Early life

Hardy was born in Hammersmith, London, the only child of Anne (née Barrett), an artist and painter whose family was of Irish descent, and Edward "Chips" Hardy, a novelist and comedy writer. He was raised in East Sheen, London. He studied at Tower House School, Reed's School, and Duff Miller Sixth Form College. To further his acting ambition Hardy later studied at Richmond Drama School, and subsequently at the Drama Centre London.

Career

1998-2009

In 1998, Hardy won The Big Breakfast's Find Me a Supermodel competition at age 21 (and with it a brief contract with Models One). Hardy joined Drama Centre London in September 1998, and was taken out early after winning the part of US Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO-BBC miniseries Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war thriller Black Hawk Down. In 2003, Hardy appeared in the film dot the i, and then travelled to North Africa for Simon: An English Legionnaire, a story of the French Foreign Legion. In the same year, he gained some heavy international exposure as the Reman Praetor Shinzon, a clone of USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis. He then returned to England to feature in the 2003 film LD 50 Lethal Dose.

Hardy was awarded the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performances in Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings performed at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his performance as Skank in the aforementioned production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. Hardy appeared in the 2005 BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen as Robert Dudley, a childhood friend of Elizabeth I. The miniseries portrays them as having a platonic, though highly romantic, affair throughout her reign over England during the 16th century. Hardy featured in the BBC Four adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi series A for Andromeda.

In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Two drama based on a true story, Stuart: A Life Backwards. He played the lead role of Stuart Shorter, a homeless man who had been subjected to years of abuse and whose death was possibly a suicide. In February 2008, he played a drug-addicted rapist in the British horror-thriller WΔZ. In September 2008, he appeared in Guy Ritchie's London gangster film, RocknRolla; Hardy played the role of gay gangster Handsome Bob. Though a sequel to RocknRolla, titled the The Real RocknRolla, has been rumoured to be in production, in which Hardy will reprise the role of Handsome Bob, filming has yet to commence on the project. In early 2009, Hardy starred in the film Bronson, about the real-life English prisoner Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three stone (19 kg/42 pounds).

In June 2009, Hardy starred in Martina Cole's four-part TV drama The Take on Sky One, as a drugs and alcohol fuelled gangster. The role gained him a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. In August 2009, he appeared in ITV's Wuthering Heights, playing the part of Heathcliff, the classic love character who falls in love with his childhood friend Cathy.

2010-present

In early 2010, Hardy starred in The Long Red Road at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The play was written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy won some good reviews for his portrayal of Sam, an alcoholic trying to drink away his past. In 2010, he starred as Eames in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller Inception for which he won a BAFTA Rising Star award. Hardy replaced Michael Fassbender in the 2011 film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, released on 5 September 2011 at the 68th edition of the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice. In March 2010, Hardy signed a first look deal at Warner Bros.

In 2011, Hardy starred in the film Warrior, which was released on 9 September 2011 by Lionsgate Films. His performance as Tommy Riordan, who is trained by his father to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament against his brother, gained praise from critics. Hardy also starred in This Means War, a 2012 romantic comedy film directed by McG. He played the supervillain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, released on 20 July 2012. He played a bootlegger in John Hillcoat's Lawless (2012). Hardy has signed up to play the lead role of Sam Fisher in Ubisoft's upcoming film adaptation of their video game series Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. He also appeared in Riz Mc's music video for the song "Sour Times".

Hardy starred in five films in 2015. The first, Child 44, set in 1950s Soviet Russia, saw him playing Leo Demidov, a Soviet secret police agent who investigates a series of child murders. Despite mild praise for his acting, Child 44 was reviewed negatively by critics and was a box office failure. Hardy then played the title character, Max Rockatansky, in the 2015 Mad Max: Fury Road. His performance was praised by critics and overall the film received critical acclaim and became a box office success, grossing over $378 million against a $150 million budget, becoming the highest grossing film in the Mad Max franchise.

In 2015, Hardy is appearing in the BBC One series Taboo, which is set in 19th century England. Hardy plays an adventurer who wants justice after the death of his father. FX series will air the series in the US in 2016. In 2015, he starred in a dual role as London gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray in the crime thriller Legend. On 7 December 2015, Hardy won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for his portrayal of the Kray twins, and on the same night attended the premiere of the biographical western thriller The Revenant, in which he co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio, at Leicester Square, London. On 14 January 2016 Hardy received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Revenant.

