Hollywood actor, 47, reveals he was bullied by co-star on set

By CHARLOTTE DEAN, ASSOCIATE SHOWBIZ EDITOR

Published: 11:09 EDT, 14 October 2026 | Updated: 11:09 EDT, 14 October 2026

He has gone on to become one of the country’s best-loved actors and achieve worldwide fame in a string of Hollywood roles.

But James McAvoy has now revealed he did not get a warm welcome into the industry – as he was bullied by a co-star when he starred in Band of Brothers for one episode.

The actor, 47, got his break in the American war drama mini-series which aired in 2001.

He claims one of his fellow actors ‘pointed at him and laughed’ to try and intimidate him on set.

McAvoy, who is Scottish, spoke to Andy Cohen about his experience on Watch What Happens Live, who was asking him about various projects from his career.

He showed a still image from Band Of Brothers and James admitted that he did not enjoy his time making the episode.

James McAvoy has claimed he was bullied by his co-star on Band Of Brothers when he joined the series for one episode at the start of his career.

But James has now revealed he did not get a warm welcome into the industry, as one of his fellow actors ‘pointed at him and laughed’ to try and intimidate him.

While looking at the photograph, he said: ‘Is he in there? No, I don’t think he is in there – Ah! Yeah he is.’

The photo showed Philip Barantini, Donnie Wahlberg, Kirk Acevedo, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Adam James, Frank John Hughes and Ross McCall.

Telling the story, he said: ‘On my first day on set, there was like a ton of actors. It was one of those scenes with everybody in it, and we’re at a bar.’

James, who was 22 at the time, explained that tension stemmed from being given more lines to say, while longer-standing members of the cast only had one.

He said: ‘I had a scene and all these guys were in it for like nine months, 10 months, and they get one line in one episode, and one line 10 episodes later. And they were all [Expletive].’

The Scottish native spoke to Andy Cohen about his experience on Watch What Happens Live, who was asking him about various projects from his career.

‘And I come in for one episode and I’ve got like an arc and scenes. I’ve got tons of lines.

‘And so, one of the guys in that picture decided to bully me on my first day as a professional actor out of acting school.’

James did not name the actor who he alleges bullied him and ‘got his buddies to stand, point and laugh at me for like, three minutes’.

He did rule out David Schwimmer and said Dexter Fletcher and Robin Laing ‘took me aside, they were like, “come hang with us man”‘.

James played the role of Private First Class James W Miller, who was a real life US soldier, featuring heavily in the episode before being killed in action.

Private Miller, 20, was killed by an enemy shell in the Netherlands on September 20, 1944.

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