Tom Hardy
☼ Born on 15 December 1977, in Hammersmith, London, England, UK
Biography
With his breakthrough performance as Eames in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller Inception (2010), English actor Tom Hardy has been brought to the attention of mainstream audiences worldwide. However, the versatile actor has been steadily working on both stage and screen since his television debut in the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001). After being cast in the World War II drama, Hardy left his studies at the prestigious Drama Centre in London and was subsequently cast as Twombly in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001) and as the villain Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
Edward Thomas Hardy was born on September 15, 1977 in Hammersmith, London; his mother, Elizabeth Anne (Barrett), is an artist and painter, and his father, Chips Hardy, is a writer. He is of English and Irish descent. Hardy was brought up in East Sheen, London, and first studied at Reed's School. His education continued at Tower House School, then at Richmond Drama School, and subsequently at the Drama Centre London, along with fellow Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender. After winning a modeling competition at age 21, he had a brief contract with the agency Models One.
Tom spent his teens and early twenties battling delinquency, alcoholism and drug addiction; after completing his work on Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), he sought treatment and has also admitted that his battles with addiction ended his five-year marriage to Sarah Ward. Returning to work in 2003, Hardy was awarded the Evening Standard Most Promising
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Newcomer Award for his theatre performances in the productions of "In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings" and "Blood". In 2003, Tom also co-starred in the play "The Modernists" with Paul Popplewell, Jesse Spencer and Orlando Wells.
During the next five years, Hardy worked consistently in film, television and theatre, playing roles as varied as Robert Dudley in the BBC's The Virgin Queen (2005), Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist (2007) and starring in "The Man of Mode" at the National Theatre. On the silver screen, he appeared in the crime thriller Layer Cake (2004) with Daniel Craig, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and the romp Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006).
In 2006, Hardy created "Shotgun", an underground theatre company along with director Robert Delamere, and directed a play, penned by his father for the company, called "Blue on Blue". In 2007, Hardy received a best actor BAFTA nomination for his touching performance as Stuart Shorter in the BBC adaptation of Alexander Masters' bestselling biography Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007). Hailed for his transformative character acting, Hardy was lauded for his emotionally and physically convincing portrayal in the ill-fated and warmhearted tale of Shorter, a homeless and occasionally violent man suffering from addiction and muscular dystrophy.
The following year, he appeared as gay hoodlum Handsome Bob in the Guy Ritchie film RocknRolla (2008), but this would be his next transformation that would prove his extensive range and stun critics. In the film Bronson (2008), Hardy played the notorious Charles Bronson (given name, Michael Peterson), the "most violent prisoner in Britain". Bald, pumped-up, and outfitted with Bronson's signature strongman mustache, Hardy is unrecognizable and gives a harrowing performance that is physically fearless and psychologically unsettling. Director Nicolas Winding Refn breaks the fourth wall with Hardy retelling his tales directly to viewers as well as performing them outright before an audience of his own imagining. The performance mixes terrifying brutality, vaudevillian showmanship, wry humor, and an alarming amount of commitment, and won Hardy a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor. The performance got Hollywood's attention, and in 2009, Hardy was named one of Variety's "10 Actors to Watch". That year, he continued to garner praise for his starring role in The Take (2009), a four-part adaptation of Martina Cole's bestselling crime novel, as well as for his performance as Heathcliff in a version of Wuthering Heights (2009).
Recent work includes the aforementioned breakthrough appearance in Inception (2010) alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard and Elliot Page. The movie was released in July 2010 and became one of top 25 highest grossing films of all time, collecting eight Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and winning four.
Other films include Warrior (2011), opposite Joel Edgerton, the story of two estranged brothers facing the fight of a lifetime from director Gavin O'Connor, and This Means War (2012), directed by McG and co-starring Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine. Tom also starred in the heralded Cold War thriller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) with Colin Firth and Gary Oldman. Hardy rejoined Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight Rises (2012); he played the villain role of Bane opposite Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gary Oldman. Hardy's menacing physique and his character's scrambled, hard-to-distinguish voice became a major discussion point as the film was released.
Outside of performing, Hardy is the patron for the charity "Flack", which is an organization to aid the recovery of the homeless in Cambridge. And in 2010, Hardy was named an Ambassador for The Prince's Trust, which helps disadvantaged youth. On the recent stage, he starred in the Brett C. Leonard play "The Long Red Road" in early 2010. Written for Hardy and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the play was staged at Chicago's Goodman Theater.
