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 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.