TOM HARDY
Date of Birth: September 15, 1977
Hailing from England, Tom Hardy began his screen career when he was plucked straight from London's Drama Centre for a role in HBO's award-winning World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. He went on to appear in the features Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott; Star Trek: Nemesis, in which he played the lead villain; The Reckoning with Willem Dafoe and Paul Bettany; and Dot the I, from first-time writer/director Matthew Parkhill.
In 2009, Hardy won a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor for his work in the title role of the 2008 thriller Bronson. Other film credits include Guy Ritchie's action comedy RocknRolla alongside Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson; Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, the crime thriller Layer Cake, with Daniel Craig and Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. He can most recently be seen with Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in This Means War (2012).
On television, Hardy earned a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the HBO movie Stuart: A Life Backwards. He also portrayed Heathcliff in the 2009 ITV production of Wuthering Heights. His small screen credits include the telefilms Oliver Twist, A for Andromeda, Sweeney Todd, Gideon's Daughter, and Colditz, as well as the BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen, in which he starred as Queen Elizabeth's lover, Robert Dudley.
Hardy has starred in numerous plays in London's West End, including Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, winning the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2003 Evening Standard Theatre Awards for his work in both productions. For the latter play, he was also nominated for a 2004 Olivier Award. In 2005, Hardy starred in the London premiere of Brett C. Leonard's Roger and Vanessa, under the direction of Robert Delamere. He and Delamere also run a theater workshop/gym called Shotgun at London's Theatre 503.