toby kebbell

“Sometimes I get asked why I choose performances where you can’t see my face,” says the actor. “But it has advantages, because I can walk around Los Angeles without anyone recognizing me. I recently ran into a drunk who had Johnny Quid, my RocknRolla character, tattooed on his thigh . I told him that he was me, but he didn’t believe it. Not being known is a blessing, it makes me very happy and I would like to continue like this.

Born on July 9, 1982, in South Elmsall, in the north of England, although raised in Nottinghamshire, Kebbell was the fourth of five children. He was traumatized by the early separation from his parents when he was just eighteen months old. After being left under the care of his mother, a cook and gardener, he was educated in a Catholic school.

After studying Drama at the Central Television Workshop in Nottingham, he took his first film role, in the never released in Spain Dead Man’s Shoes , by his compatriot Shane Meadows , as if it were his last. Only the fear that he would never be recruited again explains the intensity with which he played Anthony, a mentally retarded boy who is abused by unscrupulous people, on whom his brother ( Paddy Considine ) will take complete revenge when he leaves the army.

His work did not go unnoticed by Oliver Stone , who in Alexander the Great cast him as Pausanias, the murderer of the protagonist’s father ( Val Kilmer ), instigated by his mother ( Angelina Jolie ). Not for Woody Allen, who didn’t need to give him a test to make him a policeman in Match Point . 

Critics raved about it when he became a real character, Joy Division manager Rob Gretton, in Control . And he wowed the crowd at RocknRolla , under the command of Guy Ritchie , as Johnny Quidd, a drug addict capable of handling a pianist as well as a semi-automatic weapon. He learned to handle both instruments during the preparation of the role, and almost stopped eating to appear scrawny on screen.

Toby Kebbell is raffled off for blockbusters of adventures and special effects, as he was Garsiv, brother of Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia: the sands of time , the demigod Agénor, son of Poseidon, in Wrath of the Titans , and a powerful magician in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice , which failed at the box office, like most films starring Nicolas Cage in recent years. But he shined above all as Geordie, a soldier who risks his life to rescue Joey the horse, in War Horse , directed by Steven Spielberg himself .

On television he starred in the third episode of the first season, and possibly the best of Black Mirror , “Your complete story”, where he was a lawyer who discovered his wife’s infidelity, covered up by manipulating memories thanks to new technologies. He was also Tony, a former client of the lawyer played by Michael Fassbender , in The Counselor .

As a villain he is priceless. He put on the mask of Dr. Death, antagonist of Fantastic Four , a review of the adventures of Marvel characters that did not have the expected impact. Using CGI technology, he played Koba, the evil primate facing off against Caesar, in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes . Also through image capture he incarnated Durotan, orc leader in Warcraft. The origin .

They even gave him the opportunity to give life to one of the bad guys par excellence of the Seventh Art, the Roman tribune facing his best friend Messala, taking over from the unforgettable Stephen Boyd , in the new Ben-Hur . In keeping with the script, he completely changed the character, no longer close to madness, blinded by hatred for his rival, but ends up against her because of circumstances, which make him feel betrayed. “From his point of view, everything is justified. How dare someone who claims to care for you protect a criminal?” he explained.

He assures that what he saw during filming made him think, when four horses pounced on a fallen extra during the chariot race, the crowning moment of the film that takes place in the time of Christ. “I think God intervened because they passed by without touching him. It was a real miracle,” he commented.

In the meantime, Toby Kebbell has had time to put himself under the command of a Spaniard, Juan Antonio Bayona , in A Monster Comes to See Me , where he plays the father of the leading child. In the future, he will be seen as a military man in Skull Island , the prequel to King Kong .

Confirmed bachelor, he has been in a relationship with British businesswoman Ruzwana Bashir since he met her at a Christmas party in 2009. But he has stated that he feels very well alone, and that he is in no hurry to get married. “Before I would like to have a house and settle down”, he has come to say.