Gotham Journal

Jamie Dornan was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1982 to Jim Dornan, a prominent Northern Ireland obstetrician. He attended and boarded at Methodist College Belfast, where he first met David Alexander, who would become his songwriting partner in 2002, when they founded their two-piece Irish folk outfit, Sons of Jim. They called the band this as both Dornan’s and Alexander’s fathers were named Jim.

Dornan later attended university but dropped out to pursue a modeling career, after being approached by the Select agency. Successful campaigns in Britain, Europe and the United States followed. The 6-foot-tall hunk has appeared in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Armani Exchange, Gap and Tommy Hilfiger as well as editorial spreads for GQ, L’Uomo Vogue, Elle and Arena among others. Doran is currently the face of Dior Homme for Christian Dior.

In 2003 Dornan met actress Keira Knightley on the set of an Asprey photoshoot and the two began a highly publicized romance. Knightley introduced him to her agent and has since appeared in the Sofia Coppola film, “Marie Antoinette” and will next be seen playing Swedish aristocrat Axel von Fersen and in “The Wreck.” The great-nephew of legendary actress, Greer Garson, Dornan is currently filming “Beyond The Rave.”

Sons of Jim have released two singles so far: “Fairytale” and “My Burning Sun”. Dornan wrote the Sons of Jim song, “Only on the Outside” about his break-up with Knightley. In March 2007, Dornan was briefly linked to former The O.C. actress Mischa Barton, though Barton has denied they pursued a relationship.

Update 11 08 07:

As luck would have it, I ran into Jamie Dornan walking up Perry Street in the West Village. Jamie was carrying a garment bag and was surrounded by two older gentlemen. Not a very interesting story I know, but exciting for me none the less -especially since I wrote the above story just a few days ago.

Below are a few more shots of Jamie from Visionaire number 52.

Click on the images for a larger view (bottom right image is NSFW).