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James Geoffrey Ian Norton (born 18 July 1985) is an English film, television, and stage actor. He is known for roles in the television series Happy Valley, Grantchester, War & Peace and McMafia. He earned a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2015 for his performance as Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley.

Early life and education
Norton was born in Lambeth, London, the son of Hugh Biddulph Norton and Lavinia Jane Norman. His parents were both teachers; his father, who was born in Tanzania, was a lecturer at Hull School of Art and Design. Though originally from London, Norton's family lived in the town of Malton in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire. Norton, who grew up at the edge of the Howardian Hills in North Yorkshire, has described his childhood as "idyllic". His grandfather, Ian Norton, MBE (1923–2003), a colonial official in Tanganyika, was son of Hugh Ross Norton, OBE, Archdeacon of Sudbury from 1945 to 1962; Ian's wife, Jean (1923–2016), was daughter of Colonel Francis John Biddulph, of the Royal Engineers. The Biddulphs were a branch of an Irish landed gentry family.

Norton was educated at Bramcote Prep School (Scarborough College) in Scarborough until the age of 13 and Ampleforth College, an independent Roman Catholic (Benedictine) boarding school in the village of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire. He did work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough when he was 15.

Starting in 2004, Norton read theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating in 2007 with First Class Honours. Norton received a Fitzwilliam Travel Grant to travel to Northern India, to teach and perform for schoolchildren at 16 schools. He has said his studies were principally focused on Hinduism and Buddhism.

Norton was a member of The Marlowe Society theatre club at Cambridge and, in 2007, he played Posthumus in a production of Cymbeline directed by Trevor Nunn for the society's centenary. Norton has said that he performed in many theatre productions while at university. Norton then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London for three years, but left in 2010 six months before graduation to take an acting assignment.