Tom Sturridge Biography
Born: December 21, 1985
Date of Birth: December 21, 1985
Tom Sturridge was born in London, England and despite his best efforts, he would become part of one of the UK’s premiere acting families. The son of director Charles Sturridge (known for directing the Jeremy Irons television series, Brideshead Revisited) and actress Phoebe Nicholls (The Elephant Man). However, Tom lived a fairly normal life, attending the Harrodian School and not even stepping a foot on his parents' film sets. That is, until he was ten.
In 1996, his father was casting a role in his TV movie Gulliver's Travels. He needed a child actor who would respond well to him and immediately thought of Tom. Despite having no acting experience, Tom agreed to play Tom Gulliver.
While acting in a picture with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen might be exciting to some, Sturridge had no desire to pursue an acting career and as he grew older, his determination to avoid the family business intensified. While Sturridge describes his family as fiercely accepting and loving, as he approached his teens, he rebelled from his parents' profession in the same way many teenagers do, refusing to even take part in school plays. His two younger siblings, Arthur and Matilda, would go on to become actors. As an adolescent, Tom attended Winchester College but dropped out during his final year to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
In 2004, at the age of 18, Tom crossed paths with Hungarian director Istvan Szabo. His friend's father was a casting director for Szabo's new movie, Being Julia, and Tom wanted very much to meet him, being an admirer of his work. He found out they were having trouble casting the role of Roger Gosselyn and though he still wasn't interested in an acting career, Tom asked to audition in an effort to get close to his hero. He ultimately won the role and was seduced by the life of an actor, feeling for the first time like he had earned a role based on his own merits, instead of his name.
He followed his big screen debut that same year playing Jonathan Rhys Meyers' son in the period-drama Vanity Fair.
Sturridge remained picky, carefully selecting his projects, which included 2009’s critically-beloved Pirate Radio and 2011's critically-despised Waiting for Forever, starring Rachel Bilson. In 2007, he was cast as the male lead in the science-fiction thriller Jumper alongside Bilson. Unfortunately, two weeks before filming began he was replaced by the better-known Hayden Christensen.
Despite an admitted inexperience in the dating pool, things weren't all work and no play for the British actor. In 2011, he began dating actress Sienna Miller. In January 2012, the couple announced they were engaged and expecting their first child. Their daughter, born July 7, 2012, is named Marlowe Ottoline Layng Sturridge. Unfortunately, however, the relationship ended in 2015, before they had a chance to marry.
In 2012 he played a role in On the Road, based on the autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac. The film had him working with friend and frequent double date partner, Kristen Stewart, who once dated his best friend, Robert Pattinson.
More recently, Tom played Hibbert in the WWI drama Journey's End (2018), alongside Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany and Asa Butterfield.
Filmography
Mary Shelley (2018)
Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)
On the Road (2013)
Junkhearts (2011)
Waiting for Forever (2011)
Pirate Radio (2009)
Like Minds (2006)
Brothers of the Head (2005)
Vanity Fair (2004)
Being Julia (2004)