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Freddie Highmore is an English actor who portrayed Norman Bates on Bates Motel

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Highmore was born on February 14, 1992 into a show business family. His mother, Sue Latimer, is a talent agent whose clients include actors Daniel Radcliffe and Imelda Staunton, and his father, Edward Highmore, is an actor. He has a younger brother named Albert ("Bertie"), born in 1995. Highmore's home is in Highgate, an area of North London.

Education[]

Highmore was educated at a primary school in Hampstead Garden Suburb in Hampstead in North London, and at Highgate School, an independent school for boys in Highgate (also in North London), followed by Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Spanish and Arabic. He graduated with a BA in 2014.

Career[]

He made his acting debut at the age of 7 in the movie Women Talking Dirty in which his brother Bertie also appeared and two years later played a young King Arthur in the TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon as well as the son of a bus driver in the BBC miniseries Happy Birthday Shakespeare. He acted alongside his father Hallmark Entertainment's TV movie Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story.

In 2004, he made his breakthrough in the Oscar-winning semi-biographical film Finding Neverland, playing Peter Llewelyn Davies, the troubled son of widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and the inspiration for J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. He received several awards and nominations for the role, including the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and an SAG Award. That same year, he appeared in the family adventure film Two Brothers and fantasy film Five Children and It.

The following year he was reunited with Finding Neverland co-star Johnny Depp and Women Talking Dirty co-star Helena Bonham Carter for Tim Burton's adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in which he portrayed lead character Charlie Bucket. It was reported that Johnny Depp had recommended him for the role after being so impressed with his work on Finding Neverland. For the second consecutive year, he was awarded the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and also won the Saturn Award for Outstanding New Talent.

In 2006, he appeared in the films A Good Year, animated fantasy film Arthur and the Invisibles as well as its sequels in 2009 and 2010 respectively. During this time, he also engaged in voice acting. In 2007, he appeared portrayed the title character in the film August Rush alongside Keri Russell and Robin Williams.

The following year he appeared in the children's fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles, taking on the roles of American twins Simon and Jared Grace. He provided his vocal talents once more for the video game of the same name and films A Fox's Tale and Astro Boy as well as the latter's video game.

He played the lead role in the BBC TV movie Toast, where he was reunited with Helena Bonham Carter once more. In 2010, he starred opposite Ving Rhames in the drama film Master Harold... and the Boys and in 2011 starred opposite Emma Roberts in romantic comedy-drama The Art of Getting By, where he again had to use an American accent.

Throughout his time on "Bates Motel" he was nominated for several awards, including two Critics' Choice Awards, and finally won his first award in 2017 at the People's Choice Awards.

Personal Life[]

In a September 2021 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Highmore revealed that he had recently married.[1]

Audios[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Vera Farmiga stated in an interview that she requested Freddie for the role of Norman after seeing his movie The Art of Getting By and viewing his audition tape for the show.  She told Carlton Cuse that if he cast Freddie in the role he would have his Norma. [2]
  • He was attracted to the role of Norman after getting bored with playing "the same character again and again." [3]
  • Had to take 6 months off filming in order to finish his university degree and filming had to work around it. [4]
  • Has stated that he re-watches Psycho before filming every new season of the show. [5] His portrayal of Norman stays very loyal to how actor Anthony Perkins portrayed him in that film.
  • Freddie was born the same year Perkins died.
  • He came up with the idea of Norma and Norman kissing in the scene where she talks him out of his suicide attempt in the Season 2 finale.
  • In May 2015, Kerry Ehrin Tweeted that Freddie would be writing one episode for Season 4. [6] He wrote the eighth episode and it was his writing debut. [7]
  • The shower scene from Psycho was used in the 2005 film Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in which he starred.
  • Freddie previously acted with Ian Hart (who originally portrayed Will Decody) in the 2004 film Finding Neverland.
  • In a 2015 interview with UK magazine Attitude, he revealed that he doesn't use social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. [8]
  • A photo Tweeted by Carlton Cuse on April 26, 2016, showed Freddie in the writers room on their first day of planning the final season[9] and in mid-June it was reported that he will be writing more episodes. [10]
  • It was confirmed at San Diego Comic Con 2016 that he will also direct an episode during the final season. [11] He confirmed that he would be writing the seventh episode and directing the eighth episode. [12] As well as writing another episode he made his directing debut.
  • He joked in several interviews that his own mother has banned him from calling her "Mother" because of the show.
  • In an interview before the series finale, he stated that it was probably his favorite episode of the entire series.
  • In a June 2017 podcast interview, he revealed that he and co-star Vera Farmiga have remained close friends since the show's end and he is godfather to her son Fynn.[13]
  • He is also good friends with co-star Nestor Carbonell, who went on to direct an episode of the first season of his follow-up TV series The Good Doctor.
  • He and Matthew Mandzij, who portrayed Deputy Jeffcoat, would go on to appear on-screen together again in the series premiere of the ABC TV show The Good Doctor.
  • Although they never shared any screentime on this show, he and actor Manny Jacinto would also go on to appear together in a first season episode of Highmore's follow-up series The Good Doctor.
  • Highmore and co-star Agam Darshi would go on to share a brief scene in a second season episode of The Good Doctor.
  • Highmore and co-star Karin Konoval would go on to star together in his follow-up TV series The Good Doctor.
  • His 2021 movie The Vault shares the title with a Season 4 episode The Vault.

