BEESLEY
Maxton

• 1. Acting career

Maxton Gig Beesley Jr. is an English actor and musician. His television and film credits include The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1997), The Match (1999), Hotel (2001), Kill Me Later (2001), The Last Minute (2001), Bodies (2004-2006), The Last Enemy (2008), Survivors (2008–2010), Mad Dogs (2011-2013), Suits (2013), Empire (2015-2016), Ordinary Lies (2015), Jamestown (2017-2019), The Outsider (2020), The Midwich Cuckoos (2022), Operation Fortune (2023) and Hijack (2023). In 2024, he appeared as boxing promoter Henry Collins in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (2024).

Acting career

Beesley came to prominence with his first major acting role in BBC's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, a 1997 television mini-series based on the book of the same name. In 1999, he played the lead role of Wullie Smith, in the Scottish comedy film The Match, working with Isla Blair, Samantha Fox and Richard E Grant.

In 2001, he played a bank robber in the film Kill Me Later, alongside Selma Blair. The same year, he starred as Antonio in Mike Figgis' movie Hotel. In 2004, he starred in the ethics challenging BBC Three dark medical drama Bodies, which ran until 2006, and won best drama at the Royal Television Society awards. In 2006, he starred as Charlie, the hotel Deputy Manager in the BBC One series Hotel Babylon.

In June 2007, Beesley starred in the ITV series Talk to Me. He also starred in the film Red Roses and Petrol, alongside Malcolm McDowell, and in the BBC One thriller The Last Enemy, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Carlyle. In October 2008, he was one of the lead characters in BBC One's remake of the 1970s drama Survivors, as remorseless former criminal Tom Price. The series consisted of six episodes, with a second series of six episodes transmitted in January 2010. He starred in the ITV drama The Reckoning in April 2011. Beesley gained more exposure with American audiences with a recurring role on Suits, in 2013 and from October 2015 with another recurring role, this time in the US spy drama Homeland, opposite Claire Danes, as ex-British special forces bodyguard Mike Brown. From 2016 to 2018 he starred in Jamestown as Henry Sharrow, depicting the first British settlers to colonise Virginia in 1609.

He was cast as Seale Bolton in The Outsider on HBO in June 2019, which aired from January 2020. In 2021, he starred as Ben Harris in Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, opposite Jason Statham. 2021 also saw him return to television, starring in The Midwich Cuckoos opposite Keeley Hawes for Sky TV. In 2022, Beesley joined the cast of Hijack for Apple TV opposite Idris Elba and Neil Maskell.

In 2024, he starred as boxing promoter Henry Collins in Guy Ritchie's The Gentleman for Netflix, alongside Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, and Ray Winstone.