Dominic West's Real Name: Dominic West

Quick answer: Dominic West is known professionally and in reference works as Dominic West. He was born on October 15, 1969, in Sheffield, England. He is a British actor best known as Detective Jimmy McNulty on HBO's The Wire (Encyclopedia.com; The Guardian).

Real name and early life

A Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television entry, via Encyclopedia.com, records Dominic West, born October 15, 1969, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, the son of George, who owned a plastics manufacturing plant, and Moya, an actress and homemaker. The Library of Congress heading is "West, Dominic, 1969-." One Library of Congress citation to an earlier edition of the same reference series gives the birth year as 1970, which conflicts with the October 15, 1969, date in the Encyclopedia.com entry; this page follows the more specific 1969 date and notes the difference. A longer string of given names appears in a Wikipedia-based Library of Congress note and is not used in the title. The Guardian says he grew up in a wealthy Catholic family on the outskirts of Sheffield and was sent to Eton, where a teacher cast him as Hamlet. He earned a B.A. in English literature at Trinity College Dublin in 1993 and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1995, the encyclopedia says.

Career highlights

After drama school he appeared on London stages, including work with the Peter Hall Company at the Old Vic in Cloud Nine, The Seagull, and Waste (1997), and later As You Like It (2005) and The Voysey Inheritance at the National Theatre (2006). Film credits listed by the encyclopedia include Richard III (1995), Surviving Picasso (1996), Spice World (1997), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), and a small role in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999). The Guardian notes later Hollywood romantic comedies, including 28 Days with Sandra Bullock.

His widest recognition came as Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty on The Wire (2002–08). He also directed the episode "Took" in 2008, the encyclopedia says. With the ensemble of the film Chicago, he shared a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2003. In 2008 he appeared as Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 miniseries The Devil's Whore, the project he was promoting in the Guardian interview.

Name notes for searchers

Dominic West is the name used in the Library of Congress heading, the encyclopedia entry, and news profiles. A longer set of given names appears only in a Wikipedia-based catalog note and is not used in the title here. Searchers looking for the actor behind Jimmy McNulty are usually aiming at the same person.