Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson | |
|---|---|
 Wilkinson at the premiere of Duplicity in March 2009 | |
| Born | Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson, Jr. 5 February 1948 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Spouse(s) | Diana Hardcastle (1998[1]–present) |
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, Jr.,[2] OBE (born 5 February 1948)[1][3] is an English actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award, for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton. In 2009, he won Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Film for playing Benjamin Franklin in John Adams.
Personal life
Wilkinson was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas Wilkinson, Sr., a farmer.[4][5] At the age of four, he moved with his family to Canada, where they lived for several years before returning to England and running a pub in Cornwall.[6] Wilkinson graduated[citation needed] from the University of Kent, where he was a member of T24 Drama Society (then named UKCD) and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[7]
Wilkinson currently lives in North London with his wife, actress Diana Hardcastle, and their two children, Alice and Molly.
In 2011, Wilkinson and Hardcastle portrayed husband and wife Joe and Rose Kennedy in the mini series The Kennedys.
Career
Wilkinson made his acting debut in 1976 and worked on several British television series, most notably the mini-series First Among Equals (1986). He first gained critical acclaim with his appearance as Mr. Pecksniff, in the BBC’s 1994 adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit. He made only the occasional film, including a brief appearance in 1995’s Sense and Sensibility and a villain in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996). After becoming part of the ensemble cast of the smash hit The Full Monty in 1997, a role which earned him a BAFTA, he began to take film roles more frequently, including supporting roles in Oscar and Lucinda, Wilde, Shakespeare in Love, and The Patriot.
His portrayal of Matt Fowler, in Todd Field's In the Bedroom, received international praise from critics.[8] For the role, he was named Best Actor of the Year by the New York Film Critics' Circle, and went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. That success was followed up by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Normal, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Batman Begins, and Separate Lies.[9]
In 2007, Wilkinson played the manic depressive attorney Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton and garnered much critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he played an uncle planning for murder in Woody Allen’s Cassandra's Dream.
In 2008, Wilkinson portrayed American patriot Benjamin Franklin in the HBO mini-series John Adams. In the HBO film, Recount, Wilkinson, with an uncanny resemblance, also portrayed American political adviser and lawyer, James A. Baker, in Baker’s capacity as Chief Counsel to George W. Bush during the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election controversy, receiving an Emmy Award for the former and a nomination for the latter. He also received a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors' Guild Award nomination for his role in John Adams. He also portrayed Friedrich Fromm, Commander in Chief of the German Reserve Army alongside Tom Cruise in the 2008 World War II thriller Valkyrie.
Wilkinson stars in the horror comedy Burke and Hare, which is directed by John Landis.[10] His role as Harvard professor / covert CIA high official in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer was well noticed.[by whom?] He played another historical character, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., in the 2011 television miniseries The Kennedys, for which he gained an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-series or Movie.[11] Earlier that year, he released The Green Hornet and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
Honours
Wilkinson received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Kent in July 2001.[12]
In the 2005 New Year Honours, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to Drama".[13]
Filmography
References
- ^ a b Brown, Mark (22 February 2008). "'The thing you can't fake is that he has a moral authority ... he brings a sense of gravity, detail and intelligence'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Honorary graduates 2000–09". University of Kent. 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Born January–March 1948, according to the Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.; at ancestry.com
- ^ Tom Wilkinson Biography. Tiscali.co.uk.
- ^ Tom Wilkinson biography. Yahoo! Movies.
- ^ Riding, Alan (10 March 2002). "Oscar Films/View From Abroad; The Actor Next Door Quietly Savors His New Fame". query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ "Newsmakers". news.bbc.co.uk. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ "''In the Bedroom'' at Meta Critic". Metacritic.com. 23 November 2001. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ^ "Official Casting for John Landis' 'Burke & Hare' Comedy". Bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ^ "Fisher, Serkis, Wilkinson in 'Burke and Hare'". Heatvisionblog.com. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ^ 2011 Emmy Nominations List: 63rd Primetime Emmy Nominations Announced, Huffington Post, 14 July 2011. Accessed 15 July 2011.
- ^ Posted 2 mins ago. "Honorary graduates 2000–09 – About Kent – University of Kent". Kent.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "No. 57509". The London Gazette (invalid
|supp=(help)). 31 December 2004. - ^ "The Gruffalo's Child". BBC One. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tswxmiUUSfQ
External links
- Tom Wilkinson at IMDb
- Tom Wilkinson at the BFI's Screenonline
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- Use dmy dates from December 2011
- 1948 births
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
- Alumni of the University of Kent
- BAFTA winners (people)
- Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners
- Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
- English male film actors
- English male stage actors
- English male television actors
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead winners
- Living people
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
- Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Leeds
- Sundance Film Festival award winners
- 20th-century English male actors
- 21st-century English male actors
- Male actors from Kent
- Male actors from Leeds
- Male actors from Yorkshire