Tom Hardy Bio: From Star Trek to the Dark Knight Rises

Tom Hardy Bio: From Star Trek to the Dark Knight Rises Evil clone, gangster, soldier, cage fighter and hulking super villain: this English heartthrob certainly has range. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be taking a look at the life and career of Tom Hardy. Edward Thomas Hardy was born September 15th, 1977 in Southwest London. Hardy was the son of an artist and a comedy writer, and so this young talent spent his youth attending private schools. However, young Hardy was a bit of a social misfit and was prone to lashing out. This caused him to spend many nights in jail for unruly activities. Despite his disruptive behavior, he eventually enrolled at London’s renowned Drama Centre. During his time there, Hardy performed in various stage plays and worked briefly as a model. Unfortunately it was during this time he developed an addiction to alcohol and cocaine. Despite his inner struggle, Hardy married a woman he had only met three weeks prior in 1999. He then took a chance by dropping out of school to accept a minor role in Steven Spielberg’s award-winning 2001 HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” For this project, Hardy worked alongside an all-star cast and an iconic Hollywood director, and this earned him an instant foothold in the industry. Later that year, he earned his first big screen role as an army specialist in Ridley Scott’s war drama “Black Hawk Down.” Hardy then took a supporting role in the film “Simon: An English Legionnaire,” before he received widespread recognition in 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis.” In that final big screen “Next Generation” adventure, Hardy played Reman Praetor Shinzon, who was an evil clone of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard who was hell-bent on annihilating the Earth. Hardy then appeared in a slew of other projects and stage shows, including the independent drama “Dot the I,” the murder-mystery “The Reckoning,” and the crime thriller “Layer Cake.” While his career was steadily improving, his personal life took a turn for the worse when his drug use caused the end of his marriage. Thankfully, this finally gave Hardy a reason to enter rehab. Hardy then focused mostly on a slew of British television projects, including the two-part feature “Colditz,” the miniseries “The Virgin Queen” and the sci-fi remake “A for Andromeda.” However, his most critically-praised TV project was the BBC drama “Stuart: A Life Backwards,” in which he played an abused homeless man. While TV had turned out to be Hardy’s bread and butter, in 2006 he appeared on the silver screen as the lead in the horror film “Minotaur.” He found himself in the media spotlight when he played gay gangster ‘Handsome Bob’ in Guy Ritchie’s 2008 crime film “RockNRolla.” This gritty role proved to be a major milestone for Hardy, but it was his next performance as real-life convicted robber Charles Bronson that truly propelled his career. “Bronson” showcased Hardy’s incredible dedication to his craft as the actor put on 42 pounds of muscle for the role. The film earned him a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor, as well as a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination for British Actor of the Year. By 2010, Hardy’s grip on Hollywood was unshakeable. That year, he stole scenes from Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt in Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” That sci-fi spectacular brought Hardy unprecedented praise, several prestigious nomination and a Rising Star BAFTA Award. Hardy bulked up again the next year to play a U.S.-Marine-turned-cage-fighter in the emotional sports drama “Warrior.” 2011 also saw Hardy star with Gary Oldman and Colin Firth in the British adaptation of the ‘70s espionage novel “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” This shot Hardy to the top of Hollywood’s A-list. In 2012, he starred opposite Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in the action comedy “The Means War,” and played the imposing super villain Bane in Christopher Nolan’s final Batman installment “The Dark Knight Rises.” Tom Hardy is a British talent who prides himself on his ability and willingness to play anyone or anything. Of course, that’s pretty ironic when you consider that the biggest role of his early career had him hiding his face…