his dress sense is terrible, but he's an amazing actor and very nice.

hididdlyho · 27/08/2025 08:30

LittleBearPad · 22/08/2025 22:57

Nope, not the only one. I simply don’t get the attraction. He has a weird face.

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He looks like a cross between Jamie Oliver and Martin Clunes!

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 08:04

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 27/08/2025 06:48

🙄Definitely James Norton - watch Nowhere Special.

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That’s not his real accent.

TidyDancer · 27/08/2025 07:22

Valkyrie3 · 23/08/2025 11:49

He signed a letter against the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman. Not cool.

Yes I agree. I do love him as an actor and he was pure evil perfection in Happy Valley but I went off him significantly when I saw his stance on this. I’m hoping he just hasn’t thought through the consequences of the performative position on it but it’s troubling.

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 27/08/2025 06:48

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 01:46

Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Jamie Dornan? James Norton isn’t from Northern Ireland.

Show quote history

🙄Definitely James Norton - watch Nowhere Special.

XelaM · 27/08/2025 02:46

I met him outside the Harold Pinter Theatre! He was so so so lovely and chatty. A real sweetheart.

His range as an actor is unbelievable! He was absolutely phenomenal in McMafia (and I'm Russian and usually hate series about Russians, but this was absolutely brilliant!); then in Grantchester where he was a completely different character but equally brilliant, then Tommy Lee Royce (again completely the opposite spectrum and so brilliant!) and then on stage in "A Little Life" where he was truly phenomenal as the tortured Jude. All completely different characters - could not be more different.

His range as an actor is truly unbelievable and he's so so lovely, well-educated and just dreamy. His sense of style in real life leaves a bit to be desired but I could live with that 😂

coxesorangepippin · 27/08/2025 02:20

Uh no not really for me, no

He's just a bit too home counties

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 01:46

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 22/08/2025 23:00

He has a beautiful face. Square jaw, high cheekbones. Curly curly hair. Sigh. Sexy Northern Ireland accent - who'd have thought it!

Tom Hiddlestone was interviewed on Today earlier in the week. He was so sycophantic towards the team for even having him on (basically to promote his latest job) I wanted to throw up.

Edited

Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Jamie Dornan? James Norton isn’t from Northern Ireland.

MeinKraft · 27/08/2025 01:44

He is gorgeous, I loved him as Tommy Lee Royce but his turn as the vicar in Grantchester cooled my passion a bit and then he was on Graham Norton and that dampened it even further. The Lily Allen thing killed it off altogether 😄 I want to watch that new BBC show he’s on though so maybe it’ll remind me he can be sexy when he’s not being himself.

LegoTherapy · 27/08/2025 00:15

@valentinka31https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wn4qRk0MFqsH3jubbiX5QoTF7r7tUY5KyQ_qrIIt4MM/mobilebasic

Maybe he, like many others in the public eye, is afraid of being cancelled, and didn’t have the cojones like JKR, to actually stand up for what is right and factual. Very disappointing from him but it seems a lot of actors are choosing the path of least resistance and their own popularity first and foremost. He’s an actor, I love him in everything I’ve seen him in and my baptism
of fire was Happy Valley, but who knows what he’s really like and what his beliefs are deep down away from publicity.

An Open Letter to Film and Television Industry and Cultural Bodies

An Open Letter to Film and Television Industry Professionals and Cultural Bodies We the undersigned film and television professionals stand in solidarity with the trans, non-binary, and intersex communities who have been impacted by the Supreme Court...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wn4qRk0MFqsH3jubbiX5QoTF7r7tUY5KyQ_qrIIt4MM/mobilebasic

Original poster
valentinka31 · 23/08/2025 22:32

pinkdelight · 23/08/2025 12:16

Wasn't he a shit to Jessie Buckley at the end? Feel like he played around on her, possibly with Poots. It put me off him back then anyway though I think he's a good actor. Which is why I never set too much store by people coming across well on chat shows etc. They're literally actors, of course they can play the part. I don't require them to be nice people to do their jobs well on screen, but IRL most actors are not the ideal life partners that their swoonsome roles suggest. Like musicians, artists, writers etc., there tends to be more self-obsession and insecurities than the average civilian. Nice to dream though eh. Enjoy the viewing!

Edited

what I meant was as an actor he is divine.. as for who he really is, how can we know?

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Original poster
valentinka31 · 23/08/2025 22:31

dottiedodah · 23/08/2025 12:59

I think hes great .Really good in McMafia a few years back.A second series was not made. due to the actors playing his parents disagreeing over Putin and Zelensky apparently

yes he was great in this and his Russian nice

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Original poster
valentinka31 · 23/08/2025 22:31

Valkyrie3 · 23/08/2025 11:49

He signed a letter against the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman. Not cool.

hmm. Gonna have to google that.

OP posts:
Original poster
valentinka31 · 23/08/2025 22:30

TheGrimSmile · 23/08/2025 08:11

Strangely I found him very attractive as Tommy Lee Royce with a Yorkshire accent but I don't like him posh. Tommy LR was a vile character so i don't understand it, it's very confusing. I can't understand it...

yes I know. It's worrying how palatable he was. And tattoos so suit him..

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EggandStress · 23/08/2025 13:23

Beautiful face.