Tom Hiddleston

Born in London in 1981, Tom Hiddleston is a British actor known for his performances on stage and screen. His mother, Diana Patricia Hiddleston, is an arts administrator and stage manager, while his father James Norman Hiddleston, is a chemist. Hiddleston was born raised in London before moving to a village in Oxford, and later studied at Eton. He earned a double first class degree in Classics from the University of Cambridge, and went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Hiddleston’s early acting included playing Winston Churchill’s son Randolph in the BBC series The Gathering Storm, plus parts in the series Conspiracy and Nicholas Nickleby. After his studies at RADA, he toured the world in Cheek by Jowl’s productions of The Changeling and Cymbeline, and won the Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for the latter. He then starred alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor in Michael Grandage’s production of Othello at the Donmar Warehouse in 2008, as well as a West End revival of Chekhov’s play Ivanov the same year with Kenneth Branagh.

Hiddleston broke into the mainstream in the early 2010s, when Branagh invited the actor to audition for the role of Loki in the Marvel film Thor. Originally auditioning for the title role, it was decided that he was better suited to the part of villain Loki. In interviews, Hiddleston has credited Branagh for having a life-changing effect on him, and giving him his big break.

His career on-screen went from strength to strength, with appearances in films such as Midnight in Paris, War Horse and The Deep Blue Sea. He returned to the Donmar Warehouse in 2013 to play Coriolanus in Josie Rourke’s production of Shakespeare’s play.

He took a break from the stage following Coriolanus, concentrating on his film and TV credits. He starred in the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island, and the 2016 BBC series The Night Manager, for which he won a Golden Globe for his role as Jonathan Pine.

Once again collaborating with Kenneth Branagh, in 2017, Hiddleston played Hamlet in an exclusive production of the play at RADA’s Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre in London. Tom Hiddleston returned to the London stage in 2019 when he starred in Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal, at the Harold Pinter Theatre.