Tom Hardy

Biography:  Born Name: Edward Thomas Hardy Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy (born 15 September 1977) is an English stage and screen actor, perhaps best known for his role as Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis and the lead role in the 2009 film Bronson. Early years Hailing from East Sheen, London, Hardy began his career in war dramas. He studied at Reeds School, Tower House School, Richmond Drama School and subsequently at the Drama Centre London before winning the part of United States Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO  and BBC miniseries Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war thriller Black Hawk Down. Career In 2002, Hardy appeared in the independent film Dot the i, sharing the bill with Gael García Bernal. He then travelled to North Africa for Simon: An English Legionnaire, a story of the French Foreign Legion. In the same year, he gained some heavy international exposure as the Reman Praetor Shinzon, a clone of USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek Nemesis. He returned to England to feature in the 2003 thriller LD 50 Lethal Dose. Hardy was awarded the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performances in Blood and Arabia, We'd All Be Kings performed at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his performance in the aforementioned production of Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Hardy appeared in the 2005 BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen as Robert Dudley, a childhood friend of Elizabeth I. The miniseries portrays them as having a platonic, though highly romantic, affair throughout her reign over England during the 16th century. Hardy featured in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi series A for Andromeda, on BBC Four. In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Two drama based on a true story - Stuart: A Life Backwards. He played the lead role of Stuart Shorter, a homeless man who had been subjected to years of abuse and whose death was possibly suicide. In September 2008, he appeared in director Guy Ritchie's London gangster film, RocknRolla. He played the role of gay gangster Handsome Bob, one of the members of the criminal gang the Wild Bunch, led by One Two (Gerard Butler), whom Bob has a crush on. Hardy will reprise the role in Ritchie's sequel The Real RocknRolla. In early 2009, Hardy starred in the film Bronson, about the real-life prisoner Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three stone of muscle. In June 2009, Hardy starred in the Martina Cole written 4-part TV drama The Take on Sky One as a drugs and alcohol fuelled gangster. The role gained him a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. In August 2009, he appeared in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, playing the part of Heathcliff, the classic love character who falls in love with his childhood friend Cathy (played by Charlotte Riley), "the love that destroyed everything it touched". It was even suggested by tabloid paper The Sun that he began a relationship with Charlotte Riley shortly after finishing work on The Take, and that he left his partner of two years and mother of his infant son to be with Riley. Riley has disputed this rumor in interviews. In early 2010, Hardy starred in The Long Red Road at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The play was written by Brett C Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy won some good reviews for his portrayal of Sam, an alcoholic trying to drink away his past. Hardy played the son of Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) in the as-yet-unreleased 2010 film Warrior, about a washed-up mixed martial artist. He will be the main protagonist in the film. He will star as Eames in Christopher Nolan's upcoming sci-fi thriller Inception. In June 2010, Hardy announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that he will play the title role in a remake of Mad Max. Personal life Tom married Sarah Hardy in 1999, but they divorced some time later. He has a son, Louis Hardy, with ex-girlfriend Rachael Speed. He is currently said to be in a relationship with Charlotte Riley. It was revealed in July 2010 that Hardy proposed to Riley after a year of dating. Hardy also battled alcoholism and a crack addiction in his early- to mid-twenties, but has been sober since 2003.