Tom Burke (actor)

Tom Burke
File:Tom-Burke.jpg Tom Burke, 2019
Born	Tom Liam Benedict Burke (1981-06-30) 30 June 1981 London, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present
Parents	David Burke (father) Anna Calder-Marshall (mother)
Relatives	Arthur Calder-Marshall (grandfather)

Tom Burke (born 30 June 1981) is an English actor. He played Athos in the 2014–2016 BBC TV series The Musketeers, Dolokhov in the 2016 BBC literary-adaptation miniseries War & Peace, the eponymous character Cormoran Strike in the BBC series Strike, and Orson Welles in the 2020 film Mank.

Early life

Burke was born in London and grew up in Kent. His parents, David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall, are also actors, as were his godparents, Alan Rickman and Bridget Turner. His maternal grandparents were writers Arthur Calder-Marshall and Ara Calder-Marshall. Burke was born with a cleft lip and had reconstructive surgery.

Burke always wanted to become an actor. He attended the National Youth Theatre, the Young Arden Theatre in Faversham, and the Box Clever Theatre Company performing at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, and participated in the plays his parents staged in their hometown.

As a child, Burke was diagnosed with dyslexia and struggled academically. He left school before his A-levels because he "couldn't stand the idea of that" and thought he "wouldn't survive it". As soon as he left school at 17, he wrote to an acting agency and got the first role he auditioned for. He attended dance school before being accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London when he was 18.

Career

Burke's first role was as Roland in 1999's Dragonheart: A New Beginning, a direct-to-video sequel of the 1996 film Dragonheart. That year he appeared in an episode of the series Dangerfield and the television film All the King's Men. After graduating from RADA, he started working steadily in television, film and theatre.

Television

His first television part after drama school was Syd in the Paul Abbott thriller series State of Play, starring John Simm, Bill Nighy and James McAvoy. In 2004, he played Lee in the television film Bella and the Boys. In 2005, he played the 20-year-old version of Giacomo Casanova's son, Giac, in the television adaptation of Casanova, starring David Tennant and Peter O'Toole.

In 2006, he played Dr. John Seward in the television film Dracula. In 2007, he played Napoleon Bonaparte in an episode of the BBC's docudrama Heroes and Villains and had a small part as a book publisher in the satirical drama The Trial of Tony Blair. In 2009, he played Lieutenant Race in an episode of the 12th series of Agatha Christie's Poirot. In 2011, he played Bentley Drummle in two episodes of the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. In 2012, he became a regular cast member in the second series of BBC Two's The Hour as journalist Bill Kendall. From 2014 to 2016, he played Athos on the BBC One series The Musketeers, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. He also plays Cormoran Strike in the BBC miniseries Strike, based on the detective novels of Robert Galbraith; and Rebrov in Sky TV's The Lazarus Project which will air in the U.S. on the TNT cable network. He played Father Derek 'Dazzle' Jennings, Princess Margaret's friend, in The Crown.

Film

In 2004, Burke had his first cinema part in The Libertine. In 2007, he played an aspiring filmmaker who ends up directing a porn film in the comedy I Want Candy. In 2008, he played Bluey in Donkey Punch, a horror thriller that debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In 2009, he played Geoff Goddard in Telstar: The Joe Meek Story, and had a small part in Stephen Frears' Chéri. In 2010, he played Davy in Third Star, a drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild and Adam Robertson which follows a trip four friends, one of them terminally ill, make to Barafundle Bay in Wales.

In 2012, he played Mark in Cleanskin. In 2013, he played Billy, the older brother of Ryan Gosling's character in Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. That year he had a supporting role in the Ralph Fiennes-directed film The Invisible Woman.

In 2020, he played American filmmaker Orson Welles in David Fincher's Netflix original film Mank, opposite Gary Oldman as Herman J. Mankiewicz. He also starred in English director and photographer Mitch Jenkins's 2020 film The Show (written by Alan Moore) as private investigator Fletcher Dennis. In November 2021, Burke joined Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth in the Mad Max: Fury Road spinoff film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, replacing Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

Theatre

As a theatre actor, Burke has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in plays at Shakespeare's Globe, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in 2004; at the Old Vic in Noël Coward's Design for Living opposite Andrew Scott and Lisa Dillon in 2010; and at the Almeida Theatre playing Greg in reasons to be pretty in 2011. In 2002, he played Hamlet in Howard Barker's Gertrude – The Cry, a reworking of Shakespeare's Hamlet which focuses on the character of Gertrude, the protagonist's mother.

