Changes: Tom Hardy

Revision as of 19:42, 19 June 2008

Template:Realworld

Edward Thomas Hardy (born 15 September 1977; age 46), better known as Tom Hardy, is the English actor who played Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis. He also portrayed Jean Luc Picard (in a still photograph) during that character's tenure at Starfleet Academy

Early life and career

Hailing from East Sheen, London, Hardy received a prep school and boarding school education and attended cram schools in Kensington. During his youth, he was involved in various altercations and showed a tendency towards violent, unruly behavior. At the age of 15, he was arrested after being caught joyriding in a stolen Mercedes, although he was not charged with an offense. He also used drugs and drank heavily throughout his teens and early adulthood.

Hardy became interested in acting while in boarding school. After briefly working as a model, Hardy studied at London's Drama Centre, where he performed in such stage productions as Measure for Measure, Tartuffe, and Ivanov. In January 1999, during his second year at the school, Hardy married a woman named Sarah.

In 2000, he left the Drama Centre to play US Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, co-starring with Star Trek: First Contact actor Neal McDonough. The following year, Hardy made his feature film debut in the acclaimed war film Black Hawk Down, playing specialist Lance Twombly. This film also featured fellow Trek alumni Eric Bana, Glenn Morshower, and Enrique Murciano.

It was while shooting Black Hawk Down in Morocco that Hardy filmed and submitted a "bizarre" audition tape to Amanda Mackey Johnson and Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, the casting directors of Star Trek Nemesis. Besides the audition, the unedited tape also had some "rather curious home video footage," including Hardy dancing around in boxer shorts. Producer Rick Berman and director Stuart Baird were impressed with his audition, however, and after several screen tests, Hardy won the role of Shinzon, the Romulan-created clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, beating out such contenders as James Marsters and Michael Shanks. [1] [2] [3] [4] Hardy went on to receive a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his performance in Nemesis.

Shortly after completing filming on Nemesis, however, Hardy had a physical and mental breakdown brought about from his drug and alcohol addiction. Although this breakdown cost him his marriage, it motivated him to clean up his act. He has been clean of both drugs and alcohol since 2005.

After Nemesis

Following his work on Nemesis, Hardy returned to the United Kingdom, where he starred in such films as Dot the I, The Reckoning, and LD 50 Lethal Dose. In 2003, he acted alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Colm Meaney in the acclaimed British crime film Layer Cake.

Hardy won the Outstanding Newcomer award from the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for his performances in two plays: Blood (performed at the Royal Court Theatre) and Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (performed at the Hampstead Theatre). He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for the latter play.

More recently, Hardy appeared in the 2005 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) mini-series The Virgin Queen and co-starred with Tony Todd in the horror film Minotaur. He also had a role in the 2006 biographical drama Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role. He recently starred as the title role of the BBC2 TV movie Stuart: A Life Backwards, which tells the true story of a homeless alcohlic who befriends a writer. He has been nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in this movie. [5]

Hardy is currently filming a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, in which he plays Bill Sikes. He is also filming the movie RocknRolla, directed by Guy Ritchie.

At one time, Hardy was dating Star Trek: Enterprise actress Linda Park (Hoshi Sato). They lived together in South London, England, and were even going to form their own theatre company. However, they have since broken off their relationship, and Linda Park is now residing in Los Angeles, California.

References

Tom Hardy interview at Resonance (Tom Hardy fan site)
Tom Hardy interview at Times Online

External Links

Template:IMDb-link
Tom Hardy at Wikipedia
Resonance – fan site
Interview with Hardy at IGN
TomHardy.Org

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 | Image2            = Shinzon2379.jpg
 }}
-'''Edward Thomas Hardy''' {{born|15|September|1977}}, better known as '''Tom Hardy''', is the English actor who played [[Shinzon]] in {{film|10}}.
+'''Edward Thomas Hardy''' {{born|15|September|1977}}, better known as '''Tom Hardy''', is the English actor who played [[Shinzon]] in {{film|10}}.  He also portrayed [[Jean Luc Picard]] (in a still photograph) during that character's tenure at [[Starfleet Academy]]
 ==Early life and career==