He was born on December 29, 1972 in southeast London to a family of school teachers Peter and Maggie. His father worked as a teacher of elementary grades, and his mother taught English to children of refugees. He was the second child in the family and attended the regular school until the age of fourteen, but then because of the bullying of his classmates, his parents were forced to transfer him to a private school in Dulwich. Now the parents of the actor own a theater company in France, and the elder sister Natalia works as a photographer.