Lee 'Apollo' Adama

Character bio courtesy of Battlestar Wikipedia

JAMIE BAMBER
 

Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith, was born on April 3, 1973 in Hammersmith, London. His father, Ralph is an American. His mother, Elizabeth is Irish and she trained as an actress. Jamie is one of seven siblings, having a younger brother and a younger sister as well as four older half-brothers from his father's first marriage, all of whom were raised as a single family. It was Jamie's mother who first awakened his love of drama while she ran a children's theatre group at the American Cathedral in Paris; his first role was as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, cast by his mother, who as yet lacked a daughter.

It was as a child that he had his first paid acting work, dubbing a French film into English while in Paris and then doing the odd TV commercial after moving back to the U.K. at the age of 7. At St. Paul's School in London he developed his love for the theatre and for all things athletic. He became School Captain in his final year, before going to Cambridge University to study French and Italian literature. While there he played university rugby and performed in many theatrical productions. He also spent a study year in Pavia, Italy, before graduating with first-class honours. He is skilled in languages, speaking fluent French and Italian as well as being conversant in Spanish.

While Bamber has always wanted to act, his acceptance to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art marked the decision to make it his career. Still at LAMDA, he was cast in his first professional role, as Archie Kennedy in A&E's Horatio Hornblower miniseries. Between filming episodes of Hornblower, he had a small but memorable part in The Scarlet Pimpernel, playing Lord Tony Dewhurst, and appeared in the acclaimed British period drama Poirot, in which he played Roger Paton in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

In 2001, and following pressure from fans, he was re-cast as 4th Lieutenant Archie Kennedy in the new installments of Horatio Hornblower. This brought him to the attention of the casting crew of Steven Spielberg's landmark TV series Band of Brothers, in which he played 2nd Lieutenant Jack Foley.

Most recently, Bamber appeared in the long-running ITV series Peak Practice prior to it being axed, and also in the ITV SAS-drama Ultimate Force. He has also returned to the stage, playing Prince Hal in the Britol Old Vic's production of Shakespeare's Henry IV.

He is married to English actress Kerry Norton, (layne Ishay) with whom he had a daughter, Isla Elizabeth Angela Griffith, born in 2003, and two twin daughters, Darcy and Ava, born in 2004.

Background

Lee "Apollo" Adama is the eldest son of Caroline and William Adama. Together with his younger brother, Zak, he was raised largely by his mother on Caprica, following his parents' divorce when he was eight.

Despite his father's estrangement from the family, Adama nevertheless inherited his passion for flying - a passion that saw him enrolling in the Colonial military reserves after graduating from college. Following his basic training, he graduated from the military academy third in his class and immediately applied for flight school.

Not to be outdone by his elder brother, Zak Adama applied for military service, a move that eventually brought tragedy to the Adama household.

Accepted into flight school, Adama proved himself a gifted and natural pilot, hampered only by his tendency to over-intellectualise things - a result of his upbringing with his mother, who encouraged him to read widely, and think freely (encouragement that lead him to read banned texts by the renegade Tom Zarek while at college (Bastille Day)).

Graduating from flight school, Adama was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Colonial Reserve, flying the Viper Mark VII. During this time, he was also introduced to kara "Starbuck" Thrace, a training instructor at flight school, who was also involved with Zak Adama. While Adama was still at flight school, the three frequently spent time together, and Adama and Thrace developed a friendship through Zak Adama (Miniseries).

Brother's Death

Tragedy struck some two years prior to the renewed Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies when Zak Adama, recently graduated from flight school, was killed on a routine Viper mission. At the time, the cause of the accident was put down to pilot error. However, Lee Adama chose to blame the mishap on his father, whom he believed had pushed Zak into applying for military service and for applying for flight school (Miniseries).

Following Zak's death, Lee Adama became estranged from his father, seeking to build his career well away from any influence exerted by either William Adama or the legendary battlestar Galactica, his father's command. While he was successful in this - gaining promotion to Captain through his own abilities, the decision nevertheless placed a heavy strain on his friendship with kara Thrace, as she applied for pilot duty aboard Galactica.

