Tom Hollander Biography

TOM HOLLANDER

Date of Birth: August 25, 1967

Tom Hollander was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England and is the second child of schoolteacher parents. He was first introduced to acting as a student of the Dragon School. He then attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire and, at the age of 14, was cast in the television movie John Diamond. With his childhood friend, Skyfall director Sam Mendes, Hollander eventually went on to study at Cambridge University, where he became heavily involved in theater. Although he wasn’t accepted into drama school, he continued to work on the stage and gradually built up acting credits.

Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Hollander worked mostly on stage. He was nominated for several theater awards and, as a result of his reputation as a talented actor, he was coerced into trying to find the same level of success in the film industry. He began to receive critical acclaim almost immediately for the smaller, British independent films he starred in and developed a career as a versatile and comedic character actor. In 2001, he starred in the Robert Altman film Gosford Park, which, with one of the most incredible ensemble casts ever assembled, garnered numerous awards and accolades. In the film, he worked alongside acting greats such as Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Stephen Fry and Helen Mirren.

Hollander became known in the United Kingdom for his roles, both dramatic and comedic, in British independent films such as The Libertine and Lawless Heart. He flew onto the North American radar first for his role as the awkward Mr. Collins in Joe Wright’s well-received adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Hollander won a Peter Sellers Award for Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his turn in the film. Not long after, he became a more frequent face on the Hollywood big screen appearing in the second and third installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean series; the romantic comedy A Good Year; the period piece Elizabeth: The Golden Age; and as Colonel Heintz Brandt in Valkyrie alongside Tom Cruise.

In The Soloist and Hanna (in which he played a psychopathic henchman), Hollander again worked with director Joe Wright. He also starred in, co-created and co-wrote (with James Wood) the British comedy series Rev.. The series, in which Hollander plays the title character Rev. Adam Smallbone, picked up a slew of awards and nominations in the U.K. for its first season. Hollander regards the comedy series as his proudest achievement because of his main role in its creation and production. He also picked up British Independent Film Award Supporting Actor nominations for The Libertine (2004) and In the Loop (2009).

Into the 2010s, Hollander starred in the Richard Curtis film About Time (2013) with Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel MacAdams, and Bill Nighy, and played 19th century author Wilkie Collins in The Invisible Woman (2013) with Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas and Felicity Jones. He also won parts in Muppets Most Wanted (2014), The Riot Club (2014), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), and the Golden Globe-winning crime drama miniseries The Night Manager (2016) with Tom Hiddleston.

His latest efforts include the historical drama The Promise (2017) with Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, the drama Tulip Fever (2017) with Alicia Vikander, Breathe (2017) with Andrew Garfield and the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) with Rami Malek.

He currently makes his home in Notting Hill, London, England.

Filmography:

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Tulip Fever (2017)
The Promise (2017)
Revolution: New Art for a New World (2016)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
The Riot Club (2014)
Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
The Invisible Woman (2014)
The Voorman Problem (2014)
About Time (2013)
Byzantium (2013) (uncredited)
Hanna (2011)
The Soloist (2009)
In the Loop (2009)
Valkyrie (2008)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
Rabbit Fever (2006)
A Good Year (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Land of the Blind (2006)
The Darwin Awards (2006)
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Piccadilly Jim (2005)
The Libertine (2004)
Paparazzi (2004)
Stage Beauty (2004)
Possession (2002)
Gosford Park (2001)
Lawless Heart (2001)
Enigma (2001)
Maybe Baby (2000)
The Announcement (2000)
The Very Thought Of You (1999)
The Clandestine Marriage (1999)
Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)
Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998)
True Blue (1996)
Some Mother’s Son (1996)