Recently made a name for himself with the movie "Venom": Who is Tom Hardy?

His full name is Edward Thomas Hardy, he was born on September 15, 1977 in Hammersmith, London. He was born the only child of his mother, the painter Elizabeth Anne Barrett, and his father, the novelist and comedy writer Edward Chips Hardy. He is of Irish descent by his mother. Growing up in London, Hardy was educated at Tower House School, Reed's School and then Duff Miller Sixth Form College. He later studied at the Richmond School of Drama and the London Drama Centre. He was also modeling.

In 1998, at age 21, Hardy won The Big Breakfast's "Find Me a Supermodel" contest. Later in the year, he joined Drama Center London. However, after making a guest appearance in the war drama mini-series "Band of Brothers" directed by Ridley Scott, he decided to leave the theater and focus on the cinema.

He made his feature film debut in the war thriller "Black Hawk Down" (2001), directed by Ridley Scott, with actors such as Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom. In 2002, Hardy appeared in Stuart Baird's science fiction film "Star Trek: Nemesis," for which he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The following year, she starred in the psychological thriller "Dot the i".

Hardy was awarded the 2003 London Evening Standard Theater Award for his performances in "Blood" and "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" at the Royal Court Theater and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for the 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 for his role in the second play.

The following year, she co-starred with Emilia Fox in "The Virgin Queen" (2005), a four-part mini-series co-produced by the BBC and Power. Hardy also appeared in the adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series "A for Andromeda" (2006).

In 2007, he co-starred with Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC Two biographical drama film "Stuart: A Life Backwards" based on a true story. In the same year, he played Bill Sikes in the BBC mini-series "Oliver Twist", based on the novel by Charles Dickens, directed by Coky Giedroyc. The following year, he played the role of a drug-addicted rapist in the British crime horror-thriller "WΔZ" (2008). Later that year, he starred as gay gangster Handsome Bob in the action crime movie "RocknRolla" directed by Guy Ritchie. He then starred in the biographical prison action thriller "Bronson" (2008) about British convict Charles Bronson. Hardy gained 42 lb or 19 kg for the movie.

In June 2009, he starred in the television crime drama series "The Take", adapted as four episodes from Martina Cole's novel. He earned a Best Actor nomination at the Crime Thriller Awards for this role. In the same year, he played the lead role in ITV's television series "Wuthering Heights".

In early 2010, he appeared at the Goodman Theater in Chicago in "The Long Red Road" written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy received some good reviews for his portrayal. In 2010, he appeared as Eames in the science fiction thriller "Inception" directed by Christopher Nolan. The film earned its director the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Hardy appeared in the film adaptation of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011) released in its 68th edition at the Film Festival in Venice on September 5, 2011.

In 2011, Hardy co-starred with Joel Edgerton in the sports action movie "Warrior" directed by Gavin O'Connor. He received praise from critics for his performance of his role in the movie. He then starred with Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in the romantic comedy spy movie "This Means War" (2012) directed by McG. That same year, he played super villain Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012), the final film in the superhero movie The Dark Knight Trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan. He won the NTV Movie Award in the Best Villain category for his role in the movie. In addition, he was one of the leading actors in the crime drama movie "Lawless" (2012), directed by John Hillcoat.

In 2014, Hardy appeared alongside James Gandolfini in the remake of the crime film "The Drop." He also joined the cast as Alfie Solomons in the BBC crime drama television series "Peaky Blinders" in its second season.

Hardy appeared in five films in 2015. In his film debut, he played Soviet secret police agent Leo Demidov in the mystery thriller "The Boy 44" directed by Daniel Espinosa. Despite receiving moderate praise for his performance, the film was a negative and box office failure by critics. Later, he played the main character Max Rockatansky in the action movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"(2015), directed by George Miller. He was praised by critics for his performance, and the film was a box office success, to great acclaim. In addition, it was the highest-grossing film in the Mad Max franchise, with the revenue generated in response to the production budget.

He played a double role as Ronald Kray and Reginald Kray in the third film, the biographical crime thriller "Legend" (2015), directed by Brian Helgeland. In December 2015, he won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for playing the Kray twins. That same night, he also attended the premiere of the biographical western thriller drama "The Revenant", in which he reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio. In January 2016, Hardy also received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

He then played a fighter pilot in the action-thriller war movie "Dunkirk"(2017), directed by Christopher Nolan, based on an event during the Second World War. Hardy appeared in the film alongside Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy and Harry Styles. He also co-produced and starred in the eight-episode BBC One television series "Taboo" (2017). The series was written by Hardy, Steven Knight, and Hardy's father, Edward Chips Hardy.

In 2018, he starred in the superhero movie "Venom" as the once comic book hero Eddie Brock and the symbiote Venom. In 2020, Hardy appeared in the biographical drama movie "Capone," directed by Josh Trank, in which Hardy starred as Al Capone.

Hardy has announced that he will play British war photographer Don McCullin in a film based on McCullin's autobiography Unreasonable Behavior. Later, he reprized both roles in the sequel of the series, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage", and also contributed to the story of the film. Hardy is also slated to star as Antarctic explorer 'Sir Ernest Shackleton' in the biopic written by the producers of Taboo. The film is produced by Hardy's production company, Hardy Son & Baker.

Personal life

Hardy married producer Sarah Ward in 1999 and the couple divorced in 2004. The following year, he met assistant director Rachael Speed on the set of The Virgin Queen. The couple had a son born in April 2008 and separated in 2009. That year, Hardy met and developed an emotional affair with actress Charlotte Riley on the set of Wuthering Heights. The couple got married in July 2014. Their first child was born in 2015 and their second child in December 2018. They also had two rescue dogs named Max and Woodstock. Later, Woodstock died.

Hardy was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in his 2018 Birthday Honors for his service to the Drama industry. In 2010 he was selected as an ambassador for the 'Prince's Trust', a youth charity providing education, personal development, business start-up support, mentoring and advice. Hardy enjoys doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has a blue belt rank as of 2020.