Adama spends much time on Caprica and becomes engaged to a woman named Gianne. She tells him she is pregnant with their child, causing him to run from her due to his own family issues. Before he can speak with her again he is assigned to take part in the decommissioning ceremony aboard Galactica. (Black Market)

Adama is reunited with both his father and kara Thrace when it was decided Galactica should be decommissioned and handed over to civil authorities as a living museum and educational center of the Cylon War. As a part of the final ceremonies marking Galactica's retirement, Lee Adama is ordered to participate in a final Viper flyby to salute both the ship and her commanding officer - an assignment he undertakes grudgingly, doing little to hide his true feelings from the moment he arrives on the battlestar (Miniseries). Matters are not helped when he discovers he will fly not in his own Mark VII Viper, but in the newly-restored Mark II Viper his father had flown during the Cylon War (Miniseries).

Things worsen after the PR official aboard Galactica, Aaron Doral, sees Captain Adama's presence on Galactica as a major PR opportunity and has Adama and his father pose for pictures together. Immediately following this, Adama confronts his father over Zak's death, during which he vents two years' worth of anger, clearly expressing his belief that William Adama was responsible for the loss of his brother.

Surprise Cylon Attack

Following the decommissioning ceremony, Lee Adama departs Galactica, acting as a unofficial escort for Colonial Heavy 798, the official transport for Secretary of Education Laura Roslin, who represented President Adar at the ceremony. Mid-way through their return to Caprica, Adama and the crew of Colonial Heavy 798 hear of the Cylon attacks on the Twelve Colonies, and soon find themselves under direct attack. While Adama is able to thwart the missile attack, his father's old Viper is disabled and is brought aboard Colonial Heavy 798. Adama becomes one of Laura Roslin's unofficial advisors, aiding her in her self-appointed rescue mission. Adama's annoyance of his father's old Viper comes back to haunt him when Boomer, returning from her unexpected rescue mission on Caprica and disastrous attack on two Cylon Raiders, notes to him that other Vipers and other modern Colonial spacecraft like his Mark VII were easily destroyed by Cylon attacks.

Following his disobedience of a direct order from his father , Adama again saves Colonial Heavy 798 from a nuclear missile attack with a failed experiment he toyed with in War College, using Galactica's EMP coils that were placed on the ship for return to Caprica and the Colonial Fleet - while simultaneously making it look like the ship had been destroyed. He supports Roslin in her rescue efforts. Adama persuades Roslin to lead the FTL-capable ships to follow Galactica to the Ragnar Anchorage.

As the ranking pilot aboard Galactica, and despite his relative inexperience, Adama finds himself promoted to the position of CAG by Colonel Saul Tigh.

Apollo leads a Viper squadron in keeping Cylon Raiders at bay while the civilian Fleet Jumps away from Ragnar Anchorage. His ship is badly damaged midway in the battle and Adama would have been killed by a missile were it not for the lightning-fast and highly-accurate shooting of kara. kara's highly unconventional flying force-fits her fighter and Adama's now-powerless Viper nose-to-nose and flies him back to the battlestar seconds before the port flight pod closes and Galactica Jumps away.

The attacks presumably kill Lee's fiancé Gianne and their unborn child before Lee can speak to her again. This drives him into depression leading him to at an unknown time start seeing a prostitute named Shevon (Black Market).

Special Advisor

Lee Adama finds himself attached to Roslin as a "special advisor" to further help her understand military matters. This appointment does not sit well with his father (Bastille Day).

When tensions rise during a hostage crisis with prisoners aboard the Astral Queen, Adama resolves the situation with only one life lost through an arrangement reached between Adama and the leader of the convicts, Tom Zarek. While the solution is sensible, it is not to the liking of either Commander Adama or President Roslin.

In the weeks following the Cylon attack, Adama finds time to re-evaluate his relationship with his father - due in no small part to kara's admission of her involvement in Zak's acceptance as a fighter pilot (Miniseries) and his subsequent death. Father and son grow somewhat closer - even standing shoulder-to-shoulder when kara is MIA (You Can't Go Home Again). Even so, Adama's former self-doubts and moodiness are not easily overcome and sometimes come back to haunt him when he is tasked to fill a role that others are unsure he can manage. As a Viper pilot, Adama is able to escape from kara's shadow, proving himself capable in unconventional and skilled flying in the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid (The Hand of God).

