Biography of Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy is a British theater and film actor. In his repertoire you can find films for every taste: action films, detective stories, crime biopics, mystical stories and military dramas. He has played heroes (Mad Max: Fury Road), psychopaths (Bronson), antagonists (The Dark Knight, The Revenant), criminals (Legend) or even homeless drug addicts (Stuart: A Past Life). , but even his negative characters cannot help but sympathize. For each role, he completely changes his personality, making us forget that there is a real person behind the hero on screen.
Tom Hardy - British theater and film actor
Childhood and family
Edward Thomas Hardy was born on September 15, 1977 into a creative and intelligent family.
Mother, Irish Elizabeth Barrett - artist, father, Edward "Chips" Hardy - writer and screenwriter, Harvard graduate. Tom was the only son in a family who lived in a mansion in the bohemian London suburb of East Sheen. Mom devoted all her time to her son, the shelves of his room were full of books and records, and on every holiday, Edward’s parents showered him with gifts and took him abroad on vacation. In first grade, the boy went not to a public school, but to a private school.
Tom Hardy in his youth
It would seem that in such an atmosphere the boy should have grown up to be the pride and support of his parents, but life decided otherwise. “I was a naughty child. No, not even like that – terribly naughty,” the actor recalled. He was embarrassed by his parents, exemplary representatives of the middle class. As a sociable teenager, he made friends not only with classmates, but also with boys from less prosperous families.
Tom Hardy with his parents
Actor biography
Tom Hardy was born in a suburb of London. He is the only child in the family of an artist mother and a writer father. He studied acting since childhood in theater schools. At the age of 19, he won a beauty contest, receiving a monetary reward and an offer to collaborate with a modeling agency.
His debut appearance on television took place in the series “Band of Brothers”. The picture itself has an excellent plot and positive reviews from critics, but our hero appeared there sporadically. He often appeared to viewers as a brutal and tough man, where sometimes a beard served as an attribute of masculinity. Tom Hardy received roles with his face covered, such as a mask or makeup, but he always remained a sex symbol for women.
Drug addiction and first roles
When he was 11, a policeman came to their school and told the children about the dangers of drugs. Surprisingly, his speech had the opposite effect on Hardy. By the age of 13, he became addicted to beer and tried drugs. At 15 he was expelled from school, and a year later Tom had to admit that he had become addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. “I could sell my mother for a dose,” he would later tell reporters. Serious problems with the law began, including arrest for car theft (not for profit, but for fun). It was possible to avoid prison only thanks to his father’s connections.
Tom Hardy before he became famous
Despite his addiction, the guy had an interest in performing arts from an early age. While still at school, he played in children's theater; at 18, on his mother's advice, he entered the Richmond School of Acting, from which he was expelled, after which he entered the London School of Drama, where he studied the craft with a teacher who once taught Anthony Hopkins.
Michael Fassbender studied two years older. Hardy recalled that all the students wanted to be like him, except Tom. He kept saying: “No, I have my own vision, I will do it my way.” “But deep down,” the actor laughs, “I thought, “God, how I want to be as cool.” We met on the set of Band of Brothers, and it was cool."
At the age of 21, the guy became the winner of the TV show “The Big Breakfast's Find Me-98” and won a contract with a modeling agency.
Tom Hardy on The Big Breakfast show In the late 90s, he got his first role - he played the frail Private John Janovec in the TV series Band of Brothers (2001). “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” is how Hardy, who had never played in front of cameras before (except for TV shows), described the experience. He appeared in two episodes and spoke only 12 lines throughout the series.
Right: Tom Hardy in Band of Brothers
Then there were several more major projects, even if Hardy’s heroes had few lines. This is the Oscar-winning “Black Hawk Down” by Ridley Scott with Josh Hartnett, “Day of Reckoning” with Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe, and in the 2002 military drama “Simon” the actor still had one of the key roles.
Still from the movie "Black Hawk Down"
The actor's next significant work was the science-fiction thriller Star Trek Into Darkness (2002), where he played the clone of the captain of the Enterprise spaceship, Reman Praetor.
All this time, Tom Hardy did not stop using drugs. According to the actor himself, during almost 10 years of his addiction he experienced a lot, including homosexual relationships. Shortly after finishing work on Star Trek, he overindulged in cocaine and had a seizure. The actor went to a rehabilitation center and has not had a break since then. He completely transferred the released energy into professional activities, and very soon achieved unprecedented success. When asked about his rapid growth, the actor modestly jokes that he just wanted his father to be proud of him, and acting was the only thing he was good at.
