James Northcote

Plucked from relative obscurity, actor James Northcote rose to overnight fame after being cast as Edgar Linton, Heathcliff's rival for Catherine's love, in the gritty 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."

While studying at Cambridge University, Northcote began acting in the theater and working on films as an assistant director, most notably the 2008 short "My World," starring Archie Panjabi, and the 2009 dramatic short "Bale." Making his stage debut as Raleigh in "Journey's End" at the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatics Club playhouse, Northcote went on to play Toad in the stage adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows," Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet," and John Procter in "The Crucible," among other roles.

Joining the National Youth Theatre after graduating from Cambridge, the young actor performed in the play "Relish" in 2010 before auditioning for Andrea Arnold's "Wuthering Heights" and landing the role that would thrust him into the spotlight. After heading back to the stage to be directed by the legendary Trevor Nunn in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" at the Royal Theatre Haymarket in London, Northcote appeared in "The Changeling " at the Southwark Playhouse, also in London.

In 2011, the actor returned to the film world as he co-starred with Hannah Anderson in the romantic short "Storm House."