Toby Jones
☼ Born on 7 December 1966, in Hammersmith, London, England, UK
Biography
Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, Toby Edward Heslewood Jones was born on September 7, 1966 in Hammersmith, London. His parents, Freddie Jones and Jennie Heslewood, are actors as well. Toby has two brothers: Rupert, a director, and Casper, a fellow actor. He studied Drama at the University of Manchester from 1986 to 1989, and at L'École Internationale de Théâtre in Paris under Jacques Lecoq in Paris from 1989 to 1991. Naturally, his career began on the stage (and continues there), but film and television roles came soon after his studies.
Toby made his film debut with a small role in Sally Potter's experimental take on Virginia Woolf's novel, Orlando (1992), starring Tilda Swinton. Other small film roles included the doorkeeper in Les Misérables (1998) and a memorable turn as the Royal Page in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) with Drew Barrymore.
Roles in the acclaimed Victoria & Albert (2001) and the Helen Mirren-starring Elizabeth I (2005) were balanced with film work, from his voice role as Dobby the House Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) to supporting appearances in Ladies in Lavender (2004) (co-starring his father, Freddie), Finding Neverland (2004) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005).
He continued stage work during this period, appearing on Broadway in The Play What I Wrote in 2003, a year after winning the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a
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Supporting Role for his performance in the London production.
Infamous (2006), directed by Douglas McGrath and released in 2006, was Toby's first starring role. His acclaimed portrayal of Truman Capote remained mostly in the shadow of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance of the author in 2005's Capote (2005).
A steady stream of film roles followed with appearances in Amazing Grace (2006), The Painted Veil (2006), Nightwatching (2007), The Mist (2007), and St. Trinian's (2007). Toby then appeared in three successive films that could have been commercial breakthroughs: kid-lit flop City of Ember (2008), the Oscar-nominated Frost/Nixon (2008), and Oliver Stone's W. (2008).
He reprised the voice-role of Dobby in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), appeared in the St. Trinian's sequel, as well as the Charles Darwin biopic Creation (2009) and Dustin Lance Black's post-Milk (2008) directorial outing, Virginia (2010). More Hollywood roles followed with appearances in The Rite (2011), Your Highness (2011), and his first big live-action breakthrough as Red Skull's biochemist Dr. Arnim Zola in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
Even before Toby was announced as Claudius Templesmith in the adaptation of the novel The Hunger Games (2012), his star was on the rise after Captain America, with roles in three Oscar-nominated films: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), My Week with Marilyn (2011), and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). Though chances are he will forever be known by many as Claudius, the announcer for The Hunger Games with the booming voice and penchant for ending his statements with the phrase, "And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Toby followed up this massive success with his mesmerizing tour-de-force interpretations as a sensational multifarious "chameleon" of substantial acting mastery in films such as Red Lights (2012) for Buried (2010) director Rodrigo Cortés, Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) reprising his role as Claudius Templesmith, Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio (2012), Susanne Bier's Serena (2014) and Journey's End (2017). Among others, The Girl (2012), a BBC/HBO co-production in which he starred as Alfred Hitchcock, Titanic (2012), The Secret Agent (2016), Wayward Pines (2015), The Witness for the Prosecution (2016) and Sherlock (2010) are also included in the brilliant performances of his exquisite TV work.
Toby lives in London with his family.
In the role of actor
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (02/07/2023)
Sean Kelly on Movies Podcast Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:05:38 Subscribe Share Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:05:38 | Recorded on July […]
The Pale Blue Eye (07/01/2023)
A detective enlists the help of a young Edgar Allen Poe to investigate a series of murders in The Pale Blue Eye. In 1830 West Point, New York, retired veteran detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) is called to the United States Military Academy, where he is tasked by the superiors Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) and […]
Empire of Light – TIFF 2022 (09/12/2022)
A cinema manager connects with her new employee in Empire of Light. Hilary (Olivia Colman) is the duty manager of the Empire Cinema, located in a 1980s English coastal town. Steven (Micheal Ward) is a new employee hired at the cinema, which also includes the manager Donald Ellis (Colin Firth), who is engaged in an […]
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (21/06/2018)
The dinosaurs escape the island in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It has been three years since the destruction and evacuation of the Jurassic World amusement park on the island of Isla Nubar. With a volcano set to erupt on the island and threatening to destroy all the remaining dinosaurs, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) wants to do […]
The Snowman (20/10/2017)
A veteran detective tracks down a serial killer triggered by falling snow in The Snowman. Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) is a legendary detective in Oslo, Norway, who has recently returned from an absence. His first case is a series of missing women cases, each other which occurred during a snowfall, with a snowman left at […]
Atomic Blonde (29/07/2017)
An undercover MI6 agent tries to locate a list of double agents in cold war Berlin in Atomic Blonde. In 1989 Berlin, MI6 operative James Gasciogne is killed by the KGB, who steal a watch containing a microfilm list of every field agent in the Soviet Union. Top agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is assigned by her […]
Berberian Sound Studio (12/09/2012)
It so happens that I took a Post-Production sound class last spring and I am quite familiar with the time and effort that it takes to make and record sounds for films. Berberian Sound Studio is about a British sound editor named Gilderoy (Toby Jones), who is called in to do the sound for an Italian […]
Red Lights (22/08/2012)
Red Lights is director Rodrigo Cortés’ follow-up to his 2010 film Buried. The film follows psychologist Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistant Tom (Cillian Murphy) as they venture out to debunk psychics using their scientific explanations. A blind psychic named Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) decides to come out of retirement and all signs to see to point […]
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (03/01/2012)
I delayed my list of my favourite films of 2011 as I went out to see some last-minute possible contenders. I saw War Horse on Sunday and I now I went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy today. The film is an old school Cold War spy thriller in which a British spy named George Smiley (Gary […]
The Adventures of Tintin (28/12/2011)
Making a film version of The Adventures of Tintin was a bit of risky move for Steven Spielberg, since the popular Belgian comics are next to unknown in the United States. The opposite can be said here in Canada, where there was a popular animated series based on the books that aired in the 1990s. I have fond […]
Captain America: The First Avenger (23/07/2011)
Captain America is the final of the interconnected Marvel comics films leading up to next year’s release of The Avengers. I still think it’s amazing the they had the patience to set-up The Avengers over the course of five separate films in a four year period. At this point, I don’t think I need to say that […]
The Rite (30/01/2011)
When it comes to exorcism films, I doubt that The Rite adds anything new to the genre. However, I was drawn to the film because of the fact that it was directed by Mikael Håfström, who previously directed 1408 (one my my favourite haunted house films of recent years), and stars Anthony Hopkins (who has […]
Frost/Nixon (03/01/2009)
This was the final film that I wanted to see before compiling my top ten lists next week, and I am glad that I saw it. This film, which is based on a play, looks back to the famous series of interviews between Richard Nixon and the British journalist David Frost. The chemistry between Frank […]
The Mist (25/11/2007)
The Mist had two stigmas to content with. First, people can easily confuse the title with John Carpenter’s The Fog (and specifically the 2005 remake, which didn’t do so well). Second, it’s Frank Darabont’s third adaptation of the Stephen King story after successfully adapting The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. My verdict on this […]