Tom Hiddleston

After Tom Hiddleston was seen in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire by talent agent Loraine Hamilton, he was given his first television role in Stephen Whittaker's adaptation of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001) for ITV, which starred Charles Dance, James D'Arcy and Sophia Myles. Roles followed in two one-off television dramas co-produced by HBO and the BBC. The first was Conspiracy (2001), a film surrounding the story of the Wannsee Conference in 1942 to consolidate the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The film prompted Hiddleston's first encounter with Kenneth Branagh, who took the lead role of Heydrich.

The second project came in 2002 in the critically acclaimed and Primetime Emmy Award-winning biopic of Winston Churchill The Gathering Storm, which starred Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave. Hiddleston played the role of Randolph Churchill, Winston's son, and cites that particular experience—working alongside Finney and Redgrave, as well as Ronnie Barker, Tom Wilkinson and Jim Broadbent—as extraordinary; it was one that changed his perspective on the art, craft and life of an actor.

In 2005, Hiddleston graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and within a few weeks was cast as Oakley in the British independent film Unrelated by first-time director Joanna Hogg. Unrelated premiered at the Times BFI 51st London Film Festival in 2007, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI International Critics' Award. The film went on to win the Guardian First Film Award, and was nominated for the Evening Standard Best Film Award and the Critics' Circle Breakthrough Filmmaker Award. It was also cited as the 21st best film of the decade by the Guardian newspaper.

Following this, Hiddleston met Declan Donnellan, artistic director of the award-winning theatre company Cheek by Jowl, and was cast as Alsemero in The Changeling by Thomas Middleton, which also starred Olivia Williams and Will Keen. The production toured Europe for six months in 2006, and ran in the main house at the Barbican for six weeks. For The Changeling, Hiddleston was nominated for the 2006 Ian Charleson Award, which recognizes exceptional classical stage performances by actors under the age of 30.

In 2007, Hiddleston joined Donnellan's production of Shakespeare's late romance, Cymbeline, for Cheek by Jowl. The production toured the world for seven months, playing in New York, Milan, Paris, Moscow, Madrid and at the Barbican in London.

Later that summer, Hiddleston shot the period BBC drama Miss Austen Regrets, about the last five years of Jane Austen's life. He starred as John Plumptre alongside Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, Hugh Bonneville and Greta Scacchi. It went on to win both British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Writers' Guild of Great Britain awards.

It was on the strength of his performance in Cymbeline that Hiddleston was invited to audition to play Cassio in Michael Grandage's production of Othello at the Donmar Warehouse, which also starred Ewan McGregor, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kelly Reilly.
Hiddleston was nominated twice in the category of Best Newcomer at the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards for Cymbeline and Othello and won the category for his performance in Cymbeline.

In 2008, Hiddleston joined forces with Branagh again to film the first series of Wallander, a BAFTA- and Broadcasting Press Guild Award-winning and Primetime Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Satellite Award-nominated television series based on the detective novels by Swedish author Henning Mankell. In the same year, he went on to star in the Donmar Warehouse/West End production of Chekhov's Ivanov, again opposite Branagh, as well as Gina McKee and Andrea Riseborough. In addition to shooting the second series of Wallander in 2009, Hiddleston starred in the second series of the highly acclaimed BAFTA- and Primetime Emmy award-winning Return to Cranford, which also starred Judi Dench and Jonathan Pryce. Also in 2009, Hiddleston filmed Joanna Hogg's second film, Archipelago, in which he played the lead role.
In 2011, Hiddleston was seen in a number of projects including Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which also starred Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen; Steven Speilberg's Academy Award®-nominated War Horse, which also starred Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis and Benedict Cumberbatch; and Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea, which also starred Rachel Weisz.

Hiddleston is best known for his role as the villain Loki in Kenneth Branagh's Thor for Marvel, a role that he reprised in The Avengers. The film was received with positive reviews and set numerous box-office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America, tied the record for the fastest film to gross $1 billion worldwide and became the fourth-highest grossing film (worldwide) of all time.

In 2012, Hiddleston was nominated for a BAFTA Rising Star Award and an Evening Standard Film Award in the Best Actor category for his role in Archipelago. He was the winner of the British Rising Star Award at The Richard Attenborough Regional Film Awards and won Best Male Newcomer for his role in Thor at the 2012 Empire Awards. Hiddleston was named Glamour Magazine's Man of the Year and also World's Hottest Actor by Total Film Magazine.

Also in 2012, Hiddleston was seen on our screens portraying Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 and as the title role in Henry V, which aired as part of the highly anticipated The Hollow Crown television miniseries. For his role, Hiddleston won the Times Breakthrough Award for this role at the 2013 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

In October 2013, Hiddleston returned to his role as Loki in Thor: The Dark World, alongside an all-star cast that included Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Idris Elba. The film went to the top of the North American charts with an estimated $86.1 million opening weekend, producing the ninth-biggest November debut in history.
Hiddleston was also seen in a cameo role in Joanna Hogg's Exhibition. The film premiered at the 2013 Locarno Film Festival and was also screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 2013.

In December 2013, Hiddleston returned to the Donmar Warehouse to play the title role in Shakespeare's searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge, Coriolanus. The production also starred Hadley Fraser and Mark Gatiss and was directed by the Donmar's artistic director, Josie Rourke. The production ran until February 2014. Coriolanus was also broadcast to cinemas around the world on January 30, 2014, in partnership with National Theatre Live. Hiddleston was honored with the Best Actor award at the 60th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards and was also nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2014 Olivier Awards for this performance.

In February 2014, Hiddleston starred opposite Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Mia Wasikowska in Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive. The film premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or award. The feature also screened at the 2013 BFI London Film Festival, as well as the 51st New York Film Festival—where it was in competition for Official Selection.
Hiddleston was also heard in Disney's The Pirate Fairy, alongside Christina Hendricks, and was also seen in The Muppets sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, as the character The Great Escapo.

Hiddleston has starred in Ben Wheatley's thriller High Rise, alongside Jeremy Irons, Luke Evans, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss. The story charts the lives of affluent residents of a futuristic apartment block, in which all modern amenities are contained, leaving them cut off from the rest of society. It's an unnerving tale of life running out of control, as residents become driven by their primal urges. Hiddleston leads the cast in the role of Dr. Robert Laing, who is fascinated by the building and forms a relationship with the architect's aide Charlotte (Miller). High Rise is based on J.G. Ballard's acclaimed 1975 novel of the same name, and premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. High Rise was also shown as part of the gala premieres at Zurich Film Festival, and joined the competition line-up at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Hiddleston also took the leading role in Marc Abraham's I Saw the Light, the independent biopic about the country music icon Hank Williams. The film is based on Colin Escott, George Merritt and William MacEwen's 1994 book, "Hank Williams: The Biography." Born in 1923 in Alabama, Hank Williams broke out in the post-World War II era with the song "Move It on Over." The film covers the country-music legend's rise, his volatile relationship with his wife (played by Elizabeth Olsen), and his struggles with substance abuse and spina bifida; all before his death at 29. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2016, Hiddleston starred opposite Hugh Laurie in the television adaption of John le Carre's novel The Night Manager. BBC One, The Ink Factory and AMC co-produced the series, which began filming in Spring 2015. A contemporary interpretation of le Carré's espionage drama and the first television adaptation of a le Carré novel in more than 20 years, The Night Manager series brought together love, loss and revenge in a complex story of modern criminality. The drama follows former British soldier Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) as he navigates the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington, where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper (Laurie), Pine must himself become a criminal.

Universal Pictures