Stephen Dillane

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Stephen Dillane
Stephendillane at hatfieldhouse 1.jpg
Born Stephen J. Dillane
(1956-11-30) 30 November 1956 (age 56)
Kensington, London, England, UK
Other names Stephen Dillon
Stephen Delaney
Occupation Actor
Years active 1985–present

Stephen J. Dillane (born 30 November 1956) is an English actor. He won a Tony Award for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing. He currently portrays Stannis Baratheon on the HBO original series Game of Thrones. He is best known for his roles in The Hours, Game of Thrones, John Adams, and Goal!.

His most recent work was in the British independent feature film Papadopoulos & Sons.

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Early life [edit]

Dillane was born in Kensington, London, to an English mother, Bridget (née Curwen), and an Australian surgeon father, John Dillane.[1][2][3] He read history and political science at the University of Exeter and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser. Unhappy in his career, he read how actor Trevor Eve gave up architecture for acting and was thus inspired to enter the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career [edit]

Dillane is a distinguished theatre actor and his notable roles include Archer in The Beaux' Stratagem (Royal National Theatre, 1989; spelled Stephen Dillon on the poster), Prior Walter in Angels in America (1993), Hamlet (1994), Clov in Samuel Beckett's Endgame (1996), Uncle Vanya (1998), Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (for which he won a Tony Award in 2000), The Coast of Utopia (2002), and a one-man version of Macbeth (2005). He has also performed T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' in London and New York City, and is soon to be seen in the 2010 Bridge Project's productions of 'The Tempest' and 'As You Like It'.

Onscreen, Dillane may be best known for his portrayal of Horatio in Franco Zefferelli's film adaptation of Hamlet, with Mel Gibson in the title role. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson, and the impatient and easily agitated Redford foil Harker in Spy Game (2001).

He is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf in The Hours (2002), legendary English professional golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in John Adams as Thomas Jefferson. In July 2011, he was cast as Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones.[4] In 2012, he played 'Rupert Keel', head of the private security company organisation 'Byzantium' in the British-American TV co-production, Hunted.[5]

The same year, Stephen Dillane also starred in British independent feature film Papadopoulos & Sons in which he plays a successful entrepreneur, Harry Papadopoulos, who rediscovers his life after being forced to start again from nothing following a banking crisis.[6] His real-life son Frank Dillane plays his son in the movie.

On January 23, 2013, it was reported that Dillane had been cast as the male lead in the Sky Atlantic/Canal+ series The Tunnel.[7]

Awards [edit]

He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Thomas Jefferson in the HBO mini-series John Adams (2008), and won the 2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his work in The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall.

Personal life [edit]

His sons, with actress Naomi Wirthner, are actor Frank Dillane (of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Seamus Dillane.[1] Stephen Dillane's younger brother, Richard Dillane, is also an actor.

Filmography [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "Stephen Dillane Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
  2. ^ Matt Wolf (16 April 2000). "Getting Out of the Way of `The Real Thing'". the New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-08-08. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
  3. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~joybobsalt/4962.HTM
  4. ^ Hibberd, James (19 July 2011). "'Game of Thrones' casts sorceress Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon". EW.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  5. ^ Radio Times Hunter cast list
  6. ^ The Hollywood Reporter (11 January 2013). "Papadopoulos & Sons - Palm Springs Review". Retrieved 10 April 2013. 
  7. ^ Munn, Patrick (23 January 2013). "Stephen Dillane & Clémence Poésy Cast As Co-Leads In Sky Atlantic/Canal+ Series ‘The Tunnel’". TVWise. Retrieved 24 January 2013. 

External links [edit]