Timothy Spall
{{Short description|English actor (born 1957)}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Timothy Spall
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=UK|size=100%|OBE}}
| image = Timothy Spall World Premiere The Party Berlinale 2017 02.jpg
| caption = Spall at the world premiere of The Party in Berlin, 2017
| birth_name = Timothy Leonard Spall
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1957|2|27}}
| birth_place = London, England
| education = Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1978–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Shane Spall|1981}}
| children = 3, including Rafe Spall
}}
Timothy Leonard Spall ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|p|ɔː|l}} {{respell|SPAWL}}; born 27 February 1957){{Cite web |title=BFI Screenonline: Spall, Timothy (1957–) Biography |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/491519/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227155157/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/491519/index.html |archive-date=27 February 2023 |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=screenonline.org.uk}} is an English actor. He gained recognition for his character actor roles on stage and screen.
In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/789273.stm |title=ENTERTAINMENT | Spall and Steadman collect OBEs |publisher=BBC News |date=13 June 2000 |access-date=30 January 2012}}
Spall is known for his collaborations with director Mike Leigh, acting in six of his films: Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014). He received nominations for the BAFTA Award for his roles in Secrets and Lies and Topsy-Turvy as well as received the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award for his portrayal of J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner.{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/awardCompetition.html |title=Awards 2014 : Competition |access-date=25 May 2014 |work=Cannes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023133531/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/awardCompetition.html |archive-date=23 October 2013 }}
Spall has acted in films such as Hamlet (1996), Still Crazy (1998), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Enchanted (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), The Damned United (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Ginger and Rosa (2012), Denial (2016), The Party (2017), and Spencer (2021). He voiced Nick the rat in Chicken Run (2000), and portrayed Peter Pettigrew in five Harry Potter films, from Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010).
On television, Spall played Barry Spencer Taylor in the ITV comedy drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–2004) and Lord Arthur Wallington in the BBC Cold War drama Summer of Rockets (2019). He won the 2024 International Emmy Awards and BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for his performance as Peter Farquhar in The Sixth Commandment.
From 2010 to 2012 the BBC broadcast three documentary series Timothy Spall: ...at Sea about Spall's voyage around Britain in his barge.
Early life
Spall, the third of four sons,{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Julian Llewellyn |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/timothy-spall-a-bloke-for-all-seasons-9266115.html |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/timothy-spall-a-bloke-for-all-seasons-9266115.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Timothy Spall: A bloke for all seasons |newspaper=The Independent |date=20 August 2001}} was born on 27 February 1957 in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. (née Leonard), was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker.{{cite news|author=Deborah Ross |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/timothy-spall-lucky-tim-769366.html |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/timothy-spall-lucky-tim-769366.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Timothy Spall: Lucky Tim – Features – Films |newspaper=The Independent |date=12 January 2008 |access-date=30 January 2012 |location=London}}{{cite news |url= http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article354600.ece |title=Timothy Spall: Victim of his own success – Profiles – People| work=The Independent |publisher=News.independent.co.uk |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=30 January 2012 |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110074712/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article354600.ece |archive-date=10 January 2008 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/16/1073878022968.html?from=storyrhs |title=You'll know the face |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date= 17 January 2004|access-date=30 January 2012}}{{cite web|url= http://www.timedetectives.co.uk/doc/SpallFamilydetails.pdf |title=timedetectives.co.uk |access-date=13 February 2013}} Spall attended Battersea County Comprehensive School. At that time, he was planning on going to art school or joining the army. Spall's ambitions turned towards acting when he was 16, after appearing in a school play as the lion in the Wizard of Oz: "I was up there on stage being funny, and people laughed. I wanted to do it again and again." He trained at the National Youth Theatre,{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/02/timothy-spalls-teenage-obsessions-for-my-art-a-level-i-nailed-up-apples-covered-in-pubic-hair |title= Timothy Spall's teenage obsessions: For my art A-level I nailed up apples covered in pubic hair |work= The Guardian |author= Rich Pelley |date=2 September 2021 }} and at RADA, graduating in 1978,{{cite news|url= https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/timothy-spall/ |title= RADA Student & graduate profiles – Timothy Spall |work= rada.ac.uk |date= 19 December 2023}} after being awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year.{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-son-also-rises-how-rafe-spall-conquered-hollywood-2339358.html |title= The son also rises: How Rafe Spall conquered Hollywood |work= The Independent|location=London |author= Gerard Gilbert |date= 20 August 2011}}
Career
Spall initially made his mark in theatre performing in productions for Birmingham Rep, including the UK premier of Arnold Wesker's The Merchant, and, later, the Royal Shakespeare Company, including The Merry Wives of Windsor, Three Sisters, Nicholas Nickleby and The Knight of the Burning Pestle. At The National Theatre Spall played the Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw's St Joan.