Credits[]

Actor[]

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5

Writer[]

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5

Director[]

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5

References[]

  1. Freddie Highmore Reveals He Is Married On Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Corey Atad. September 28, 2021.
  2. Vera Farmiga on Bates Motel and Deciding to Do Television. vulture.com
  3. Freddie Highmore: 7 Things You Might Not Know About The 'Bates Motel' Star. fashionstyle.com
  4. Freddie Highmore IMDb Profile
  5. 'Bates Motel's' Freddie Highmore re-watches 'Psycho' at the start of each season. March 16, 2015
  6. Kerry Ehrin on Twitter. May 16, 2015
  7. 'Bates Motel' Star Freddie Highmore On Writing Season 4, Episode 8 Of A&E's 'Psycho' Prequel. Design&Trend.com. April 4, 2016
  8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Star Freddie Highmore Is All Grown Up—See What He Looks Like Now! EOnline.com. July 22, 2015.
  9. Carlton Cuse on Twitter. April 26, 2016
  10. ‘Bates Motel’ Season 5: Freddie Highmore To Write More Episodes. Hall of Fame Magazine. June 17, 2016
  11. Bates Motel Casts Rihanna as Marion Crane for Fifth and Final Season. TVLine.com. July 22, 2016
  12. Bates Motel on A&E. Facebook. July 26, 2016
  13. TVLine Podcast: Dream Emmy Q&A With Bates Motel's Freddie Highmore. TVLine.com. June 12, 2017

External Links[]

Main Cast
All Seasons
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia Cooke
Season 1
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNicola Peltz
Season 2
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNicola PeltzNestor Carbonell
Season 3
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor CarbonellKenny Johnson
Season 4
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor Carbonell
Season 5
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor Carbonell
Crew
Showrunners
Anthony CiprianoCarlton CuseKerry Ehrin
Directors
Christopher NelsonDavid StraitonEd BianchiJohan RenckJohn David ColesFreddie HighmoreLodge KerriganMax ThieriotNestor CarbonellOlatunde OsunsanmiPaul EdwardsPhil AbrahamRoxann DawsonSarah BoydSJ ClarksonSteph GreenStephen SurjikTim SouthamTJ ScottTucker Gates
Writers
Alexandra CunninghamAlyson EvansAnthony CiprianoBill BalasCarlton CuseErica LipezFreddie HighmoreJeff WadlowKerry EhrinLiz TigelaarNikki ToscanoPhilip BuiserScott KosarSteve KornackiTom SzentgyorgyiTorrey Speer
Miscellaneous
Anna JoukovaCary SmithChris BaconCory BirdEdward WarschilkaJamie Kaye WheelerJustis GreeneLorenzo SignorettiRyan Neatha JohnsonTerry WeaverVera FarmigaVikash Patel
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