In 2006, he worked with Ian McKellen in the play The Cut. In 2008, he played Adolph in Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse. Actor Alan Rickman, Burke's godfather, staged the play which earned Burke an Ian Charleson Award. The play subsequently premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 2010. In 2012, he played Louis Dubedat in The Doctor's Dilemma at the National Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	Dragonheart: A New Beginning	Roland	Direct-to-video
2003	The Burl	Connor	Short film
2004	Squaddie	Andy	Short film
2005	The Libertine	Vaughan
2006	The Enlightenment	Daniel Clay	Short film
2007	I Want Candy	John 'Baggy' Bagley
	Supermarket Sam	Sam	Short film
	The Collectors	Edgar	Short film
2008	Donkey Punch	Bluey
2009	Telstar	Geoff Goddard
	Chéri	Vicomte Desmond
	Roar	Mick	Short film
2010	The Kid	Mr. Hayes
	Third Star	Davy
2011	The Sweethearts	Janek	Short film
2012	An Enemy to Die For	Terrence
	Cleanskin	Mark
2013	Only God Forgives	Billy
	The Invisible Woman	Mr. George Wharton Robinson
2014	The Hooligan Factory	Bullet
2019	The Souvenir	Anthony
2020	The Show	Fletcher Dennis
	Mank	Orson Welles
2021	The Souvenir Part II	Anthony
	True Things	Blond
2022	Living	Sutherland
	The Wonder	William Byrne
	Klokkenluider	Chris (aka Kevin)
2024	Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga	Praetorian Jack
TBA	Winter of the Crow	Ambassador	Post-production
	Black Bag	TBA	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Dangerfield	Gavin Kirkdale	Episode: "Something Personal"
	All the King's Men	Private Chad Batterbee	Television film
2003	State of Play	Syd	4 episodes
	The Young Visiters	Horace	Television film
	POW	Robbie Crane	Episode #1.3
2004	Bella and the Boys	Lee	Television film
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Julian Britton	Episode: "In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner"
2005	Casanova	Giac, aged 20	Episode #1.3
	The Brief	Dan Ottway	Episode #2.2
	Jericho	Edward Wellesley	Episode: "A Pair of Ragged Claws"
	All About George	Paul	5 episodes
2006	Number 13	Edward Jenkins	Short film
	Dracula	Dr. John Seward	Television film
2007	The Trial of Tony Blair	Book Publisher	Television film
	Heroes and Villains	Napoleon Bonaparte	Television film
2008	In Love with Barbara	Ronald Cartland	Television film
2009	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Lieutenant Colin Race	Episode: "The Clocks"
2011	Great Expectations	Bentley Drummle	2 episodes
2012	The Hour	Bill Kendall	6 episodes
2013	Heading Out	Ben	Episode #1.6
2014	Utopia	Philip Carvel	Episode #2.1
2014–2016	The Musketeers	Athos	30 episodes
2016	War & Peace	Fedya Dolokhov	6 episodes
2017–present	Strike	Cormoran Strike	Main role
2020	The Crown	Derek 'Dazzle' Jennings	Episode: "The Hereditary Principle"
2021	Modern Love	Michael	Episode: "On a Serpentine Road, With the Top Down"
2022–2023	The Lazarus Project	Denis Rebrov	11 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Location	Notes
2002	Gertrude – The Cry	Hamlet	Riverside Studios
2003	The Wax King (Henry VI, Part 3)	Lord Clifford	The Dreaming Will Initiative	part of the documentary film How Do You Know My Daughter?
	Fragile Land	Fidel	Hampstead Theatre
	The Monument	Stetko	Finborough Theatre
2004	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	Shakespeare's Globe
2005	Macbeth	Malcolm	Almeida Theatre
	The Incarcerator	Liddle	Old Red Lion Theatre
2006	The Cut	Stephen	Donmar Warehouse
2007	Scenes from an Execution	Carpeta	Hackney Empire
	Glass Eels	Kenneth	Hampstead Theatre
	Don Juan Comes Back From the War	Don Juan	Belgrade Theatre
2008	I'll Be The Devil	Dermot	Tricycle Theatre
	Excerpt from The Poisoned Atmosphere		Soho Studio	Director
	Creditors	Adolph	Donmar Warehouse
2009	Restoration	Robert Merivel	Salisbury Playhouse
2010	Design for Living	Otto	The Old Vic
2011	reasons to be pretty	Greg	Almeida Theatre
2012	The Doctor's Dilemma	Louis Dubedat	National Theatre
2016	Reasons to be Happy	Greg	Hampstead Theatre
	The Deep Blue Sea	Freddie Page	National Theatre
2018	Don Carlos	Posa / The Grand Inquisitor	Northcott Theatre
2019	Rosmersholm	Johannes Rosmer	Duke of York's Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Result
2008	Ian Charleson Award	Creditors at Donmar Warehouse	Won
2019	British Independent Film Award for Best Actor	The Souvenir	Nominated
2022	British Independent Film Awards for Best Ensemble	The Wonder (film)	Nominated
2023	London Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor	The Wonder (film)	Nominated

External links

• Tom Burke at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom Burke at the British Film Institute