After the tylium asteroid mission, Adama matures enormously, emerging from his shell as a somewhat disillusioned officer and becomes a practical leader who now comfortably straddles his responsibilities as CAG of Galactica with his duties as advisor to Roslin. With few issues with either Roslin or his father, Adama demonstrates his maturity particularly well in his handling of security arrangements for the initial meeting of Roslin's Quorum of Twelve aboard the luxury liner Cloud Nine (Colonial Day).

The Inner Conflicts at Kobol

Unfortunately, Adama's beliefs in the need for democratic representation and civil government brings him in direct conflict with orders given him by Commander Adama. During the arrest of Laura Roslin following her interference with military operations, Captain Adama draws his gun on Colonel Tigh in a direct act of mutiny, protesting his father's removal of Roslin from office. Arrested together with Roslin, Adama watches helplessly in CIC as Lieutenant Valerii shoots his father at point blank range, seriously wounding him (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

Adama is temporarily furloughed by Colonel Tigh so that he can continue his CAG responsibilities, For a time, Commander Adama's initiative lives on through his son. Young Adama leads a fight with Cylons to buy time for Galactica to find its proper bearings to the civilian Fleet (Scattered), He leads a team of Marines to stop Cylon Centurions from reaching Aft Damage Control, saving the ship (Valley of Darkness). After that, Adama continues his initiative and leads a SAR mission with two Raptors to retrieve stranded Colonials on the surface of Kobol (Fragged).

Adama's desire to let democracy work without overt military action comes to a head once more as he plots with a handful of others to free Roslin and smuggle her away from Galactica (Resistance). Before he leaves, he apologizes to his unconscious Commander Adama at his bedside for what he is about to do: Leave with Roslin and a faction of ships to search for data on Earth on Kobol. Commander Adama begins to awaken just as Adama leaves his side.

On the Astral Queen, Adama is so happy to see kara Thrace returned safely from Caprica with the Arrow of Apollo that he hugs and also impulsively kisses her, pleasantly surprising Thrace (Home, Part I). Moments later, as the Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii entered, Adama instantly grabs the known Cylon agent in anger and would have killed her if Helo and Roslin did not intervene.

Later, with their military protocols and attitudes temporarily relaxed, Adama playfully teases the brooding kara Thrace by stealing a pyramid ball she took as a keepsake from her time with Anders on Caprica. He returns the ball after sensing her depressed mood and tells her that he would be happy to listen to what was on her mind. In the same conversation, he lets it slip out that he loves Thrace. Amused, Thrace cheers up a bit and teases Adama, telling him that there are no take-backs on what he said.

Adama and Thrace join President Roslin and her other supporters on their quest to find the Tomb of Athena on Kobol. When Cylon Centurions ambush the group along an ancient trail, Adama and Thrace work well together in the fight, complementing each other for their fine shooting. During the incident, Adama chases what appeared to be an escaping Valerii, with Thrace calling Adama back in vain. Valerii takes a grenade launcher and aims it in the direction of Adama, but Valerii actually uses the weapon to destroy the last Centurion instead before dropping the weapon to a very surprised Adama.

Adama's reunion with his recovered father on Kobol further mends the wounds between them, both politically and personally. Like Captain Adama had done on the Queen, his father reacts violently to the existence of a another copy of Valerii, leaving Captain Adama in the awkward position of defending her from his father.

In the virtual planetarium created by the Tomb of Athena, Adama is the party member that completes the mystery of interpreting how to use the constellations as viewed from Earth to make a flight path. He spots the Lagoon Nebula in the sky where the Scorpius constellation resided, a celestial body known to the Colonials which gives them a reference point to navigate to Earth. His father confirms Adama's observation, noting that the nebula is far away from their current location at Kobol.

After the Fleet's reunification, Lee Adama is fully restored to flight status and his position as the Commander, Air Group (Final Cut). Apollo doubts that Tyrol could successfully complete a prototype fighter later known as the Blackbird, but in the end aids in its first test flight with kara. Around this time, Adama begins to develop a peculiar attraction to Petty Officer 2nd Class Anastasia Dualla (Flight of the Phoenix).

