Tom Wilkinson

He is one of those long-standing actors who, before becoming a well-known face, had already carved out an extensive career in British theater and television. His specialty is suffering characters, with some kind of moral dilemma that he knows how to intensify and internalize like no one else. In fact, this is his character as Arthur Edens inMichael Clayton , for which he has been nominated for an Oscar, and thus also achieved his first nomination for the golden statuette, thanks to his work as a devastated father in the terrible dramaIn the Room , directed by Tood Field (secret games ).

Tom Wilkinson was born on December 12, 1948, in Leeds (England). Financial difficulties soon forced the family to emigrate to Canada, but Tom returned to his native England within a few years. There he graduated in English and American Literature from the University of Kent. And then he studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He has appeared in plays at the Oxford Playhouse, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

He began his film career back in 1975, no less than by the hand of the Pole Andrzej Wajda , with an important role in the filmThe Shadow Line , based on a short novel by Joseph Conrad . In the following decade he consolidated his filmography, with numerous appearances in television series and telefilms. Thus, in 1985 he shared the bill with such great performers as Vanessa Redgrave , Ian Holm or Judi Dench in the esteemed Wetherby mystery drama, and was Inspector Neele in the mystery telefilm A Pocket Full of Rye , based on a novel by Agatha Christie . And in 1988 he excelled in the dramaThe Woman He Loved , where he shared the bill with Anthony Andrews , Jane Seymour and the incomparable Olivia de Havilland . And that same year she appeared in the excellent The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank , a film inspired by the diary of the young Jewish girl murdered in Auschwitz. That same year her life underwent a pleasant change, as he married actress Diana Hardcastle , with whom he had met in the First Among Equals series (1986). The couple has two children, and it is seen that they are very close, since the actor declined to participate in The Lord of the Rings so as not to spend too long without seeing his family.

It was in the nineties when Tom Wilkinson became known to the general public. In 1993 he participated in the great success of Jim Sheridan In the name of the father and two years later he played Mr. Dashwood in the acclaimed period filmSense and Sensibility , by Ang Lee . However, he found the definitive role in Gerald deFull Monty (1997), Peter Cattaneo ‘s comedythat became a worldwide media event. From that moment on, Wilkinson found more interesting roles, with more presence in the script. He was noted as the Marquess of Queensberry inWilde (1997), and as a theater patron in the Oscar-winningShakespeare in love (1998). After repeating with Ang Lee in the westernRide with the Devil (1999), he got the role of a father who loses a son in the aforementioned drama En la habitación (2001). The story was perfect for the actor’s ability to internalize suffering and the Academy nominated him for an Oscar. But not all are tragedies in his filmography, and although it is true that his comic streak is less successful, he knew how to take advantage of it inThe Black Knight (2001),Before you go (2002) and inForget about me! (2004).

In recent times he has stood out for his roles in the pictorialGirl with a Pearl Earring (2003), inA Good Woman , based on the Oscar Wilde play ; or in his interpretation of a Catholic priest in The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), based on real events. And recently he was signed by the great Woody Allen to play the maternal uncle of the drama Cassandra’s Dream , who incites the crime to the protagonists Ewan McGregor and Colin Farell. Now, after his second award nomination for Michael Clayton , his work is piling up. At almost sixty years old, he still has rope left for a while.