Tim Roth
{{Short description|English actor (born 1961)}}
{{About||the metal guitarist|Tim Roth (musician)|the Canadian football player|Tim Roth (Canadian football)}}
{{use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tim Roth
| image = Tim Roth by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
| caption = Roth at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con
| birth_name = Timothy Simon Roth{{cite news |last=Sawyer |first=Miranda |date=16 April 1995 |title=Roth discovers froth |newspaper=The Observer (London) |id={{Gale|A171363897}}}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1961|5|14}}
| birth_place = Dulwich, London, England
| education = {{ubl|
}}
| alma_mater = {{ubl|
}}
| occupation = Actor, producer, director
| years_active = 1982–present
| works = Full list
| spouse = {{marriage|Nikki Butler|1993}}
| children = 3
}}
Timothy Simon Roth ({{IPAc-en|r|ɒ|θ}}; born 14 May 1961){{cite web|author=UPI Staff|title=Famous birthdays for May 14: Tim Roth, Miranda Cosgrove|date=May 14, 2023|website=United Press International|url=https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2023/05/14/Famous-birthdays-for-May-14-Tim-Roth-Miranda-Cosgrove/5241684029412/|accessdate=January 7, 2025}} is an English actor, film producer, and director. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the "Brit Pack". After garnering attention in television productions Made in Britain (1982) and Meantime (1983), Roth was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer in his theatrical film debut The Hit (1984). He gained further recognition for his roles in films, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Vincent & Theo, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (both 1990).
Roth has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Four Rooms (1995), and The Hateful Eight (2015). For his performance in Rob Roy (1995), he won a BAFTA Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award. Other film credits include The Legend of 1900 (1998), Planet of the Apes (2001), Funny Games (2007), Selma (2014), Luce (2019), and Bergman Island (2021).
Roth made his directorial debut with the film The War Zone (1999). He played Cal Lightman on the Fox series Lie to Me (2009–11), Jim Worth / Jack Devlin on the Sky Atlantic series Tin Star (2017–20), and Emil Blonsky / Abomination in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the films The Incredible Hulk (2008), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).
Early life
Roth was born on 14 May 1961 in Dulwich, London. His mother, Ann, was a painter and teacher. His father, Ernie, was a Fleet Street journalist and painter.{{cite web |title=Tim Roth Biography (1961–) |publisher=Film Reference |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/27/Tim-Roth.html}}{{cite magazine |last=Raphael |first=Amy |title=Tim Roth interview |magazine=Esquire |volume=9 |issue=9 |url=http://www.tim-roth.com/index.php?id=ukesquiresep99}}{{cite news |last=Simon |first=Alex |date=5 March 2009 |title=Tim Roth: The Hollywood Interview |publisher=The Hollywood Interview |url=http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2009/03/tim-roth-hollywood-interview.html |access-date=5 March 2009}} His father was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, to a family of Irish descent. Although he was not of Jewish background, his father changed his surname from "Smith" to the German/Yiddish "Roth" in the 1940s, as "an act of anti-Nazi solidarity".{{cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=20 May 2012 |title=Tim Roth: who's the daddy? |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/20/tim-roth-whos-the-daddy?}}{{cite news |last=Hicklin |first=Aaron |date=6 January 2019 |title=Tim Roth: 'As messy as your life can be, there has to be a window you can escape through' |newspaper=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/06/tim-roth-as-messy-as-your-life-can-be-there-has-to-be-a-window-you-can-escape-through- |access-date=6 January 2019}} Roth's father was a World War II veteran.{{cite web | url=https://forward.com/schmooze/416935/all-the-celebrities-you-really-really-thought-were-jewish-but-arent/ | title=These Celebrities Aren't Jewish, You Just Think They Are | date=4 January 2019 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=arts__culture&sc=movies&id=227955 | title=Bay Area Reporter }}
Roth is a survivor of child sexual abuse, committed by his paternal grandfather, whom he has stated sexually abused him from childhood until his early teen years. He first revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse during press for the 1999 film The War Zone, which dealt with the topics of incest and sexual violence within a family, but declined to name the perpetrator at that time. In December 2016, he gave an interview to The Guardian in which he said that his abuser was his grandfather, who had also abused his father when he was a child.{{cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=5 December 2016 |title=Tim Roth: my father and I were abused by my grandfather |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/05/tim-roth-father-and-i-abused-by-grandfather-rillington-place}}
