Jamie Bell: From ‘Billy Elliot’ to ‘Tintin’ (PHOTOS)

Jamie Bell fans know the actor has come a long way since he pranced on Billy Elliot, a film for which he scored the BAFTA award for best actor.

Fans know he was underused in the 2008 film Jumper. They also couldn't get enough of him in King Kong and Defiance.

They were amazed -- but not surprised -- by his acting skills as Smike in the gem of a movie Nicholas Nickleby.

Bell's latest project is playing the title character in the film The Adventures of Tintin, out in U.S. theaters on Dec. 21.

The character's a very physical one, he told Vanity Fair. So because of my dance background there was something about that kind of expression in me that I think they were looking for.

His fans will be disappointed that the film's format doesn't allow him to appear in the flesh, but they should not despair. The movie has been generating positive buzz on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with fans tweeting left and right and center.

Tintin expert and self-professed Tintinologist Michael Farr saw the film and spoke about it to The Browser.

Both Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson, who made the film, are committed Tintin fans so they haven't mucked about with it, he said. What they've done is considered and careful, and often brilliant.

Jamie Bell fans do have something else to look forward to: he'll appear in the upcoming movie Man on a Ledge, which is scheduled for release in U.S. theaters on Jan. 27, 2012.

Here are photos of the actor throughout the years, from Billy Elliot to Tintin.