Bettany first came to the attention of mainstream audiences when he starred in the films "Gangster No. 1" (2000), "A Knight's Tale" (2001), and "A Beautiful Mind" (2001). He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for playing Stephen Maturin in the film ' (2003). He went on to appear in several films, including "Dogville" (2003), "Wimbledon" (2004), "The Da Vinci Code" (2006), "Creation" (2009), "The Tourist" (2010), "Margin Call" (2011), "Legend" (2015), and ' (2018). He made his directorial debut with the film "Shelter" (2014), which he also wrote and co-produced.