Roth attended school in Lambeth before moving to Croydon Technical School, due to bullying. He attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. Roth wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Arts.{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |date=10 February 2008 |title=Low morale devastates art colleges |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/feb/10/art.furthereducation |access-date=4 March 2018}}
Career
Roth starred in television films in the 1980s, including Made in Britain, Meantime and Murder with Mirrors. After his film debut The Hit, he earned an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto, a controversial drama based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy set in Brick Lane and broadcast by the BBC in 1986. Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack.{{cite news |last=Stern |first=Marlow |date=8 December 2011 |title=Gary Oldman Talks 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' 'Batman' Retirement |newspaper=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/gary-oldman-talks-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-batman-retirement |access-date=1 February 2012}}{{cite web |title=The Brit Pack |website=BrucePayne.de |url=http://www.brucepayne.de/press/articles/facearticle1987.html |access-date=14 January 2011}}{{cite book |last=Kistler |first=Alan |year=2013 |title=Doctor Who: A History |publisher=Lyons Press |url={{GBurl|OXRBBAAAQBAJ|p=198}} |page=198 |isbn=978-1-49300-016-6}}
In 1990, he played Vincent van Gogh in Vincent & Theo, and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
Roth became an international star when he collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Four Rooms.
He played Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe.{{cite news |date=22 February 2017 |title=Film in 1996 |publisher=BAFTA |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1996/film}} Roth starred in Woody Allen's musical film Everyone Says I Love You and in The Legend of 1900. He also co-starred with Tupac Shakur in the film Gridlock'd. Roth made his directorial debut film The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he played General Thade the evil chimpanzee in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. For the Harry Potter film series, Roth declined the role of Severus Snape, which went to Alan Rickman.{{cite web |last=Adler |first=Shawn |date=7 December 2007 |title=What Would 'Potter' Have Been Like With Tim Roth As Snape? |website=MTV News |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2429476/what-would-potter-have-been-like-with-tim-roth-as-snape/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218014930/http://www.mtv.com/news/2429476/what-would-potter-have-been-like-with-tim-roth-as-snape/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 December 2015 |access-date=4 January 2022}}
Roth starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film Youth Without Youth, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, and played Emil Blonsky / Abomination, a Russian-born officer in the British Royal Marines Commandos, in The Incredible Hulk. Louis Leterrier was a fan of Roth's work. Leterrier wrote on Empire magazine: "it's great watching a normal Cockney boy become a superhero!".{{cite magazine |date=April 2008 |title=News Etc |magazine=Empire |issue=226 |pages=15–16}} Roth starred in the television series Lie to Me as Cal Lightman, an expert on body language assisting local and federal law organisations with crime.{{cite web |title=Lie to Me | publisher=University of San Francisco (USF) |url=http://www.usfca.edu/usfnews/news_stories/Lie_to_Me.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616051622/http://www.usfca.edu/usfnews/news_stories/Lie_to_Me.html |archive-date=16 June 2009}} A fan of Monty Python since his youth, Roth appeared in the 2009 television documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut).{{cite news |last=McGrath |first=Charles |date=30 September 2009 |title=Monty Python: Still On Comedy's Flying Trapeze |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/arts/television/04mcgr.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=26 August 2019}} He appeared on the cover of Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards from a Young Man.{{cite web |date=6 June 2010 |title=Nuovo dei Manics a settembre |language=it |publisher=Indie-Rock |url=http://www.indie-rock.it/news_look.php?id=5170 |url-status=dead |access-date=26 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722035740/http://www.indie-rock.it/news_look.php?id=5170 |archive-date=22 July 2011}}
In 2012, he became the president of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite news |date=12 April 2012 |title=Tim Roth to lead Cannes Un Certain Regard jury |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17699698 |access-date=13 April 2012}} He starred as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in United Passions, a film about football's governing body, released in 2014, to coincide with FIFA's 110th anniversary, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.{{cite news |date=25 October 2013 |title=Tim Roth to play Fifa president Sepp Blatter on film |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24669147 |access-date=4 December 2013}} Roth played Oswaldo Mobray in the ensemble western film The Hateful Eight,{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/features/tim-roth-the-hateful-eight-quentin-tarantino-1201650494/ |title=Tim Roth on Finding Quentin Tarantino's Rhythm 20 Years Later in 'The Hateful Eight' |magazine=Variety |access-date=4 March 2018}} and played a butler in a deleted scene for the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Anne |date=22 May 2019 |title='Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Delivers a Mega Movie Star Bromance: Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt |website=IndieWire |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/05/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-leonardo-dicaprio-brad-pitt-movie-stars-cannes-1202143792/}}
Roth starred in the 2015 film Chronic which had a limited release.{{Cite web |last=Prigge |first=Matt |date=19 September 2016|title=Tim Roth talks 'Chronic' and the dignity of euthanasia – Metro US |url=https://www.metro.us/tim-roth-talks-chronic-and-the-dignity-of-euthanasia/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=www.metro.us }} He received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead nomination. Roth collaborated with director Michel Franco again, in 2021, when he starred in Sundown.{{Cite web |last=Mullin |first=Kyle |title=Tim Roth & Iazua Larios on 'Sundown" |url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/tim_roth_iazua_larios_on_sundown/ |date=11 February 2025|access-date=12 February 2025|website=Under the Radar Magazine }} Roth was also an executive producer on Franco's 2017 film, April's Daughter.{{Cite web |last=Hoeij |first=Boyd van |date=20 May 2017|title='April's Daughters' ('Las hijas de abril'): Film Review {{!}} Cannes 2017 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/aprils-daughters-las-hijas-de-abril-1005670/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=The Hollywood Reporter }}
In 2017, Roth appeared in five episodes of the third season of Twin Peaks.{{Cite web |last=Ivie |first=Devon |date=16 October 2017|title=Tim Roth Texted David Lynch Relentlessly Until He Got More Twin Peaks Scenes |url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/tim-roth-jennifer-jason-leigh-twin-peaks-scenes.html |access-date=12 February 2025|website=Vulture }} Roth also starred in British crime drama Tin Star, which ran from 2017 to 2020.{{Cite news |last=Nicholson |first=Rebecca |date=10 December 2020|title=Tin Star: Liverpool review – murder and mayhem on Merseyside |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/10/tin-star-liverpool-review-tim-roth |access-date=12 February 2025|work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}
Roth reprised his role as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Erik |date=16 August 2021 |title='Shang Chi' Director Destin Daniel Cretton Reveals New Details About Marvel's Next Big Historic Action Movie |url=https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/shang-chi-director-destin-daniel-cretton-reveals-new-details-about-marvels-next-big-historic-action-movie-754385 |website=Fandango Media}}{{cite magazine |last=Boone |first=John |date=10 December 2020 |title=Marvel Debuts New Trailers for 'Loki' and 'Falcon and Winter Soldier,' Announces 'Fantastic Four' Movie |url=https://www.etonline.com/marvel-new-disney-plus-series-movies-157652 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211010602/https://www.etonline.com/marvel-new-disney-plus-series-movies-157652 |archive-date=11 December 2020 |access-date=12 December 2020 |magazine=Entertainment Tonight}}
In 2022, Roth starred in the psychological horror film Resurrection.{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Simon |title=Tim Roth Talks 'Resurrection' And Returning To Marvel In 'She-Hulk' |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2022/08/05/tim-roth-talks-resurrection-and-returning-to-marvel-in-she-hulk/ |access-date=12 February 2025|date=5 August 2022|website=Forbes }} The same year he also appeared in New Zealand sports drama, Punch.{{Cite web |last=Mullin |first=Kyle |title=Tim Roth Discusses His New Film "Punch" |url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/tim_roth_discusses_his_new_film_punch/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=Under the Radar Magazine }} In 2023, Roth appeared in 10 episodes of the Australian drama, Last King of the Cross.{{Cite web |title=Academy Award Nominee Tim Roth To Join Last King Of The Cross. |url=https://www.paramountanz.com.au/news/academy-award-nominee-tim-roth-to-join-last-king-of-the-cross/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=Paramount Australia & New Zealand {{!}} Corporate }}
In 2025, Roth starred in the British thriller Tornado.{{Cite web |last=Goldbart |first=Max |date=8 February 2024|title='Tornado': IFC Films & Shudder Take North American Rights To John Maclean Survival Thriller Starring Tim Roth, Jack Lowden & Kōki |url=https://deadline.com/2024/02/tornado-ifc-films-shudder-tim-roth-jack-lowden-koki-1235819139/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=Deadline }} He is due to appear in historical crime drama, The Immortal Man, a continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders.{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=25 September 2024|title='Peaky Blinders' Movie: Tim Roth Latest To Join Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson & Barry Keoghan In Netflix Feature |url=https://deadline.com/2024/09/tim-roth-cast-peaky-blinders-movie-cillian-murphy-netflix-1236099496/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=Deadline }}
Personal life
Roth's son Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984,{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=28 March 1997 |title=Look back in anger |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/1997/mar/28/features |access-date=27 February 2011}} is also an actor.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-29 |title=Discovery: Jack Roth |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/jack-roth |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}} Roth married Nikki Butler in 1993. They had two sons, Timothy Hunter and Michael Cormac, named for Hunter S. Thompson and Cormac McCarthy respectively.{{Cite news |last=Harvey |first=Chris |date=2017-08-26 |title=Tim Roth interview: 'I know what it's like to be bullied' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/08/26/tim-roth-interview-know-like-bullied/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite news |date=1999-08-14 |title=A brief history with Tim |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/aug/15/featuresreview.review6 |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}} On 16 October 2022, Cormac, a musician, died aged 25 from germ cell cancer.{{cite news|url = https://variety.com/2022/music/obituaries-people-news/cormac-roth-dead-tim-roth-son-musician-1235418314/|title = Cormac Roth, Musician and Son of Tim Roth, Dies at 25|work = Variety|date = 31 October 2022|accessdate = 31 October 2022|last = Moreau|first = Jordan}}
= Political views =
As of 2008, Roth was a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales.{{cite news |last=McLean |first=Craig |date=3 April 2008 |title=Tim Roth: touching evil in Michael Haneke's Funny Games |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3672350/Tim-Roth-touching-evil-in-Michael-Hanekes-Funny-Games.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |access-date=27 February 2011 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3672350/Tim-Roth-touching-evil-in-Michael-Hanekes-Funny-Games.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}} Roth protested against the Iraq War and later criticised former Prime Minister Tony Blair for his involvement, stating: "I've always felt Blair should be hauled off in handcuffs and put in Wormwood Scrubs. I think he's profited from the death of Reg's son and the Iraq war. I think that's where he belongs... I have nothing but contempt for him."{{Cite web |date=6 June 2016|title=Doing justice to his boy |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/culture/14538391.justice-boy/ |access-date=12 February 2025|website=The Northern Echo }} He endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 United States presidential election.{{cite news |last=Caen |first=Melissa |date=20 October 2015 |title=Where Are Presidential Donations Coming From In California? |publisher=KPIX-TV |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/where-are-presidential-donations-coming-from-in-california/ |access-date=9 December 2015 }} Roth was critical of Donald Trump's victory in 2016, saying: "I hate Trump. I hate everything that he stands for."{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Rory |date=4 December 2016|title=Tim Roth: 'If you neglect the working class for so long, they will rebel against you' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/04/tim-roth-if-you-neglect-working-class-for-so-long-they-will-rebel-against-you |access-date=22 February 2023|issn=0261-3077}}
Filmography
{{mainarticle|Tim Roth filmography}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|619}}
- {{iobdb name|25840}}
- {{discogs artist|Tim Roth}}
- {{Screenonline name|471039|Tim Roth}}
- Tim Roth at [https://web.archive.org/web/20180819145500/http://www.lietome.com/timroth.html www.lietome.com]
- [http://www.tim-roth.com/ The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth Web Page]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120402133804/http://raffertymillsconnection.podbean.com/2009/02/12/interview-tim-roth/ Audio Interview w/ Rafferty/Mills Connection Podcast (2009)]
{{BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor}}
{{Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Tim}}
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts
Category:Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:English expatriate male actors in the United States
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English people of American descent
Category:English people of Irish descent
Category:European Film Awards winners (people)
Category:Film directors from London
Category:Male actors from London
Category:People educated at the Strand School