| Timothy Spall | |
|---|---|
Spall in February 2011 |
|
| Born | Timothy Leonard Spall 27 February 1957 Battersea,[1] London |
| Occupation | Actor, presenter |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse | Shane Spall (m. 1981–present) |
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE (born 27 February 1957) is an English character actor and occasional presenter.
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Spall, the third of four sons,[2] was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. (née Leonard), was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker.[3][4][5][6] He trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year. His brother, Matthew, is studio director of the computer games company Morpheme. Another brother, Richard, is the landlord tenant of the Astolat public house in Guildford.
Initially notable in the United Kingdom for playing the gormless Barry Taylor in all five series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Kevin in Outside Edge and as Aubrey the appalling chef in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet, Spall has since appeared in films such as Crusoe, Secrets & Lies, Shooting the Past, Topsy-Turvy, Vanilla Sky, Rock Star, The Last Samurai, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and The King's Speech. He gained international recognition as Peter Pettigrew ("Wormtail") in the Harry Potter film series. In 1991 he guest-starred in the series 5 Red Dwarf episode Back to Reality. In 1993, Spall was in Rab C Nesbitt.
On 31 December 1999, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[7]
Spall performed lead vocals on the song The Devil Is An Englishman[8] from the Ken Russell film Gothic (1986), in which Spall portrayed John William Polidori.
Spall played the starring role of Albert Pierrepoint in the 2005 film Pierrepoint, which was released as The Last Hangman in the United States. In the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Spall voiced Phil Collins' manager, Barry Mickelthwaite. In 2007, he starred as Nathaniel in Disney's Enchanted and Beadle Bamford in Tim Burton's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He also starred as Georgie Godwin in a one-off television drama The Fattest Man in Britain on ITV 1 which aired on 20 December 2009. The drama also featured Bobby Ball, Frances Barber, Aisling Loftus, and Jeremy Kyle.
In 2010 he portrayed Winston Churchill in critically acclaimed film The King's Speech for which as a member of the ensemble he was jointly awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Spall is married to Shane and has three children: Pascale (born 1976), Rafe (born 1983), who is also an actor, and Mercedes (born 1985). He lives in Forest Hill,[9] south-east London.[10][11]
In 1996, Spall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, but has since been in remission.[12] He has said of his illness:
| “ | I didn't know what made me ill but stress had something to do with it and the point is now to head off stress at the pass. It made me aware of things and become more selective. I am less worried about employment. I really do my homework so I am not getting stressed on the set because I don't know what I'm doing." | ” |
He is the owner of a Dutch barge that he and his wife have been sailing around the British Isles as part of a BBC4 TV series 'Timothy Spall: Back at Sea'.[13]
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrophenia | 1979 | Harry the Projectionist | |
| The Missionary | 1982 | Parswell | |
| Home Sweet Home | 1982 | Gordon Leach | Television film; working with Mike Leigh for the first time |
| Oliver Twist | 1982 | 1st Constable | Television film |
| Auf Wiedersehen, Pet | 1983 | Barry Taylor | Television programme |
| The Bride | 1985 | Paulus | |
| Dutch Girls | 1985 | Lyndon Baines Jellicoe | |
| Gothic | 1986 | Dr. John William Polidori | |
| Body Contact | 1987 | Paul | |
| Dream Demon | 1987 | Peck | |
| To Kill a Priest | 1988 | Igor | |
| Crusoe | 1989 | Reverend Milne | |
| White Hunter Black Heart | 1990 | Hodkins, Bush Pilot | |
| The Sheltering Sky | 1990 | Eric Lyle | |
