24-03-2025
Jason Isaacs: ‘The White Lotus' & His Surprising Career Pivot
Who can forget Jason Isaacs with his icy blonde 'do and menacing demeanor as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series? While we loved the way he brought the Death Eater to life, these days, he's swapping out robes and wigs for Southern Tide Polos and linen shirts while he enjoys (or tries to) a stay at The White Lotus Thailand. In the hit HBO anthology series, Isaacs brings to life Timothy Ratliff, the patriarch of a certainly unique family consisting of his wife, played by Parker Posey, a wealthy, prescription pill-reliant mom of three. Their kids, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook also possess their unique set of quirks (Schwarzenegger's character of Saxon being without a doubt the most unsettling), making for a family dynamic that is all too enthralling.
While this new role is a breath of fresh air from the villainous roles he's mastered over the years, Timothy isn't entirely off the hook, as recent episodes have revealed some shady business dealings of his past coming back to haunt him. Here, take a look back at the early career of Jason Isaacs prior to his White Lotus stay. Plus, what he's said about his latest character.
Before he became a face we saw acting alongside some of the biggest faces in Hollywood up on the big screen, Isaacs was pursuing law. However, this particular season of his life left him feeling somewhat unfulfilled. "I went to university and was surrounded where everybody sounded like Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley,' he told The Record-Courier back in 2015. 'I was born in Liverpool, and that was not the world I grew up in."
A drunken attempt at impressing his peers led him straight into an audition for a play, persuaded by an advertisement looking for someone who could do a northern accent. When he was cast, the shift he felt was a singular experience. 'When I was rehearsing for the first time, I felt completely at home, truly comfortable and able to express myself,' Isaacs shared with Nitrate Online back in 2000. 'Not necessarily to do with the acting, but the ready-made family unit, like I belonged. It was free of a sense of class, and history, and ethnicity, and gender, almost, as well.'
Though he shared that he never anticipated being on television and acting in films, the actor certainly did something right. Over the years, he has shined in countless television series, as well as films like The Patriot (2000) with Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, Black Hawk Down (2001), the ever-iconic Peter Pan (2003) where he played Captain Hook and countless others. However, it was in 2002 when he first originated the part of Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and it remains one of his most iconic roles.
'There was a weight of such expectation on the film. The fans are rabid all over the world,' Isaacs shared in an unpublished interview with Ed Gross in the wake of the first film. 'I was thinking of not doing it, because I was offered Captain Hook at the same time, and my friends' children called up, livid; just spitting blood, because they'd heard I was thinking of not doing it. Only because they wanted to go to the premiere and visit the set, not because they cared about my career [laughs]. But it was an absolute joy. The kids were fantastic, very skilled and seasoned. Plus I got to sit in the green room with the cream of British theatrical royalty. Just to sit in the dressing room with people like Richard Harris and Maggie Smith and watch them being made up—just a thrill.'
After his Harry Potter success, Isaacs also appeared in series like Dig, Star Trek: Discovery, The OA, Sex Education, Good Sam, and has additionally lent his voice to countless animated series. These days, however, it's his stay at The White Lotus that has people talking.
While his role as the Ratliff patriarch differs from his past, more outwardly villainous roles, it still required some serious preparation—in the form of reality television. "Mike [White] had asked us to watch Southern Charm, a great reality show, and somebody in it, people from Southern Charm went, 'He's clearly doing Thomas Ravenel,'" the actor told Good Morning America. "And Thomas, I am doing you, mostly, but not for two vowels, which are completely English."
Catch Isaacs in season 3 of The White Lotus, with new episodes airing on HBO and streaming on Max on Sundays at 9 p.m. Stream the first few episodes on Max now.
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