Charles Matthew Hunnam was born on April 10, 1980 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK). His father (William Hunnam) was a scrap metal merchant and gangster. His mother (Jane Hunnam-Bell) had her own business, she ran a gift shop. William and Jane split up, when Charlie was very young; he was two years old. He has one older brother (William) and two younger half-brothers (Oliver and Christian). Charlie had Charlie's mom, remarried when Charlie was 12 years old and the family moved to Melmerby, Cumbria (UK). Charlie states that he had a rough upbringing and that he had a horrible time at school. According to Charlie, people wanted to prove themselves by picking a fight with the 'Newcastle kid". He wound up fighting a lot. This resulted in him being expelled from school and he had to take his exams for home. He passed and enrolled at the Cumbria College of Art and Design. Eventually he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in "The theory and history of film", with a side in performing arts.

While goofing around and buying shoes for his brother at Christmas Eve when he was 17 years old, he was spotted by one of the producers of a kid's show, called "Byker Grove" (based in Newcastle). Later Charlie was cast for the role of Jason in three episodes. Following his appearance on "Byker Grove", he landed a role in the British teen show "Microsoap". He then got his big break when he was cast as Nathan Maloney in the Channel 4 drama: "Queer as Folk".  The show revolves around two gay friends Vince and Stuart. They live to party and when Stuart hits on the 15-year-old Nathan (played by Charlie Hunnam), they have sex. However, Nathan falls in love with Stuart, while Stuart only saw Nathan as a one-night stand. Fun Fact: Stuart is played by Aidan Gillen, who is now known for playing the amazing role of Littlefinger in "Game of Thrones".

Because of his excellent role in "Queer as Folk", Charlie established somewhat of a name on British television and it put him in the limelight. In these early stages of his career, Charlie came to realize that he should choose his projects very carefully, because he knew that the first roles would determine his further career as an actor. He learned to trust on his instincts and learned that he had to reject a role, if it meant he could not demonstrate all sides of his acting talent. In 1999 he took the role of Daz in "Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?", before moving to Los Angeles (USA). 

In 2008, Hunnam finally made his breakthrough by landing the role of Jackson 'Jax' Teller in the FX drama series "Sons of Anarchy". Kurt Sutter (the creator of the show) saw Hunnam in "Green Street Hooligans" and at that moment he knew he wanted Charlie for the role of Jax. He came in to audition and nailed it. "Sons of Anarchy" or SOA revolves around a fictional motor club called SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) in the fictional town called Charming. Jackson 'Jax' Teller is the son of the late John Teller, who co-founded the club. One of the other founders is Clay Morrow (played by Ron Perlman) and after John's death Clay became the president of SAMCRO. He also married Gemma (Katey Sagal), John's wife and Jax' mother. Jax becomes vice president. The show begins with the birth of Abel, the son of Jax and his drug addicted ex-wife Wendy (Drea de Matteo). When Jax finds his father's memoires, he slowly begins to question the SAMCRO way of life. "Sons of Anarchy" is one of my favorite TV shows and I immediately liked Charlie Hunnam in the role of Jax. It was only when I looked him up on IMdB, that I saw he played Pete Dunham in "Green Street Hooligans". The show was a huge success and ended up running for seven seasons until 2014. Charlie later stated that he had a hard time saying goodbye to the character of Jax (who he played for eight years). After the show ended, he kept on going back to the set for a period, to get through the personal process of saying goodbye.