TIM ROTH
Date of Birth: May 14, 1961
Best known on the indie film circuit, Tim Roth was born to a journalist father and
painter-turned-teacher mother. Frequently bullied in elementary school, high school proved to be
equally hellish. Its one high point came when, on a lark, Roth auditioned for his high school's musical production of Dracula. Cast as the Count himself, Roth, 16, had a bad case of stage fright
and allegedly wet his pants when he walked onstage on opening night.
After graduation, Roth enrolled at London's Camberwell School of Art to study sculpture, but quit
when it became clear that clay and wire paled in comparison to scripts and stages. He continued
honing his chosen craft with plays performed in small theaters and pubs. Two years later, in 1983,
Roth won his first television role as a skinhead in the BBC movie Made in Britain. The
following year he landed his first feature role, portraying a hired killer in director Stephen
Frears' The Hit.
After solidifying a reputation for portraying off-kilter chaps, notably in The Cook, The Thief, His
Wife, and Her Lover (1989), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), and Vincent and Theo (1990),
Roth moved to Los Angeles in 1991. There, he made the acquaintance of aspiring director
Quentin Tarantino. After a drunken night of bar-hopping, Roth, who as a rule never reads for a role,
gave an alcohol-fueled audition that convinced Tarantino to cast him in Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Tarantino's directing debut made an art-house star out of Roth, who gave an arresting performance as
the fatally-wounded policeman Mr. Orange.
Two years later, Tarantino and Roth collaborated again with Pulp Fiction (1994) in which Roth
appeared in the bookend role of a thief in a restaurant diner. He followed Pulp's accolades with
his first part in a movie from a mainstream studio, Rob Roy (1995). Directed by pal
Michael Caton-Jones, Roth's turn as the scenery-chewing villain opposite Jessica Lange and Liam
Neeson won him an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. Without hesitation,
he returned to independent filmmaking to portray yet another hitman, in Little Odessa (1995), and
the plot-connecting bellboy in Four Rooms (1995). Roth then delivered performances as an ex-con
seeking reform in No Way Home, as a singing ex-con in the Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love
You, and as a junkie in Gridlock'd. He continued in a criminal vein with his creditable turn as
brutal racketeer Dutch Schultz in 1997's Hoodlum, and as a manipulative Southern blueblood accused
of the brutal murder of a prostitute in 1998's Deceiver. That same year he also starred as a
mysterious piano player in The Legend of 1900, an heir to a fortune accused of murder in Liar and a
despairing cab driver in Animals (and the Tollkeeper). In 1999, he unleashed his directorial debut
film, The War Zone. Based on a novel by Alexander Stuart, the film delineates in brooding detail
the incest-fueled meltdown of a family. He also appeared in Vatel opposite Gérard Dépardieu and Uma
Thurman.
Shunning glitzy surroundings, Roth lives in a slightly sketchy section of Hollywood that provides
ample doses of character-fortifying urban grime. In addition, he commemorates significant events in
his life with tattoos on his rather crowded right arm. Among the markings are tributes to his fashion
designer wife, Nikki Butler, whom he met at Sundance in 1992, and their two sons, Timothy and Cormac.
He also sports a tat for son Jack, born 11 years earlier during a previous relationship.
Filmography:
Inglorious Bastards (2010)
King Conqueror (2009)
44 Inch Chest(2009)
The Death of Harry Tobin (2008)
Six Bullets from Now (2008)
The Incredible Hulk(2008)
Virgin Territory(2007)
Funny Games U.S. (2007)
Youth Without Youth(2007)
Even Money(2006)
Dark Water(2005)
Don't Come Knocking(2005)
The Last Sign (2005)
Nouvelle France(2004)
Silver City(2004)
Dark Water(2004)
With it (2004)
To Kill a King (2003)
Whatever We Do (2003)
Emmett's Mark (2002)
The Musketeer (2001)
Invincible (2001)
Planet of the Apes(2001)
Lucky Numbers (2000)
Vatel (2000)
The War Zone (1999) [As Director]
Liar (1998)
Animals (and the Tollkeeper) (1998)
The Legend of 1900 (1998)
Deceiver (1997)
Hoodlum (1997)
Gridlock'd (1997)
No Way Home (1997)
Animals (1997)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Mocking the Cosmos (1996)
Four Rooms (1995)
Rob Roy (1995)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Captives (1994)
Little Odessa (1994)
Who Do You Think You're Fooling? (1994)
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Perfect Husband (1992)
Backsliding (1991)
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1991)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Vincent & Theo (1990)
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
To Kill a Priest (1988)
A World Apart (1988)
Return to Waterloo (1985)
The Hit (1984)