Following a film debut in Quadrophenia and wider TV exposure playing, as Wayne says, "the gormless radish" [awkward] Barry Taylor in all four series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Kevin in Outside Edge and Aubrey the appalling chef in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet, Spall has since appeared in the films Crusoe, Secrets & Lies, Shooting the Past, Topsy-Turvy, Vanilla Sky, Rock Star, All or Nothing, The Last Samurai, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and The King's Speech. He performed 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 a guest in the Scottish comedy series Rab C. Nesbitt. He played Inspector Truscott in a 1997 Radio 3 broadcast of Loot by Orton, repeated in 2017.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/33/loot Loot, BBC Media Centre notice] accessed 4 April 2025.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours.{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/789273.stm |title=Spall and Steadman collect OBEs |publisher=BBC News |date=13 June 2000 |access-date=30 January 2012}}
Spall performed lead vocals on the song "The Devil is an Englishman"Liner notes from the 2009 reissue of the Thomas Dolby album The Flat Earth. Dolby composed the score for Gothic. 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 ITV1 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 the film The King's Speech,{{Cite news |last=French |first=Philip |date=9 January 2011 |title=The King's Speech – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/09/kings-speech-philip-french-review |access-date=15 May 2024 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Sperling |first=Nicole |date=31 January 2011 |title='The King's Speech' continues its reign at SAG Awards |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-sag-main-20110131-story.html |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Spall reprised the role at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.{{Cite news |last=Rees |first=Jasper |date=13 August 2012 |title=Olympics closing ceremony: A long goodbye to the Games |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19195421 |access-date=15 May 2024 |publisher=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
In 2012, Spall filmed Wasteland (known as The Rise in Britain), with actors Matthew Lewis and Vanessa Kirby. The Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, California, screened Wasteland in April 2013.[http://newportbeach.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/wasteland_rowanathale_newportbeach2013/ ”Wasteland Newport Beach Film Festival 2013 Screenings”] Also in 2012 Spall played Charlie Morgan in the edgy film Comes a Bright Day.
In 2013 and 2014, Spall starred in the BBC television series "Blandings", a comedy series adapted by Guy Andrews from the Blandings Castle stories of P. G. Wodehouse. It was first broadcast 13 January 2013.
In 2014, he won the Best Actor Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Mr. Turner, a biographical film on J. M. W. Turner directed by Mike Leigh. Spall has mentioned that this role is his personal favourite as it inspired him to take on painting.{{cite news | author= Broborn, Sandra | title=I höst spelar Timothy Spall mordoffer i finsk tv | newspaper=Hufvudstadsbladet | date=2 October 2023 | page=18 | language=Swedish | location=Helsingfors | url=http://www.hbl.fi/artikel/c6b797b2-ec96-54fc-82b4-92448056e6f9 | url-access=subscription }} In 2016, Spall portrayed Holocaust denier David Irving in the film Denial, directed by Mick Jackson.{{cite web|publisher=IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4645330/fullcredits/ |title=Denial (II) (2016) Full Cast & Crew | access-date=27 January 2022}}
From 29 March to 14 May 2016, Spall played the title role of Davies in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker, directed by Matthew Warchus at the Old Vic theatre in London opposite George MacKay and Daniel Mays.{{Cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=7 April 2016 |title=The Caretaker review – Pinter given renewed zest by Warchus and Spall |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/07/the-caretaker-review-old-vic |access-date=13 May 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
In 2018 he played Terry Perkins, one of the robbers, in the ITV miniseries Hatton Garden.
Spall went on to play Major Alistair Gregory in the acclaimed dramatic film Spencer (2021). He shared several psychologically charged scenes with Kristen Stewart who portrayed Princess Diana.
