Tim Roth
Tim Roth | |
|---|---|
 Tim Roth | |
| Born | Timothy Simon Smith |
| Awards | European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year The War Zone |
Tim Roth (born 14 May, 1961) is an Academy Award-nominated English film actor and director.
Biography
Early life
Roth was born Timothy Simon Smith in Dulwich, London, the son of Anne, a painter and teacher, and Ernie Smith, a journalist and member of the British Communist Party.[1][2] His father adopted the surname Roth after World War II in order to hide his nationality when traveling in countries hostile to the British. He attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. As a young man, Roth wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell School of Art.
Career
After some time at the Camberwell School of Art, Roth tried acting and made his debut at the age of 21 playing a racist skinhead in a TV movie entitled Made in Britain. In 1984, Roth played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears' The Hit with Terence Stamp and John Hurt, earning an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. With that recognition, he appeared in several other films during the end of the decade. In 1989 he had a memorable supporting role as the buffonish lackey, Mitchell, in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. In 1990, Roth began to enjoy international attention with starring roles as Vincent Van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo and in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
Roth impressed director Quentin Tarantino and was cast as Mr. Orange in his 1992 ensemble piece Reservoir Dogs. This film paved the way for more work in Hollywood. In 1994, Tarantino cast him again as a robber in the acclaimed Pulp Fiction. They worked again in the 1995 flop Four Rooms. However, Roth returned to the successful road playing viciously evil English nobleman Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson. For that role he won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination, and a British Academy Award.
In 1996, he went a different way, starring with Drew Barrymore in Woody Allen's musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You, in which he amused audiences with his comic flair and his singing (in his own voice). He also starred as Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900 (or just "1900") in the movie The Legend of 1900. In 1999 he made a critically acclaimed debut as a director with The War Zone, a film of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he made another important move by portraying General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. He turned down the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series of films to take this part.[3] He was also considered for the roll of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal had Anthony Hopkins not have returned to the role.
Roth appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth and will star in the upcoming film The Incredible Hulk, playing Emil Blonsky. There are also rumors that he will be cast in the next Quentin Tarantino film called Inglorious Bastards which is slated to come out in 2008. Roth is also linked to Marilyn Manson's first feature film, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, alongside Daryl Hannah, scheduled for a 2008 release.
Personal life
Roth had a son Jack with Lori Baker in 1983. He married Nikki Butler in 1993, and had 2 sons with her: Timothy Hunter (b. 1995) and Cormac (b. 1996). Both of his sons with Butler are named after the couple's favorite authors: Hunter S. Thompson and Cormac McCarthy.
Filmography
As actor
- Made In Britain (1982)
- Meantime (1983)
- The Hit (1984)
- Murder With Mirrors (1985)
- Return to Waterloo (1985)
- A World Apart (1988)
- To Kill a Priest (1988)
- Twice Upon a Time (1988)
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
- Vincent & Theo (1990)
- Farendj (1990)
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
- Backsliding (1991)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992)
- Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
- El Marido perfecto (1993)
- Murder in the Heartland (TV) (1993)
- Heart of Darkness (TV) (1994)
- Captives (1994)
- Little Odessa (1994)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Rob Roy (1995)
- Four Rooms (1995)
- No Way Home (1996)
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- Mocking the Cosmos (1996)
- Gridlock'd (1997)
- Hoodlum (1997)
- Deceiver (film) (1997)
- Animals (1997)
- Legend of 1900 (1998)
- The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) (uncredited)
- Vatel (2000)
- Lucky Numbers (2000)
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
- Invincible (2001)
- The Musketeer (2001)
- Emmett's Mark (2002)
- Whatever We Do (2003)
- To Kill a King (2003)
- Nouvelle-France aka Battle of the Brave (USA: new title) aka New France (International: English title) (2004)
- The Beautiful Country (2004)
- With It (2004)
- Silver City (2004)
- Don't Come Knocking (2005)
- Dark Water (2005)
- Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)
- Even Money (2007)
- Youth Without Youth (2007)
- Virgin Territory (2007)
- Funny Games (completed) (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (post-production) (2008)
- Inglorious Bastards (in-production) (2008)
As director
- The War Zone (1999)
Quotes
- "There's a lot of blood in that film. I think there's only nine pints in a body; we had about four gallons." (on Reservoir Dogs)
- "Like going to Liberace's house on acid." (On attending the Academy Awards Ceremony)
- "I have a bad time between jobs because I'm always convinced I'll never work again. I think it may be an English thing, this fear of unemployment."
- "I never do my own stunts...that's actor nonsense." (around Planet of the Apes filming)
- "I was having a great time scaring people." (as Thade in Planet of the Apes)
- "The War Zone is right. It's the truth. It's the truth about this subject. And I'm bullet-proof on that. Probably more so than I will be on any other film that I make as a director."
References
External links
- The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth Web Page
- Tim Roth at IMDb
- All Movie Guide entry for Tim Roth
- Tim Roth at Complex magazine