Gallery Update: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory attended the Mummy Rocks party in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity on Wednesday. Click here at the gallery for pics.

It’s been announced Damian Lewis will take part in the celebrity charity football match Soccer Aid 2010 which benefits UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s organization. The event will take place on Sunday June 6th at Manchester’s legendary Old Trafford stadium and broadcast live on ITV1. Tickets are on sale now! Click here at the official Soccer Aid website for more info.

Damian took part in Soccer Aid 2006. Click on the following links in the gallery for pictures and screencaps from that week-long event:

More on Damian’s role in Band of Brothers by Phil Bilbrough in Advertising.Scoop.co.nz :

One of the central characters (Band of Brothers is about Easy Company, American Paratroopers in WWII Europe) is Major Richard D. Winters, played by Damian Lewis. He is a handsome, heroic, quietly spoken, introspective, respected leader of men. …

So Major Richard D. Winters is a hero’s hero. And Damian Lewis is the world’s best actor. Why? Because Maj. Winter (so far) is a man without ANY flaws. His men love him – follow him into some very sticky situations and occasionally die. Yet Damian Lewis can make this perfectly perfect guy almost compelling even when his character isn’t running into battle, which is about 40% of the mini series.

The Misanthrope‘s run ends this Saturday! I hope everyone who wanted to see it, got a chance to attend a show – and chat with Damian Lewis afterwards! Click here for another ‘meeting Damian’ story at the Yahoo! group. (Thanks to Anette of Germany for sharing her story!)

Reviews are starting to come in for HBO’s The Pacific, the new 10-part WW2 mini-series that begins this Sunday, and Damian Lewis is still drawing high praise for his performance in Band of Brothers:

Alan Sepinwall in The Star-Ledger:

There’s no performance quite on par with Damian Lewis’s star turn as the quiet, decent company leader in “Band,” but the three leads all take advantage of their showcase roles to craft characters that transcend both war movie cliches and the actors’ own mixed backgrounds. Seda (Falsone from the later years of “Homicide”), like Lewis in “Band,” finds a way to make his characters’ innate heroism and super-competence into something absorbing.

Maureen Ryan in the Chicago Tribune:

“The Pacific” focuses throughout on the experiences of Robert Leckie (author of “Helmet for My Pillow”), Eugene Sledge (author of “With the Old Breed”) and decorated Marine John Basilone. But, as was the case with “Band of Brothers,” the most memorable characters in “The Pacific” are the ones played by the actors with the most charisma (“Brothers’” Richard Winters could have seemed impossibly prim and perfect had he not been played by the effortlessly interesting Damian Lewis).

Robert Philpot in the Star-Telegram:

Two things The Pacific lacks that Band of Brothers had: a strong lead character (Damian Lewis was fabulous in Brothers as Maj. Richard Winters) and a sardonic observer (Ron Livingston did some of his best work as Capt. Lewis Nixon), although Leckie does fill that role to an extent. But these are nitpicks when The Pacific does such a strong job of standing aside its slightly superior predecessor.

A few other press items:

Rob Thomas reviewing The Escapist in Madison.com:

The talented cast of British actors play it very straight; Cox is terrific as a tough inmate who knows the danger of betraying any sign of weakness to his fellow inmates, even as he aches for his daughter on the inside. Lewis, who usually plays good-guy roles on “Band of Brothers” and NBC’s “Life,” is fantastic as the effete, terrifying gangster who comes close to learning about the escape plan.

In an brief chat with InStyle, Keira Knightley says some nice things about Damian:

So how was it treading the boards with the gorgeous Damian Lewis as your co-star? ‘He’s an absolute sweetheart!’ she gushed. ‘As it was my first time on stage, the whole cast, especially Damian, was so supportive and patient with me.’

The Misanthrope ends its run on March 13th. Go see it while you still have the chance! Who knows Damian Lewis might go another 4 years before he does another play! :O

BBC Radio 7 is currently rebroadcasting the radio adaptation of Ben MacIntyre’s Agent Zigzag, read by Damian. Click on the Agent ZigZag project page for more info on the program. To listen to the show online click here. To download all 5 15-minute episodes, click here on our Audio page.

Vote for Damian as Sexiest Actor of the Year here at this french tv site. (Thanks to karima for the headsup!)