14 Things You Didn't Know About James McAvoy

McAvoy's portrayal of Kevin Wendell Crumb in Split riveted audiences, but he was not the first choice for the role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, director M. Night Shyamalan initially reached out to Joaquin Phoenix. The two had previously worked together on Signs and The Village.

However, Phoenix dropped out (due to other project commitments), and McAvoy was selected as his replacement. 

Raised Roman Catholic, McAvoy attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Glasgow. He thought about becoming a priest and missionary. McAvoy told The Guardian he wanted to help people around the world and thought his faith might provide a path to accomplish that goal. Once he realized the complexities of this option, he took a different direction. 

In an interview with The Telegraph, McAvoy shared, "I wanted to be a missionary, but it was only because I wanted a free ticket to go and explore the world. I realized I was using God and religion to get my kicks, so I knocked that on the head. I suppose I'm still spiritual but not in a Catholic way anymore."

As a teenager, McAvoy worked as a trainee confectioner at Sainsbury's Bakery. After enrolling in drama school, he continued early morning shifts at the bakery to pay his tuition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama). 

McAvoy didn't obtain a driver's license until age 30. He told The Telegraph, "I’d always just got around on a motorbike or a scooter before then. But when my kid was on the way, I thought I’d better pass my test."

Interestingly, he still starred in several films that required him to drive before he was licensed. He admitted to Top Gear's Matt LeBlanc, "I played a car thief in Shameless, and no one ever asked me if I had a driver's license. I didn't get one until six years later."

Whether the role requires a British inflection or an American accent, McAvoy can adapt. The Scotsman, however, rarely gets to invoke his native accent. In fact, he's only ever played four Scottish characters, according to Out.

McAvoy's high school English teacher was neighbors with actor/director David Hayman and invited him to speak to her class. McAvoy told Out, "The [students in my class] weren’t being total [jerks] to him, but it wasn’t the most productive visit we'd had from an outside professional. I went up to him afterwards and said, 'Thanks for coming - that was really cool.'"

McAvoy's cordial nature made him memorable, and Hayman ultimately awarded him a role in the film, The Near Room. 

His first experience on film had a profound effect on McAvoy:

Suddenly, I was around people who weren't afraid of being slightly different or called names, or singing a song, or playing in a band. I could stop being afraid to be different, or to aim for something, or to ask for something, or of being bullied.