1. Tom Wilkinson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before making his West End debut portraying Horatio in Hamlet for which he received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
26 Facts About Tom Wilkinson
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Tom Wilkinson returned to the West End playing Dr Stockmann in the Henrik Ibsen play An Enemy of the People receiving a Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a Revival nomination.
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Tom Wilkinson received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Full Monty as well as two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Actor for In the Bedroom and Best Supporting Actor for Michael Clayton.
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Tom Wilkinson became known as a character actor, acting in numerous films such as In the Name of the Father, Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare in Love, The Patriot, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Batman Begins, Valkyrie, The Ghost Writer, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Belle, Selma, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Denial.
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Thomas Geoffrey Tom Wilkinson was born on 5 February 1948 in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Marjorie and Thomas Tom Wilkinson, a farmer.
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Tom Wilkinson graduated in English and American literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury.
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Tom Wilkinson made his acting debut on stage at the Nottingham Playhouse.
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Tom Wilkinson later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and made his West End debut as Horatio in the 1981 RSC production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Aldwych Theatre for which he received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
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Tom Wilkinson went on to act in supporting roles in the British thriller Parker, the biographical film Sylvia, and the mystery Wetherby.
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Tom Wilkinson worked on several British television series, most notably portraying Raymond Gould in the ITV mini-series First Among Equals.
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Tom Wilkinson was simultaneously appearing in this series on television and on the West End stage in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts in which he played Pastor Manders.
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Tom Wilkinson first gained critical acclaim with his appearance as Seth Pecksniff in the BBC's 1994 adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name.
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Tom Wilkinson had a small but important role as the dying father, Mr Dashwood, in the Ang Lee-directed Sense and Sensibility, and played a villain in the adventure drama The Ghost and the Darkness.
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Tom Wilkinson then took roles in the period films The Importance of Being Earnest and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
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Tom Wilkinson portrayed Carmine Falcone in Christopher Nolan's superhero film Batman Begins.
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Tom Wilkinson acted in films such as the horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Julian Fellowes' drama Separate Lies, and Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream.
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In 2007, Tom Wilkinson played Arthur Edens, an attorney with bipolar disorder, in Michael Clayton.
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In 2008, Tom Wilkinson portrayed American polymath Benjamin Franklin in the HBO mini-series John Adams, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
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That same year he starred in another HBO project, the political drama Recount, in which Wilkinson portrayed American political adviser and lawyer, James A Baker, in Baker's capacity as Chief Counsel to George W Bush during the 2000 US Presidential Election, receiving an Emmy Award nomination.
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Tom Wilkinson portrayed Friedrich Fromm, acting alongside Tom Cruise, in the World War II thriller Valkyrie and acted in the Guy Ritchie action film RocknRolla.
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Tom Wilkinson had a lead role alongside Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco in the comedy Unfinished Business.
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Tom Wilkinson briefly reprised his role as Joseph P Kennedy Sr.
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Tom Wilkinson voiced Threarah in the BBC One series Watership Down, and played Peregrine, Earl of Brockenhurst in the Julian Fellowes historical drama Belgravia.
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Tom Wilkinson lived in North London with his wife, actress Diana Hardcastle.
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Tom Wilkinson died of cardiac arrest at his home in London, on 30 December 2023, at the age of 75.
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Tom Wilkinson received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Kent in July 2001.