Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is an Academy Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. Sir Sean Connery was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in July 2000. Connery is known for retaining his Scottish accent in films, regardless of the nationality of the character played, and rugged good looks. He has repeatedly been named as one of the most attractive men alive by various magazines, though he is older than most sex symbols. He is also a vocal and visible supporter of the Scottish National Party, often campaigning for their cause of Scottish independence.
Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh to a factory worker and truck driver father and a charwoman mother. His father, Joseph Connery, was a Roman Catholic of Irish descent with roots in County Wexford, while his mother, Euphamia "Effie" Maclean, was a Protestant. He claims he was called Sean, his middle name, long before becoming an actor, explaining that he had an Irish friend named Seamus and those who knew them decided to call him by his middle name when with Seamus.
His first job was as a milkman, with St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society. He then joined the Royal Navy, but was later discharged on medical grounds, because of a stomach ulcer. Afterwards, he returned to the Co-op, then worked other jobs, including truck driving, labourer, artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art coffin polisher, and lifeguard.
Under the name Thom Connery, he placed third in the tall man's division of the 1953 Mr. Universe contest. Fellow competitor, Johnny Isaacs, suggested he audition for a stage production of South Pacific, which led to stage, television, and film work. A prominent television role was in Rudolph Cartier's 1961 production of Anna Karenina for BBC Television, in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom. He also acted in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1956) starring Albert Sharpe; his first American television role was as a porter in an episode of The Jack Benny Show.
