Jim Carter (b. 1952) is a British character actor best known for playing butler Carson on Downton Abbey, and the husband of Imelda Staunton. Carter has appeared in two Creature Shop productions, The Witches (as the chef unnerved by the presence of Luke down his pantleg) and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (as Odin). He also appeared as Ja'Far in the TV movie Arabian Nights, which featured Creature Shop effects.
He was caricatured in the Sesame Street parody sketch "Upside Downton Abbey" as Farson.
Carter began his screen career with miniscule roles in Flash Gordon and the spoof Top Secret!, while television offered a more substantial supporting part as the father to Michael Gambon in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. Subsequent films include Black Beauty, The Madness of King George (as opposition leader Charles James Fox), Richard III (as Lord Hastings, opposite Ian McKellen), Shakespeare in Love (Ralph Bashford), The Little Vampire (vampire hunter Rookery), and Ella Enchanted (Nish the Ogre).