Spall received the 2024 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,{{Cite web |date=13 May 2024 |title=Timothy Spall praised for 'real' speech after shock Bafta win over Brian Cox |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/timothy-spall-brian-cox-baftas-b2543895.html |access-date=13 May 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}} for his performance as Peter Farquhar in the BBC's true life drama series The Sixth Commandment, which aired in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Mangan |first=Lucy |date=17 July 2023 |title=The Sixth Commandment review – as immaculate a piece of TV as you will ever see |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/17/the-sixth-commandment-review-as-immaculate-a-piece-of-tv-as-you-will-ever-see |access-date=13 May 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
Also in 2024, Spall played the Duke of Norfolk in the BBC dramatisation of the Hilary Mantel novel Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, taking over the role played in the first series by the late Bernard Hill.
To mark to 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2 in Europe, in May 2025, Spall performed a public reading in London of the speech Winston Churchill had delivered when Germany surrendered.
Personal life
File:TimSpall.jpg in New York City in 2006]]
Spall and his wife Shane have three children including Rafe, who is also an actor. He lives in Forest Hill,{{cite news|author=Lynn Barber |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,800979,00.html |title=Timothy Spall: Cruise, characters and chemotherapy | Film | The Observer |work=The Guardian |date= 30 September 2002|access-date=30 January 2012 |location=London}} South East London.{{cite news|author=Stuart Jeffries |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2205425,00.html |title=Stuart Jeffries talks to Timothy Spall | Film | The Guardian |work=The Guardian |date= 5 November 2007|access-date=30 January 2012 |location=London}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7630403/Timothy-Spall-goes-down-to-the-sea.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7630403/Timothy-Spall-goes-down-to-the-sea.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Timothy Spall goes down to the sea |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date= 24 April 2010|access-date=30 January 2012 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}
Having been a portly man for much of his career, Spall resolved to slim down for his role in 2015's The Enfield Haunting and, through his efforts, shed a notable amount of weight.{{cite web |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/498616/the-sixth-commandment-timothy-spall-weight-loss-transformation-photos/ |title=The Sixth Commandment star Timothy Spall talks about his weight loss transformation |last=Shahid |first=Sharnaz |publisher=Hello! Magazine |date=26 July 2023 |website=www.hellomagazine.com |access-date=15 May 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/timothy-spall-mrs-lowry-son-film-weight-loss-interview-turner-art-a9094666.html" |title=Timothy Spall interview: ‘Losing weight can shut doors’ |last=White |first=Adam |publisher=The Independent |date=8 September 2019 |website=www.the-independent.com |access-date=15 May 2025}}
In 1996, Spall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, but has since been in remission.{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/30793f8a-c612-11da-99fa-0000779e2340.html |title=/ Arts / Film & Television – Nothing to lose, everything to enjoy |work=Financial Times |date=8 April 2006 |access-date=13 February 2013}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/timothy-spall-our-mutual-friend-6104925.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/timothy-spall-our-mutual-friend-6104925.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Timothy Spall: Our mutual friend|newspaper=The Independent|date=1 April 2006|access-date=16 February 2018}}
He is the owner of a Dutch barge, in which he and his wife sailed around the British Isles; their voyage formed a BBC Four TV series Timothy Spall: ...at Sea.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-14670050 |title=Actor Timothy Spall rescued by Sheerness lifeboat |publisher=BBC News|date=25 August 2011 |access-date=30 January 2012}}
Filmography
{{Main|Timothy Spall filmography}}
Awards and nominations
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Timothy Spall}}
- {{IMDb name|1758}}
- {{Screenonline name|id=491519}}
- [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2197651,00.html Amy Raphael, "Spall in the Family," (Interview of Timothy Spall and actor son Rafe) The Observer, 28 October 2007]
- [http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2205425,00.html Stuart Jeffries, "I don't always play losers," The Guardian, 5 November 2007]
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Timothy Spall
|list =
{{British Academy Television Award for Best Actor}}
{{Prix d'interprétation masculine 2000–2019}}
{{International Emmy for Best Performance by an Actor}}
{{European Film Award for Best Actor}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year}}
{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spall, Timothy}}
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Wandsworth
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male Shakespearean actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:English male voice actors
Category:European Film Award for Best Actor winners
Category:Male actors from London
Category:National Youth Theatre members
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners