15 Facts About Tom Conti

1.

Tommaso Antonio Conti was born on 22 November 1941 and is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist.

2.

Tommaso Antonio Conti was born on 22 November 1941 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, the son of hairdressers Mary McGoldrick and Alfonso Conti.

3.

Tom Conti was brought up Roman Catholic, but is antireligious.

4.

Tom Conti's father was Italian, while his mother was born and raised in Scotland to Irish parents.

5.

Tom Conti began working with the Dundee Repertory in 1959.

6.

Besides taking the leading role in the TV versions of Frederic Raphael's The Glittering Prizes and Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, Tom Conti appeared in the "Princess and the Pea" episode of the family television series Faerie Tale Theatre, guest-starred on Friends and Cosby, and played opposite Nigel Hawthorne in a long-running series of Vauxhall Astra car advertisements in the United Kingdom during the mid-1990s.

7.

Tom Conti has appeared in such films as Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence; Reuben, Reuben; American Dreamer; Shirley Valentine; Miracles; Saving Grace; Dangerous Parking, and Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase.

8.

Tom Conti appeared in the hit BBC sitcom Miranda alongside Miranda Hart and Patricia Hodge, as Miranda's father, in the 2010 seasonal episode "The Perfect Christmas".

9.

Tom Conti has been married to Scottish actress Kara Wilson since 1967 and their daughter Nina is an actress and performs as a ventriloquist.

10.

Tom Conti is a prominent resident of Hampstead in northwest London, having lived in the area for several decades.

11.

Tom Conti was part of a campaign against the opening of a Tesco supermarket in nearby Belsize Park.

12.

Tom Conti had opposed development plans for Hampstead's Grove Lodge, the 18th-century Grade II listed former home of novelist John Galsworthy.

13.

Tom Conti participated in a genetic-mapping project conducted by the company ScotlandsDNA.

14.

Tom Conti has said that he "burst out laughing" when told he was directly related to Napoleon on his father's side.

15.

Tom Conti considered running as the Conservative candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election, but did not, and in the following election in 2012, he supported unsuccessful independent candidate Siobhan Benita.