Tom Hardy about life and work
WHO AM I? No ideas.
I THINK PEOPLE WONDER why they had to do an interview with me. “Who the hell is this dude with the crooked teeth and beard? Who is this freak? I'm telling you, no one will buy a magazine with a beard on the cover.
I AM AN ENGLISH ACTOR. I'm supposed to swear.
I DON'T LIKE MAGAZINES AND JOURNALISTS. But I love people and some of what they do.
I HATE THOSE who run across the fucking road right under your wheels. Damn bastards! I wonder how they explain this in the next world? “What, a car hit me? It seems I died because I needed to get to that store as quickly as possible. I decided to take a chance and ran to the sidewalk. Well, I’m almost there.”
I DID NOT FEEL THE VALUE OF LIFE until I almost lost it.
I WAS A TROUBLED TEENAGER. Geography? Fuck geography! And we went to smoke. Who will stop us? At fifteen I was caught driving a stolen Mercedes. We also had a cannon. We got to the police, and we got it. But they didn’t kill us, and I thought, “Okay, what else can you do to me?”
I NEVER LIKED FIREARMS. It's very loud.
I'M NOT A FIGHTER. I'm a little London bourgeois boy. I don't fight, I fake a fight.
THOSE ARE ALWAYS DANGEROUS, from whom you least expect it. There's that guy in the corner of the bar with glasses and a book. Maybe he'll knock me out with one left? Get into a fight with someone like that, and who knows how things will turn out. It happens deeply where I didn’t feel it.
IF I WANT TO BREAK SOMEONE'S ARM, I WILL NOT RESIST.
MAKE MISTAKES. It's moments like these that you learn.
REPUTATION CAN WORK FOR YOU, or it can work against you. But I would rather have some reputation than none.
I'M NOT THAT BIG. How many are there? 150 pounds (about 68 kg)? Cinema makes me big.
I WANTED TO MAKE MY FATHER PROUD OF ME, so I became an actor because I couldn’t become someone else. I also found a core for discipline in this profession.
I'M TRAINED TO THE STAGE - trained in Chekhov and Shakespeare.
I'VE NEVER WATCHED "ON THE PORT" WITH MARLON BRANDO. You might think I'm lazy, but if I watched it, I'd just steal a bunch of stuff because I'm always stealing everything.
DID I STEAL BANE (the villain from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight)? Before filming, I spoke to Chris and told him, “I have the voice for Bane.” He said, "Okay." I said, “This is one thing I saw on Youtube.” He said, "Okay." And I say: “This is the voice of a gypsy wrestler whose name is Bartley Gorman.” He said, "Okay." And I stole that voice.
FILMING IN AN AMERICAN FILM LEAVES A HUGE IMPACT. You suddenly become a commodity, and you have to learn to keep such things under control.
IF YOU WALK AROUND LOS ANGELES, it's all white smiles and dudes with six-pack abs - an endless line of beautiful people wanting to be irresistible on screen.
I've NEVER BEEN SO FAR from my comfort zone as I was on the set of Mad Max. We were in the middle of the desert - so far from the studios and producers that even if they wanted to, they couldn't see what we were doing. We buried one wheelbarrow in sand almost up to the roof, and then we had to dig it out. And at this time, lunatics dressed in black leather were wandering around, having escaped either from a sadomasochistic party or from a Hell’s Angels rally. It was like fucking Slipknot performing at Cirque du Soleil.
THE PROBLEM WITH HOLLYWOOD IS THAT they want you to do what they say, be who they say you are, yet they believe you are who they want you to be.
I WILL NEVER SHAVE MY BEARD FOR SOMEONE. Shaving your beard is like busting your balls.
I DON'T LIKE MYSELF VERY MUCH - or rather, I never have.
I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO JOIN THE NORMAL MAJORITY FOR A VERY LONG TIME. But I'm not sure I can do it.
THERE IS AN ORANGUTAN IN MY HEAD, his name is Arthur. He makes all the wrong decisions for me. This creature is always pressing the "madness" button, especially when she's drunk. But he's just an orangutan, and I have to learn to get along with him.
