He spent his early career in theatre around the country before joining the RSC where productions included Troilus and Cressida and Ibsen's Brand opposite Ralph Fiennes. In 2005, he joined the National Theatre, where he stayed for 28 months performing in His Dark Materials, Shakespeare's Henry IV alongside Sir Michael Gambon and David Edgar's Playing With Fire'. In 2007 he appeared in Marc Munden's The Mark of Cain, The Whistleblowers and Cranford. As well as other TV work such as Emma and The Forsyte Saga: To Let, he has also appeared in the music video for "Bellissimo" by Ilya, directed by the Guard Brothers (January 2004).

He and his wife were the first married couple to together successfully swim the English Channel in 2007 in 12 hours and 21 minutes as part of a fundraising challenge to support the neo natal unit at The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. In the same year, they also cycled from Paris to London, competed in the London Triathlon and ran the London Marathon.

He also starred in the BBC production of The Forsyte Saga as George Forsyte, as well as in the 2009 film The Duchess, 2010 in the horror-film Devil's Playground and 2012 film Cloud Atlas.

He has played the role of Major James Sholto in the second episode of Season 3 of the BBC TV series Sherlock, aired on 5 January 2014.

Other theatre work includes The Earl of Wessex - the part played by Colin Firth in the film - in the hit 2015 West End Production of "Shakespeare in Love". He played the role of Man in Shared Experience's Mine at the Hampstead Theatre.