Reassignment

Apollo is on CAP when the battlestar Pegasus reunites with Galactica: he was one of the first to see it up close. Soon afterwards, friction develops between Adama and the CAG of Pegasus, Captain Cole "Stinger" Taylor. Taylor feels that Adama's pilots were undisciplined and implies that Adama has his position through his father's influence. Taylor recommends that Adama have his pilots focus on keeping a "killcount" of Raiders to encourage competition between his pilots, while Adama stresses that his first priority is to make sure that all of his pilots merely survive another day.

To Adama's shock, Admiral Helena Cain re-assigns him and Lt. Thrace to Pegasus, under Taylor's command. Cain believes that having Commander Adama's son in the role of CAG was a mistake that had clouded Commander Adama's judgment, as young Adama had been insubordinate and even mutinous in the past. During a briefing on an upcoming scouting mission against the Cylon fleet following them, Thrace crassly points out that it would never work. She is grounded while Taylor orders Adama to perform the humiliating task of co-piloting a Raptor. However, after the briefing, Adama surreptitiously gives kara a surveillance package and tells her to take the Blackbird to carry out a recon mission on her own. When Commander Adama and Admiral Cain turn on each other, Apollo is away in Taylor's Raptor on his recon mission (Pegasus).

As the two battlestar commanders begin sparring with Vipers, Pegasus orders Taylor to relieve Adama of duty. Taylor pulls his sidearm and takes away Adama's. Now weaponless and with nothing more to do than to ride along, Adama asks permission to head to the rear of the Raptor. While Taylor is busy, Adama secretly sends an encoded wireless message to kara on her whereabouts with the Blackbird and the secret stealth mission he tasked her with. It happened that kara arrives back in the Fleet's space to see the furious and dangerous game of Viper-tag and replies to Adama, asking what was going on. kara's return on the outer fringes of DRADIS activate proximity alarms on both Pegasus and Galactica, whose Vipers unite as a team to intercept what they think is a Raider. kara manages to identify herself before things get out of hand.

kara Thrace downloads her reconnaissance photos of what would be later known as the Resurrection Ship to a very surprised Admiral Cain, who promotes Thrace to Captain as well as assigning her as Pegasus CAG, replacing Cole Taylor. Cain feels that persecuting Adama for authorizing Thrace's mission would be odd since she was promoting Thrace, so she decides to take Adama off flight status. In light of Thrace's new task of planning an attack on the Resurrection Ship, Thrace asks for and successfully returns Adama to flight status. He remains, however, demoted to Lieutenant (Resurrection Ship, Part II).

Adama visits Karl Agathon and Galen Tyrol in the Pegasus brig, asking the two of them with a smile, "So, just how many kinds of stupid are you?" He informs them that their scheduled execution is on hold until at least after the battle operation, and tells how Commander Adama "went to the mat" for both of them in trying to get them back, almost going into a shooting war with Pegasus.

After the battlestar commanders and their teams are briefed by Thrace on her attack plan, Commander Adama requests Thrace to stay to talk more on the plan and dismisses his son, asking him cryptically to "stay focused, son." With young Adama gone, the elder Adama asks Thrace to kill Cain after the operation to prevent her from eventually having Commander Adama killed and, in turn, doom the Fleet to Cain's tyrannical commands. Commander Adama tells Thrace to take Lee Adama with her, to watch her back (Resurrection Ship, Part I).

Battle of the Resurrection Ship

With the recon photos from karas mission in hand, Thrace plans an assault on the Resurrection Ship and the two basestars defending it. At the same time, kara told Apollo that his father had ordered her to kill Cain after the battle, and for Apollo to watch her back. Outraged, Apollo confronted his father with this, who said that it wasn't something he wanted to do but that had to be done. However, Apollo was shocked when his father told him that assassinating Cain was President Roslin's idea. Apollo was in disbelief that as a society they had fallen to these levels. Thrace assigns Adama the specific task of disabling the Resurrection Ship's FTL drive by sneaking up on it in the Blackbird and destroying it with a precision missile strike. Apollo is successful in his mission and disables the Resurrection Ship, however, he is then hit by a floating piece of debris. Apollo is able to eject, but the Blackbird is destroyed. Alive, but not unscathed, Apollo floats in space watching the battle take place, able to faintly hear Dee calling for him over the wireless. A small hole in the leg on his flight suit allows most of his oxygen to escape into space. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he finds himself floating in a body of water, presumably on Caprica before the attack.

