David Thewlis
| David Thewlis | |
|---|---|
Thewlis at the 2008 San Sebastian Film Festival
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| Born | David Wheeler 20 March 1963 Blackpool, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | Actor, author, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse(s) | Sara Sugarman (m. 1992; div. 1993) |
| Partner(s) | Anna Friel (2001–2010) |
| Children | 1 |
David Thewlis (né Wheeler; born 20 March 1963)[1] is an English actor. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter film series. Other notable performances include the films Naked (for which he won the Best Actor award at Cannes Film Festival), Dragonheart, Kingdom of Heaven, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Theory of Everything and Macbeth, in which he played King Duncan. He has also done voice work in the films James and the Giant Peach (1996) and The Miracle Maker (2000).
Contents
Early life
Thewlis, the second of three children, was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, the son of Maureen (née Thewlis) and Alec Raymond Wheeler.[2] Both parents worked at his father's shop. As a teenager, he played in a rock band called QED, and played lead guitar with a punk rock band called Door 66. He was educated at Highfield High School, a state secondary school in South Shore, Blackpool. Later, he enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in 1984.[3]
Acting career
Thewlis had a minor role in an episode of the 1980s sitcom Up the Elephant and Round the Castle.[4] He also appeared in an episode of popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1985) as a friend of Rodney. His first professional role was in the play Buddy Holly at the Regal in Greenwich.[3]
Thewlis' breakout role was in Naked (1993; dir. Mike Leigh), as the main character, Johnny, a highly intelligent, embittered, rambling street philosopher, for which Thewlis was named Best Actor by the National Society of Film Critics (United States), the London Film Critics Circle, the Evening Standard, the New York Film Critics' Circle and the Cannes Film Festival. That same year, he appeared on television as a sexual predator named James Jackson in Prime Suspect 3, opposite Helen Mirren and Ciarán Hinds. Before that, his first television appearance was alongside Ken Jones in Valentine Park.
During the 1990s, Thewlis appeared in a variety of films, mostly fantasy and period, including Restoration (1995), Black Beauty (1994), Total Eclipse (1995) with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Dragonheart (1996) and Seven Years in Tibet (1997), opposite Brad Pitt. He was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Divorcing Jack (1998), and played Clov in a (2000) television film of Samuel Beckett's Endgame. Notable appearances also include Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged (1998) and Paul McGuigan's Gangster No. 1 (2000), opposite Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell.
He auditioned for the role of Quirrell in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but the part went to Ian Hart. Despite missing out on the first film, he was cast in 2004 as Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He did not have to audition as he was director Alfonso Cuarón's first choice for the role.[5] Thewlis reprised the role in four other films in the series.
He appeared as an SS Commandant of a Nazi death camp and father of the main character in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was well received. Other credits include Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Terrence Malick's The New World (2005) and The Omen (2006).
Thewlis played the late Dr. Michael Aris, husband of Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh as Suu Kyi, in the biopic The Lady directed by Luc Besson. In 2012, he received an International Festival of Independent Cinema Off Plus Camera Award.
In June 2015, Thewlis was reported to be filming scenes for a Donald Crowhurst biopic on the beach at Teignmouth, Devon, playing Donald Crowhurts's press agent, Rodney Hallworth, while Colin Firth is playing Donald Crowhurst.[6] He also stars in Regression, a thriller originally due for release in August 2015, in which he reunites with Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson, and appears alongside Ethan Hawke, but it has not yet been released. In September 2015, he starred as Inspector Goole in Helen Edmundson's BBC TV adaptation of J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls, alongside Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson. In October 2015, he played King Duncan in the film Macbeth, with Michael Fassbender starring as Macbeth.
Thewlis' next film project is reported to be a role in Wonder Woman, the upcoming DC Comics film adaptation based on the character of the same name[7], set for release in 2017.
Directing and other ventures
Thewlis directed Hello, Hello, Hello in 1995, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film. He also wrote, directed and starred in the feature Cheeky (2003).
Thewlis is also an author; his debut novel, The Late Hector Kipling, is a black comedy set in the art world and was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007.[8]
Personal life
In 1992, Thewlis married director Sara Sugarman; they divorced in 1994. He then had a brief relationship with Bill Oddie's daughter Kate Hardie. In 2001, he began a relationship with actress Anna Friel, whom he met on a flight to Cannes. They have one child together.[9] Friel and Thewlis ended their relationship in late 2010.[10]
Thewlis owns a converted Victorian ballroom in Clerkenwell. He is often mistaken for fellow actor Rhys Ifans: "Twice a week, people come up to me and say, 'You were great in Notting Hill.' The public seem to think we are the same person."[3] Friel has been in a relationship with Ifans since 2011.
Filmography
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Only Fools and Horses | Stew | Episode: "It's Only Rock and Roll" |
| Radio Pictures | Jim Grams | TV film | |
| 1986 | The Singing Detective | Second Soldier | Episodes: "Lovely Days" "Who Done It" |
| 1987–1988 | Valentine Park | Max | |
| 1989 | A Bit of a Do | Paul Simcock | Episodes: "The White Wedding" "The Dentist's Dinner Dance" "The Angling Club Christmas Party" "The Charity Horse-Racing Evening" "The Crowning of Miss Frozen Chicken" "The Registry Office Wedding" |
| Skulduggery | Tony | TV film | |
| 1990 | Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit | Doctor | TV mini-series |
| 1991 | Journey to Knock | Terry | TV film |
| Shrinks | Terry Slater | Episode 1.5 | |
| Screen One | Tim Shanks | Episode: "Filipina Dreamgirls" | |
| 1992 | Black and Blue | Crematorium attendant | TV film |
| 1993 | Frank Stubbs Promotes | Mike Bence | Episode: "Striker" |
| Prime Suspect 3 | James Jackson | TV film | |
| 1994 | Dandelion Dead | Oswald Martin | TV mini-series |
| 1999 | Love Story | Dealer | TV film |
| 2000 | Endgame | Clov | |
| 2001 | Hamilton Mattress | Hamilton Mattress (voice) | |
| 2002 | Dinotopia | Cyrus Crabb | TV mini-series |
| 2007 | The Street | Joe Harry Jennerson |
Episode: "Twins" |
| 2014 | Family Guy | British Father | Episode: Chap Stewie |
| 2015 | An Inspector Calls | Inspector Goole | TV film |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | World of Warcraft | Lord Darius Crowley |
| 2010 | World of Warcraft: Cataclysm |
Bibliography
- The Late Hector Kipling (2007)
Awards and nominations
References
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- ↑ http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/pictures/PICTURES-Filming-new-Donald-Crowhurst-film/pictures-26619491-detail/pictures.html
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/11/21/gal-gadot-releases-first-wonder-woman-image-while-warner-bros-announces-the-cast/#2715e4857a0b7d1d62493b79
- ↑ ISBN 9781416541219
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External links
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- EngvarB from November 2013
- Use dmy dates from November 2013
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1963 births
- Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- English male film actors
- English male television actors
- English male stage actors
- English male voice actors
- Living people
- People from Blackpool
- Male actors from Lancashire
- 20th-century English male actors
- 21st-century English male actors