Hardy is to star in Christopher Nolan's 2017 action-thriller Dunkirk based on the British military evacuation of the French city of Dunkirk in 1940 during World War II. He will appear alongside Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh and Harry Styles.

Personal life

In 1999, Hardy married Sarah Ward, a producer, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2004 because of his alcohol and cocaine addiction. He has a son, Louis Thomas (born 2008), with then-girlfriend Rachael Speed, an assistant director, whom he met on set of The Virgin Queen. They began dating in 2004 and split in 2009.

In 2009, Hardy began a relationship with actress Charlotte Riley, whom he met on the set of Wuthering Heights. The couple became engaged in 2010 and married in July 2014. They have two dogs, both rescues, one of which Hardy appeared with in a PETA advert to promote pet adoption. In October 2015, the couple welcomed their first child together.

In 2010, Hardy became an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, a leading UK youth charity which provides training, personal development, business start up support, mentoring and advice. In 2012, he and Riley became patrons of Bowel Cancer UK.

He has many tattoos: some tribal, the Union Jack, a theatrical mask, a crow and two sentences in Italian: "figlio mio bellissimo" ("my beautiful son") on the right arm, and "padre fiero" ("proud father") under the clavicle.

Hardy has referred to Gary Oldman as "the greatest actor that's ever lived", and described Oldman as his hero, adding "everybody used to quote him in all of his films." Hardy was named one of GQ magazine's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Black Hawk Down	Spc. Lance Twombly	Credited as Thomas Hardy
2002	Star Trek: Nemesis	Shinzon
2003	Reckoning, TheThe Reckoning	Straw
	dot the i	Tom
2003	LD 50 Lethal Dose	Matt
2004	Layer Cake	Clarkie
2006	Minotaur	Theo
	Marie Antoinette	Raumont
	Scenes of a Sexual Nature	Noel
2007	Flood	Zack
	WΔZ	Pierre Jackson
	Inheritance, TheThe Inheritance	Dad
2008	Sucker Punch	Rodders
	RocknRolla	Handsome Bob
	Bronson	Charles Bronson/Michael Peterson
2009	Thick as Thieves	Det. Michaels
	Perfect	Doctor	Short film
2010	Inception	Eames
2011	Sergeant Slaughter, My Big Brother	Dan	Short film
	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Ricki Tarr
	Warrior	Tommy Riordan Conlon
2012	This Means War	Tuck Hansen
	Dark Knight Rises, TheThe Dark Knight Rises	Bane
	Lawless	Forrest Bondurant
2013	Locke	Ivan Locke
2014	The Drop	Bob Saginowski
2015	Child 44	Leo Demidov
	Mad Max: Fury Road	Max Rockatansky
	London Road	Mark
	Legend	Ronald Kray and Reginald Kray
	The Revenant	John Fitzgerald
2016	Dunkirk
	Star Wars: Episode VIII	Stormtrooper	Cameo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Band of Brothers	Pfc. John Janovec	2 episodes
2005	Colditz	2nd Lt. Jack Rose	2 episodes
	Virgin Queen, TheThe Virgin Queen	Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester	3 episodes
	Gideon's Daughter	Andrew	Television film
2006	A for Andromeda	John Fleming	Television film
	Sweeney Todd	Matthew	Television film
2007	Cape Wrath	Jack Donnelly	5 episodes
	Oliver Twist	Bill Sikes	5 episodes
	Stuart: A Life Backwards	Stuart Shorter	Television film
2008	Wuthering Heights	Heathcliff	2 episodes
2009	Take, TheThe Take	Freddie	4 episodes
2013	Poaching Wars	Himself	2 episodes; also executive producer
2014-present	Peaky Blinders	Alfie Solomons	5 episodes
2016	Taboo	James Keziah Delaney	8 episodes; also executive producer and writer

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	In Arabia We'd All Be Kings	Skank	Hampstead Theatre
	The Modernists	Vincent	Crucible Theatre
	Blood	Luca	Royal Court Theatre
2004	Festen	Michael	Almeida Theatre
2007	The Man of Mode	Dorimant	National Theatre
2010	The Long Red Road	Sammy	Goodman Theatre

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Tom Hardy

[ Source: Wikipedia ]