Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack". He made his television debut in ''

Made in Britain ''Made in Britain'' is a 1983 British television play written by David Leland and directed by Alan Clarke. It follows a 16-year-old racist skinhead and his constant confrontations with authority figures. It was broadcast on ITV on 10 July 19 ...

'' (1982), and theatrical film debut in '' The Hit'' (1984), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Since then, he gained more attention for his roles in films, including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'', (1989), '' Vincent & Theo'' (1990), and ''

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's '' H ...

'' (1990). Roth collaborated with

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensemb ...

on several films, such as '' Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), '' Pulp Fiction'' (1994), '' Four Rooms'' (1995), and '' The Hateful Eight'' (2015). For his performance in '' Rob Roy'' (1995), Roth won the

BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film. Actors of all ...

, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while work ...

. Roth made his directorial debut with the film '' The War Zone'' (1999). He played Cal Lightman in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

series '' Lie to Me'' (2009–2011) and Jim Worth / Jack Devlin in the Sky Atlantic series '' Tin Star'' (2017–2020). Roth also portrayed Emil Blonsky / Abomination in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

film '' The Incredible Hulk'' (2008), reprising the role in '' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' (2021) and the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

series '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' (2022).

Early life

Roth was born in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half ...

, London, the son of Ann, a painter and teacher, and Ernie, a

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...

journalist and painter. His father was born in Sheepshead Bay,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, to a family of Irish descent. Although he was not of Jewish background, his father changed his surname from "Smith" to the German/Yiddish " Roth" in the 1940s, as "an act of anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

solidarity". Roth is a survivor of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

, committed by his paternal grandfather, who he has stated sexually abused him from childhood until his early teen years. He first revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse during press for his 1999 directorial debut, ''The War Zone'', a film which dealt with the topics of incest and sexual violence within a family, but declined to name the perpetrator at that time. In December 2016, he gave an interview to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' in which he revealed that his abuser was his grandfather, who had also abused his father when he was a child. Roth attended school in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area ex ...

, before moving to Croydon Technical School due to bullying. He attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. As a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Arts.

Career

Roth starred in the television films in the 1980s, including ''

'', '' Meantime'' and '' Murder with Mirrors''. After his film debut '' The Hit'', he earned an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He played an

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

character in ''

King of the Ghetto ''King of the Ghetto'' is a 1986 British four-part television drama miniseries which was aired on BBC Two, it was directed and written by Farrukh Dhondy, and stars Tim Roth. The drama is about racial tensions in the East End of London in the 19 ...

'', a controversial drama based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy set in

Brick Lane Brick Lane ( Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busies ...

and broadcast by the BBC in 1986. In 1990, he played

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

in '' Vincent & Theo'', and Guildenstern in ''

''. During the late 1980s, Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack. Roth collaborated with

on several films, including '' Reservoir Dogs'', '' Pulp Fiction'' and '' Four Rooms''. He played Archibald Cunningham in '' Rob Roy''. He won the

, and was nominated for an

and a Golden Globe. In 1996, he starred in

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

's musical film '' Everyone Says I Love You''. He played "Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900" in '' The Legend of 1900'', and co-starred in the film '' Gridlock'd''. He made his directorial debut film '' The War Zone'', a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he played General Thade the evil chimpanzee in

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

’s ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

''. For the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

'' film series, Roth declined the role of

Severus Snape Severus Snape is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. He is an exceptionally skilled wizard whose sarcastic, controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish. A Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraf ...

, which went to Alan Rickman. Tim Roth Cannes 2014

Roth starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film '' Youth Without Youth'', Michael Haneke's '' Funny Games'', and played Emil Blonsky / Abomination, a Russian-born officer in the British Royal Marines Commandos, in '' The Incredible Hulk''. Hulk director Louis Leterrier was a fan of Roth's work, with the director telling ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' magazine, "it's great watching a normal

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

boy become a superhero!". From 2009 to 2011, he starred in '' Lie To Me'' as Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organizations about the crime. A fan of Monty Python since his youth, in 2009 he appeared in the television documentary, '' Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut)''. Roth appeared on the cover of Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, '' Postcards from a Young Man''. In 2012, he was announced as the President of the Jury for the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films ...

section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. He starred as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in '' United Passions'', a film about football's governing body, released in 2014, to coincide with FIFA's 110th anniversary, and the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...

. In 2015, he starred in the film '' Chronic'' which received a limited release in 2016. He later received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead nomination. Roth played Oswaldo Mobray in the ensemble western film '' The Hateful Eight''. In 2019, Roth was to appear in ''

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it i ...

'', but his scenes were cut. He reprised his role as Emil Blonsky/Abomination in the film '' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'', and in the

series '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' (2022), both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Personal life

Roth's son Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984, is also an actor. Roth married Nikki Butler in 1993. They had two sons, Hunter and Cormac. Cormac, a musician, died aged 25 from germ cell cancer on 16 October 2022.

Politics

Roth is a supporter of the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Ca ...

. He endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the

2016 U.S. presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * * * Tim Roth a
www.lietome.com

The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth Web Page

Audio Interview w/ Rafferty/Mills Connection Podcast (2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Tim 1961 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners British expatriate male actors in the United States Child sexual abuse in England English expatriates in the United States English male film actors English male stage actors English people of American descent English people of Irish descent European Film Awards winners (people) Film directors from London Male actors from London People educated at the Strand School People from Dulwich