HAVE A LOT OF VOICES IN MY HEAD, but I've learned to control them.
SOME WILL HATE YOU, SOME WILL LOVE YOU, but most people don't give a damn about who you are, what you live for, or what ideas you're passionate about.
I LOVE TO BE ANYONE other than myself. When someone shouts, “It’s Tom Hardy!”, I always turn around: “Where?”
ALL I CAN DO IS WIPE MY ASS, brush my teeth and do what I do.
IF I HAD 50 MILLION DOLLARS RIGHT NOW, I WOULD SPEND MORE TIME AT HOME.
I PLAY XBOX, I have a baby to look after, and I have dogs. You see, there is enough to do. I would be glad to sit down and watch a movie, but I don’t have time. So I only watch my own films because I have to watch them.
I ALREADY HAD TO UNDERSTAND how successful you can become by 38.
IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO YOU ARE. What matters is what you do next.
I'M NOT OBSESSED WITH DOGS, I just really love them. A dog is God in reverse.
YOU WILL NEVER CONVINCE A DOG that you are not who you say you are. A dog is the best critic, the strictest. Try to portray anyone in front of her, and your wonderful idea of yourself as a good actor will be shattered by her bewildered gaze.
It's good when everyone stays alive.
First steps to success
Returning to action in 2003, Tom began acting in theater productions. In the same year, the Evening Standard awarded him the prize in the category “most promising newcomer” for his roles in the plays “In Arabia We Will All Be Kings” and “Blood”.
Tom Hardy in the play “In Arabia We'll All Be Kings”
In 2004, he appeared in the thriller “Layer Cake” with Daniel Craig, and in 2005 he played one of the key characters in the TV series “The Virgin Queen.” His hero was a real-life statesman - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, associate and lover of Queen Elizabeth I. In the same year, he appeared in another historical costume film - the film “Marie Antoinette” with Kirsten Dunst.
Tom Hardy in The Virgin Queen (left) and Marie Antoinette
Many critics call Tom Hardy's breakthrough work the role of Stuart Shorter from the drama Stuart: A Past Life (2007). This film is based on the book of the same name, written by a friend of the real Stuart Shorter, a marginalized drug addict and alcoholic who fought for the rights of the homeless. The film was not initially intended to be released on big screens, so few Russian viewers saw Hardy as Shorter and Benedict Cumberbatch as his friend and author of the book, and that’s a shame.
For Stuart, Tom Hardy took characters from his past life
Soon Tom Hardy appeared in the gangster comedy RocknRolla by Guy Ritchie. The actor played the role of a homosexual bandit, a member of the Wild Bunch criminal group, whose leader was played by Gerard Butler. It is with him that Tom's hero falls in love.
"Rock 'n' Roller": Tom Hardy and Idris Elba
Career blossoming
In 2008, viewers were amazed by Hardy's transformation in the drama "Bronson", where he again played a real person - the amazingly artistic maniac Charles Bronson. The actor was unrecognizable: he gained more than 40 pounds and grew a mustache.
Tom Hardy as Bronson
Shortly after the premiere, filming began on the sports drama Warrior, where Hardy was to play a young MMA fighter opposite Joel Edgerton. I had to urgently get in shape. For 8 weeks, his daily schedule was: 2 hours of boxing, 2 hours of Muay Thai, 2 hours of jiu-jitsu, 2 hours of dancing and 2 hours in the gym. 2009 was marked by the release of the crime mini-series “Purchase,” in which Hardy became the star, and in 2010, Hardy first worked with Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” as one of the members of a team that infiltrates the son of a major industrialist in a dream in order to destroy his career his father.
Before filming "Warrior"
Afterwards there was work in the thriller “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy!”, with Gary Oldman - Hardy always admired this luminary of the British stage. “Oldman is incredible. He is my number one hero. I want to mean as much to my generation as he does to his,” he asserted during joint filming.
Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman
Then the actor became the star of the crime film “The Drunkest County in the World”, transforming himself, along with Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke, into three bootlegging brothers. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Still from the film “The Drunkest District in the World”
Shortly before the film's premiere, filming began on the final part of Nolan's Bae trilogy with Christian Bale. Hardy played the main villain, the terrorist Bane, who hid his face behind a mask. The actor again had to intensively gain weight. “The Dark Knight Rises” - trailer By the way, Nolan’s choice fell on Hardy after the director watched “Rock and Roll Man”, and Tom accepted the offer without even reading the script - he was promised unlimited access to stunt equipment. True, in order to match the two-meter Bane, the short (175 cm) Hardy had to wear 10-centimeter shoe linings in order to look at least no shorter than Batman.