In 2015, Hardy starred as the iconic Mad Max in George Miller's reboot of his franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). He also collected a British Independent Film Award for his portrayal of both the Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie, in Legend (2015), and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as John Fitzgerald in The Revenant (2015). Hardy also starred on the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013), alongside Cillian Murphy, and on the television series Taboo (2017), both created by Steven Knight.
He has an outlaw biker story among other projects in development. In 2010, Hardy became engaged to fellow English actress Charlotte Riley, whom he starred with in The Take (2009) and Wuthering Heights (2009), and is raising a young son, Louis Thomas Hardy, with ex-girlfriend Rachael Speed. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to drama.
In the role of actor
Venom: The Last Dance (25/10/2024)
A fugitive Eddie Brock goes on one last adventure with the alien symbiote living inside him in Venom: The Last Dance. While vacationing in Mexico, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) discovers that he is a wanted fugitive for the apparent death of Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham). However, Mulligan is still alive, having been saved at […]
The Bikeriders (14/07/2024)
The young woman recalls her experiences with a Chicago area motorcycle club in The Bikeriders. In 1973, Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) gives an interview to Danny Lyon (Mike Faist), about what happened to the Chicago-based Vandals Motorcycle Club, which Lyons previously followed as a young photographer. Kathy first encountered the club, founded by Johnny Davis […]
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (03/10/2021)
A new deadly symbiote arises in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has been learning to co-exist with the alien symbiote Venom, who lives within him. Eddie is tasked by Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham) to interview death row inmate Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), in an attempt to get clues to the graves of […]
Dunkirk (22/07/2017)
Thousands of soldiers seek rescue during World War II in Dunkirk. During the Second World War, 400,000 British and French soldiers are surrounded by the enemy on a beach in the town of Dunkirk, located in the north of France. The attempted evacuation of the soldiers are told from three perspectives. On land, told over […]
The Revenant (12/01/2016)
An injured frontiersman left for dead seeks revenge on the man who killed his son in The Revenant. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an experienced hunter and part of a group of fur trappers lead by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). Glass is critically injured in a bear attack and Henry instructs John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), Bridger (Will Poulter), and […]
Legend (17/12/2015)
Tom Hardy stars as the infamous London gangsters The Krays in Legend. Reggie and Ronnie Kray (Hardy) are twin gangsters in London during the 1960s. Reggie, the more level-headed of the two, fronts his criminal enterprises as the head of a nightclub, white Ronnie is a mentally unstable violent psychotic. All the while, the actions […]
Mad Max: Fury Road (16/05/2015)
After thirty years, director George Miller returns to his signature franchise with Mad Max: Fury Road. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) scours across the post-apocalyptic wasteland haunted by visions of his tragic past. Max finds himself captured by the War Boys, lead by the tyrannical Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and is designated as a living blood […]
Locke (13/05/2014)
Tom Hardy stars in this single location drama as a man having the worst night of his life on a drive to London. Ivan Locke (Hardy) is a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, who leaves behind an important job in Birmingham, in order to drive to London and make right one of his […]
The Dark Knight Rises (21/07/2012)
Aside from the tragedy of last night’s movie theatre shooting, The Dark Knight Rises ended up being a highly enjoyable conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman films. The film takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Gotham City is now relatively crime free and Bruce Wayne has retired the Batman persona and […]
Carnage (06/01/2012)
Roman Polanski‘s latest film, based on the play God of Carnage, is a very simple and hilarious film about how a simple conversation can quickly blow out of proportion. The whole film is one giant coversation between two couples. The son of Nancy and Alan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) hit the son of Penelope […]
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 […]
Inception (18/07/2010)
Christopher Nolan has developed into one of my favourite directors and while his work on the Batman films have made him popular, I always like the other projects he does on the side. Inception is a very interesting science fiction/action film about the world of dreams and the difference between fantasy and reality. It’s a bit […]
RocknRolla (09/10/2008)
Since, the release of Snatch in 2000, Guy Ritchie found difficulty in moving away from the formula the made him famous. 2002 saw the Madonna-staring Swept Away, which loathed by pretty much everyone. Then came Revolver 2005, which took the crime films Ritchie was associated with, removed the comedy, and added a cerebral element that […]