He was cast as the leading man in V for Vendetta (2005) but departed halfway in having had creative differences with the makers of the film.

At his London home, Purefoy personally constructed a tree house for his young son.

At boarding school, he once serenaded the girls at a nearby school with thirteen stanzas of "Greensleeves."

Screen tested for the Bond role in GoldenEye (1995).

The name, Purefoy, is originally Norman French and literally means "good faith" or "my word or bond is in good faith." Some Purefoys went to England during the Norman Conquest and others emigrated to England as French Huguenot expatriates in the fifteenth century.

In 1997, Purefoy was voted "hunk of the year" by a British television magazine.

James' co-star in 'Rome', Kevin McKidd, also played his love interest in 'Bedrooms and Hallways'.

He has a son named Joseph born in 1997.