Casting Tom Hardy as Bane and Bane in the film
The next time Hardy starred in an equally successful project was six months after the end of filming of The Dark Knight. It was a reboot of the Mad Max series of post-apocalyptic films about Max Rockatansky, which, in theory, was supposed to start back in 2003 and with the participation of Mel Gibson, who played Max in the original trilogy. But at that time Gibson became carried away with his project “The Passion of the Christ” and the matter stalled. Tom Hardy personally asked his predecessor for his “blessing” for this role - he was not against it.
Tom Hardy is the new Mad Max
And in 2020, viewers again saw Hardy with a lattice mask on his face. But this time he was surrounded not by the streets of Gotham, but by a hostile wasteland, where he had to escape the wrath of the local dictator in the company of a shaved head by Charlize Theron and a carefully made-up Nicholas Hoult from head to toe. Tom Hardy in Yakutia In between, Tom Hardy joined the cast of Peaky Blinders, led by Cillian Murphy, playing Jewish mafia leader Alfie Solomons, an opponent of the Shelby gangster family. After the fourth season, Hardy left the series, but not of his own free will - that’s what the writers decided.
Peaky Blinders: Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons
That same year, Hardy played the Kray twin brothers - two crime lords from London in the 60s - in the film Legend, and also appeared on the big screen in the epic film The Revenant, which brought his star, Leonardo DiCaprio, his first and deserved Oscar.
Tom Hardy as the Kray twins
Hardy does not appear in the best light in the film, playing a greedy and cowardly man from the frontier named John Fitzgerald, who doomed Hugh Glass to certain death. Hardy himself was also nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor, but lost to Mark Rylance from Bridge of Spies.
"The Revenant": Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald
Throughout 2020, the actor was busy filming two major projects: the mystical series “Taboo” (he was also its producer and one of the screenwriters, the other screenwriter was his father) and Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster “Dunkirk.” It is noteworthy that in Dunkirk, as in The Dark Knight, the actor’s face was hidden by a pilot’s mask. The director believes that Hardy is so good that he can express a whole range of emotions with just his eyes.
Covering Hardy's face with a mask is already a tradition
In 2020, Hardy joined the ranks of actors working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He played journalist Eddie Brock, whose body was possessed by an alien creature, turning the man into the main antagonist of Spider-Man - Venom. The film reveals Venom's backstory in detail and gives hope that audiences will still see the battle between Tom Hardy and Tom Holland. "Venom" with Tom Hardy. Trailer As part of the promotion of Venom, Tom Hardy visited Moscow. The actor stayed at the Ritz Hotel, and the next morning he held a photo shoot in Zaryadye Park, wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Venom”, which was given to him by Russian fans.
Tom Hardy in Moscow
During the press conference, Hardy was asked what superpower he would like to have in real life. The answer caused exclamations of emotion in the audience: And about his impressions of Moscow, the actor said the following:
Creative career
Hardy received his first role as a student in the film “Band of Brothers.” This film did not bring him fame, but he decided to continue working in cinema.
In 2006, Hardy formed the underground theater troupe Shotgun with director Robert Delamere and produced a play written by his father called Blue on Blue.
In 2007, Hardy received a Best Actor nomination from BAFTA for his moving performance as Stuart Shorter in Stuart: A Past Life. On the set he met Benedict Cumberbatch, who later became his close friend.
The following year he appeared in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla as Handsome Bob. This was an amazing transformation of the actor. He proved that he is capable of playing completely different roles and literally stunned film critics with his work.
In the 2008 film Bronson, Hardy played the famous Charles Bronson, recognized as Britain's most violent prisoner of all time and serving a total of more than thirty years in prison.
A real breakthrough in his acting career was his work in the film “Inception.” Hardy played one of the main roles and worked on the set with such famous actors as: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Callin Murphy, Tom Berenger, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page.
The film was released in July 2010 and became one of the twenty-five highest-grossing motion pictures of all time, collecting eight Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and winning four.
Hardy was considered for the role of Rick Flag in the DCEU film Suicide Squad, but due to his busy work schedule and preparation for his role in the film The Revenant, he was unable to take part in the filming.
In 2020, Hardy delighted his fans with the leading role of Eddie Brock (Venom) in the superhero film based on Marvel Comics, Venom. The film became the first film shot within the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Sony.
Personal life of Tom Hardy
In 1999, Tom Hardy proposed to producer Sarah Ward, and the wedding took place just three weeks after their first meeting. The hasty marriage turned out to be relatively strong: Sarah filed for divorce only in 2004, tired of her husband’s problems with alcohol and drugs, although by that time he had already completed a rehabilitation course and was “clean,” as well as his constant lack of attention.
Sarah Ward - Tom Hardy's first wife
Even before the official divorce, the couple hardly communicated. In 2003, Hardy had an affair with Korean-born actress Linda Park. In 2005, on the set of the TV series The Virgin Queen, Tom became interested in the director's assistant, Rachel Speed. In April 2008, their son Louis was born. After Tom and Rachel broke up, he stayed with his mom, but sees his dad regularly.
Tom Hardy has a son, Louis, with Rachel Speed
In 2009, Tom Hardy began dating actress Charlotte Riley. They met on the set of the drama “Wuthering Heights” based on the novel “Bronte”. According to the script, their characters, Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw, were madly in love with each other. Charlotte was skeptical about “office romances,” but could not resist Tom’s charm. 5 years later, the couple tied themselves with solemn vows and rings.
In the photo: Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley
In October 2020, the actor became a dad for the second time – Charlotte gave birth to a child. The couple decided not to publicize the name or gender of the child.
The actor is an exemplary husband and father
In the early days of 2020, Tom Hardy and Charlotte welcomed their second child together, a boy named Forest, after Tom Hanks' character from the movie Forrest Gump. Meanwhile, the name and gender of Tom's middle child are still unknown.
The most interesting
A fan of Jolie has undergone many operations, wanting to be like the actress (12/15/2017)
Actresses who received the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress (02/13/2020)
In 2020, Charlotte gave birth to Tom’s son.
In the photo: Tom Hardy with his wife Charlotte Riley
According to the actor, the birth of children changed his life:
“Now I know that there is someone who needs me and hopes for me. When I come home I stop being Tommy the actor, I become Tommy the father."
He continues to be in close contact with his eldest son Louis, who turns twelve this year.
Actor with eldest son
In 2020, another son, Forrest, was born.
Now Tom Hardy’s career and personal life are in perfect order - he was able to completely get rid of addictions, became an ideal husband and father, a successful actor who is successfully building his career.
Tom Hardy now
In 2020, the actor worked on the role of gangster Al Capone in the film Scarface. Fans were amazed by the filigree work of the make-up artist. Director Josh Trank's idea is also interesting: the plot is dedicated not to the birth of the Capone empire, but to its decline. The gangster was released from prison, suffered from syphilis and lost all his loved ones, but difficult memories do not allow him to forget.
Tom Hardy played Al Capone
The new season of the series “Taboo” is expected to be released. The film crew of the series admits that there are enough ideas not only for the second, but also for the third season, but Hardy can only work on this project in his free time, which he sorely lacks. Therefore, viewers cannot count on the usual schedule of “a new season every year.”
It is still unknown when the second season of Taboo will be released.
Fans of Peaky Blinders believe that Tom Hardy's character will return to the series in the final season, despite what happened in the last episode of season 4. One way or another, we will find out about this no earlier than October 4, 2020.
Hardy is also awaiting the start of filming the fifth part of Mad Max: he signed the contract even before the release of Fury Road. The working title of the film is Mad Max: Wasteland. The release of the second “Venom” is just around the corner. Tom Hardy himself also had a hand in creating the script for the sequel. The director of the project, Andy Serkis, admitted that he has known Hardy for many years and trusts his instincts. It is known that Hardy agreed to star in three large diverse projects, the release date of which is still unknown. These are the action movie “On the Wave Path”, the film adaptation of the game “Splinter Cell” and the drama “Everest”.
Hardy to star in Splinter Cell
Filming on Splinter Cell was supposed to begin several years earlier, but Leonardo DiCaprio lured him to co-star in The Revenant, and director Doug Liman only saw Hardy in the title role. Due to constant hiccups, Liman was forced to leave the project, and the future of the film remains in doubt.
