Theo James, the actor known for The Gentlemen and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, is using a deeply personal family story to make a wider appeal for refugee rights. His grandfather once fled Nazi-occupied Greece by boat. Decades later, James says that journey still shapes how he views refugee rights.
Theo James draws on his family history to defend refugee rights
In his TIME piece, “We Must Defend the Refugee Convention,” published on Sep. 9, 2026, James shared the story of his grandfather, Nicolas Taptiklis, who escaped Greece in 1941 as the Nazis took control of Athens. He boarded a tiny boat with 12 others in the middle of the night and crossed the Aegean Sea to Turkey. He later travelled to Syria with thousands of others and found safety in Damascus.
After World War II, however, he returned to Europe and worked with the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, treating people affected by the conflict in a camp in Göttingen, Germany.
James says his grandfather witnessed both compassion and the devastating consequences of displacement. “My grandfather experienced the generosity and compassion of the Syrians who sheltered him,” he wrote, while also remembering “what a world of chaos and violence was like, and what its consequences were if there was no safety net of international protection.”
That experience, James says, is at the heart of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which established protections for people fleeing persecution and conflict. But he believes that promise is now under pressure as “xenophobia is rising,” humanitarian aid is shrinking and international solidarity is weakening.
“If my grandfather were alive today, he would be sounding a warning,” James wrote. “He would be speaking up in defense of the Convention, of humanitarian action, of compassion.”
James says he now wants to deliver that warning on his grandfather’s behalf. “To remind people that becoming a refugee can happen to any of us at any time,” he wrote. “The right to seek safety was a promise made for us all, and that promise needs protecting and defending.”
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