Adama is found shortly afterwards by a SAR Raptor and is brought back from the brink of death on board. However Apollo becomes despondent and distant from his friends and family after his near death experience. In the pilots locker room, Thrace tells Adama "Lets just be glad that we both came back alive, alright?" to which Adama responds "Thats just it, kara, I didn't want to make it back alive." (Resurrection Ship, Part II)

The Black Market

Adama (who has had his captains rank restored) and Thrace apprehend Viper saboteur Asha Janik of the Demand Peace group which is trying to make peace with the Cylons. (Epiphanies)

After President Roslin is saved from her cancer (Epiphanies) she begins trying to put down the Fleet's Black Market. New Pegasus commander Jack Fisk is soon murdered leading the elder Adama (now an Admiral) to assign his son to investigate. After seeing prostitute Shevon and her daughter Paya on Cloud 9 Adama is asked by Anastasia Dualla where the relationship between the two of them was going. After he can't answer Dualla takes it to mean it is over. Adama rushes back to Shevon's quarters after hearing a call for help from her, and is ambushed by thugs. Their leader Phelan warns him against investigating further. Lee is knocked unconscious and upon awaking finds everyone gone except the corpse of Fisk's murderer.

With some help from Tom Zarek Adama finds the Black Markets main ship Prometheus, abroad which Paya and other children are locked up. He confronts Phelan who tells him a Black Market is needed in the Fleet since no supplies will ever reach the people any other way. Shevon is dragged out to admit she works for Phelan as a prostitute. Adama shoots Phelan and tells his bodyguards the market will continue unless it keeps holding back essential medicines, killing, and using child prostitution. Shevon refuses to see Adama anymore, stating to him she and Paya are just replacements for his lost fiancé Gianne and their unborn child. (Black Market)

Friendly Fire

While on leave to Cloud 9 with Anastasia Dualla, a group of terrorists demanding they be allowed to kill Sharon Valerii held about a dozen people, including Dualla, Billy Keikeya, Ellen Tigh and Adama, hostage in a bar. Lee reacted quickly, sabotaging the bar's sensors so it appeared they were leaking atmosphere. The sabotage enabled Capt. Thrace to gather intelligence on the situation, but her cover was blown, and she was forced to lay down some fire to escape. One shot hit Adama in the chest. Dualla was able to care for Adama long enough for him to survive to Galactica's sickbay, and later sat at his bedside while he recovered. (Sacrifice)

A Worthy Command

Adama finds himself promoted to Major and assigned to battlestar Pegasus as the Executive officer for new commander Barry Garner, a former officer in Engineering. Garner finds an instant dislike for kara and soon orders her to be sent back to Galactica. Meanwhile, a Raptor recon mission near a binary star system becomes a SAR as the two craft go missing. Against orders from Admiral Adama, Garner takes Pegasus in to search for the Raptors. His impulsive and unwise efforts result in a Cylon ambush of three basestars.

With the FTL drive damaged, he relegates command to Major Adama and heads below to help in FTL repairs. After a moment's hesitation (perhaps thinking what his father would do), Adama orders the forward guns to fire on the nearest basestar's central spire, critically damaging the basestar and forcing its retreat, while commanding the battlestar's fighters (led by kara) to guard embattled areas damaged from nuclear pummeling. After Commander Garner successfully repairs a critical area and the FTL drive repaired, Major Adama retrieves the fighters and Jumps back to the Fleet and relative safety.

Admiral Adama debriefs his son, and congratulates him by promoting him to the rank of Commander and giving him command of battlestar Pegasus (The Captain's Hand).

Sometime later, Apollo wished kara good luck in rescuing Anders and the rest of the Resistance, despite his clear personal feeling towards her. (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I). After the two of them returned, Adama attempted to introduce himself politely, but was hampered by vast quantity of alcohol they had consumed.

Just over a year later, Apollo was the Commander of a half-capacity, nearly unneeded Battlestar orbiting New Caprica. He was in the process of deciding whether or not to give kara antibiotics for Anders (now her very ill husband) when Dualla (now an officer on the CIC) spots a Cylon fleet jumping into the nebula. Adama and his father had a brief discussion over their course of action (with Lee arguing for jumping away and Bill against), before the Admiral ordered the Fleet, whose population now consisted less than ten thousand crew, to jump away, leaving New Caprica to the Cylons, for the time being. (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)