--- description: The former underwear model says he's more insecure than you might expect title: 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Star Jamie Dornan: 'I Don't Have a Lot of Body Confidence' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcd6694ff47a120/69877e7a428a9e7a57cc7108/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Fifty Shades of Grey_ Star Jamie Dornan: 'I Don't Have a Lot of Body Confidence'  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Feb 10, 2015 6:13 PM CUT  Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of GreyChuck Zlotnick—Universal  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Feb 10, 2015 6:13 PM CUT Before he was the star of the much-anticipated _Fifty Shades of Grey_, Jamie Dornan was the creepy criminal in the British crime thriller, _The Fall_. Before _that_, he was a model — specifically, an [underwear model.](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/jamie-dornan-modelling-underwear-for-calvin-klein-1381831211-view-0.jpg "undefined") But that doesn’t mean the young Irishman has truckloads of swagger when it comes to showing skin. “I don’t have a lot of body confidence,” says Dornan during an interview for [TIME’s feature on _Fifty Shades of Grey_](http://time.com/3696868/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-christian-grey/ "undefined"). “I would have the same hang-ups that most people would about their body. Maybe considering you’ll probably find pictures of my body quite easily online, that sounds weird, but those pictures wouldn’t be enjoyed by me, certainly.” The semi-naked brooding modeling stints weren’t a complete loss, though — they came in handy for his role as hunky-but-damaged millionaire Christian Grey in the new film. “The positive thing to come out of the fact that I’ve had my picture taken a lot is you do attain a level of comfort in front of the camera, I guess,” he says. “There’s obviously a difference between a still camera and a motion camera, but there’s still a black thing with a lens on top of it. When you break it down, the fundamentals of it are pretty similar. So if you’ve been in front of that a lot, it can aid you as an actor.” Dornan _does_ show a lot less flesh than Dakota Johnson in the movie; reportedly, when the cast reassembled in Vancouver to shoot some additional footage, part of the reason was to show slightly more of Dornan’s physique. If that’s true, Dornan says, it’s news to him. “No one told me that. I don’t remember \[what we shot\]; it’s all \[a\] blur.” And for a guy who’s tackled a number of erotically charged projects, Dornan actually comes off as pretty bashful. When he first saw the movie, he actually found his performance hard to watch, as many actors do. “I felt it was a great film — Sam \[Taylor-Johnson, the director\] had done a great job and Dakota was great in it,” he says. “But I’m certainly not in a position myself to say if I was any good.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/"},"headline":"Fifty Shades of Grey Star Jamie Dornan: 'I Don't Have a Lot of Body Confidence'","datePublished":"2015-02-10T18:13:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:18:05.087Z","description":"The former underwear model says he's more insecure than you might expect","url":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/","keywords":["movies","nudity","Acting","Fifty Shades of Grey","jamie dornan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcd6694ff47a120/69877e7a428a9e7a57cc7108/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcd6694ff47a120/69877e7a428a9e7a57cc7108/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Film Title: Fifty Shades of Grey","caption":"Film Title: Fifty Shades of Grey","creditText":"Chuck Zlotnick—Universal","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/","name":"Fifty Shades of Grey Star Jamie Dornan: 'I Don't Have a Lot of Body Confidence'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Super Fans React To 50 Shades of Grey Screening","description":"Super fans who attended an early screening of the 50 Shades of Grey movie at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City had a lot to say about the film, which is set to release on February 13th.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QjE5FVDr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-06T21:10:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QjE5FVDr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/","duration":"PT1M27S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3703167/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-body/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```