| 1871 | 1990 | Ramborde | |
| Red Dwarf | 1991 | Andy (video game operator) | Television programme, episode "Back to Reality" |
| Life Is Sweet | 1991 | Aubrey, Regret Rien Owner | |
| Frank Stubbs Promotes | 1993 | Frank Stubbs | Television programme |
| Rab C Nesbitt | 1993 | Cell Mate | Television programme |
| Outside Edge | 1994 | Kevin Costello | Television programme |
| Secrets & Lies | 1996 | Maurice Purley |
|
| Hamlet | 1996 | Rosencrantz | |
| Neville's Island | 1998 | Gordon | Television programme |
| Our Mutual Friend | 1998 | Mr. Venus |
|
| Still Crazy | 1998 | David 'Beano' Baggot | |
| The Wisdom of Crocodiles | 1998 | Inspector Healey | |
| Topsy-Turvy | 1999 | Richard Temple |
|
| Shooting the Past | 1999 | Oswald Bates | Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor |
| The Clandestine Marriage | 1999 | Sterling | |
| Love's Labour's Lost | 2000 | Don Armado | |
| Vatel | 2000 | Gourville | |
| Chicken Run | 2000 | Nick | Voice |
| Chucklevision | 2000 | Hot Dog Man | Television programe |
| The Old Man Who Read Love Stories | 2001 | Mayor Luis Agalla | |
| Perfect Strangers | 2001 | Irving | Television programme |
| Lucky Break | 2001 | Cliff Gumbell | Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor |
| Vanilla Sky | 2001 | Thomas Tipp | |
| Intimacy | 2001 | Andy | Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| Rock Star | 2001 | Mats | |
| Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise | 2001 | Tommy Rag |
|
| Ivor the Invisible | 2001 | Dad | Television programme |
| All or Nothing | 2002 | Phil |
|
| Bodily Harm | 2002 | Mitchel Greenfield | Television programme |
| Nicholas Nickleby | 2002 | Charles Cheeryble | National Board of Review Award for Best Cast |
| When Love Speaks | 2002 | Shakespeare's | "Sonnet 3" |
| The Last Samurai | 2003 | Simon Graham | |
| My House in Umbria | 2003 | Quinty | |
| Gettin' Square | 2004 | Darren 'Dabba' Barrington | Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | 2004 | Mr. Poe | |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 2004 | Peter Pettigrew | |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 2005 | Peter Pettigrew | |
| Cherished | 2005 | Terry Cannings | Television film |
| Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle | 2005 | Mr. Harvey | Television film |
| Pierrepoint | 2005 | Albert Pierrepoint | Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year |
| The Street | 2006–09 | Eddie McEvoy | Television programme |
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | 2006 | Barry Mickelthwaite | Video game |
| Mysterious Creatures | 2006 | Bill Ainscow | Television film |
| Death Defying Acts | 2007 | Sugarman | |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 2007 | Peter Pettigrew | |
| Enchanted | 2007 | Nathaniel | |
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | 2007 | Beadle Bamford | |
| A Room with a View | 2007 | Mr. Emerson | Television programme |
| Oliver Twist | 2007 | Fagin | Television serial |
| Appaloosa | 2008 | Phil Olson | |
| The Damned United | 2009 | Peter Taylor |
|
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 2009 | Peter Pettigrew | |
| Heartless | 2009 | George Morgan | |
| Desert Flower | 2009 | Terry Donaldson | |
| From Time to Time | 2009 | ||
| Gunrush | 2009 | Doug Beckett | Television programme |
| The Fattest Man in Britain | 2009 | Georgie Godwin | Television programme |
| Alice in Wonderland | 2010 | Bayard Hamar, the Bloodhound | Voice |
| Wake Wood | 2010 | Arthur | |
| Jackboots on Whitehall | 2010 | Winston Churchill | |
| Reuniting the Rubins | 2010 | Lenny Rubins | |
| The King's Speech | 2010 | Winston Churchill | |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | 2010 | Peter Pettigrew | |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | 2011 | Peter Pettigrew | Archive footage Nominated—Scream Award for Best Cast Pending—People's Choice Award for Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast |
| Timothy Spall: Back at Sea | 2010-11 | Himself | Television series |
| Comes A Bright Day | 2011 | Charlie | Post-production |
| Love Bite | 2012 | Sid | Awaiting release |