Paul Anderson (born 12 February 1978) is an English film and television

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who came to prominence for portraying Arthur Shelby Jr. in ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1920s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to working-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

'', Mr Anderson in the 2015 film '' The Revenant'', and Sebastian Moran in '' Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows''.

Career

Anderson decided to pursue acting in the mid 2000s, after working for many years as a

ticket scalper Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting when done for profit) is the act of reselling ticket (admission), tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the i ...

and aspiring musician, and enrolled at the

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehen ...

. He began his acting career by appearing in plays written by his friend Gregory Burke, and made his screen debut with Burke's critically acclaimed 2014 film '' '71''. He had his first leading role in the 2009 British movie, ''The Firm''. Anderson's break came when, in 2013, he was cast as a main character in the BBC Two show ''

'' as Arthur Shelby, a gangster in post

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. Since then, Anderson has appeared in many major films, including Ron Howard's '' In the Heart of the Sea'' and '' The Revenant,'' as well as '' Brimstone'', which was released in 2016. On 1 February 2024, Anderson made an appearance in a

promo PROMO (Promoting Missouri) is a Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territ ...

trailer for the

upcoming Upcoming (formerly Upcoming.org) is a social event calendar website that launched in 2003, founded by Andy Baio. Features Upcoming combines features of an event calendar and a social networking site. Primarily, the site is a searchable, brows ...

undisputed heavyweight

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

match between

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...

and

Oleksandr Usyk Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...

Personal life

Anderson is from

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

, South London. In January 2024, he was found guilty of

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be Smoking, smoked. Crack offers a short, intense Euphoria (emotion), high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Sub ...

possession and fined £1,345.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* 21st-century English male actors English male film actors English male television actors Living people Male actors from London Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-screen-actor-stub