Tom Rob Smith

{{Short description|English author, screenwriter, producer (born 1979)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Tom Rob Smith

| image = Tom Rob Smith Frankfurter Buchmesse 2013 1.JPG

| caption = Smith at 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1979|02|19}}

| birth_place = London, England

| occupation = {{Hlist| Author | screenwriter | producer}}

| genre = Thriller, Mystery

| website = {{URL|tomrobsmith.com}}

}}

Tom Rob Smith (born February 19, 1979{{cite web|website=BookBrowse|access-date=12 June 2016|title=Tom Rob Smith Biography|url=https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/1684/Tom-Rob-Smith}}) is an English author, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the author of Child 44, a novel about the investigation of child murders during the Soviet Union. The book was adapted into a film of the same name, and Smith has written two sequels: the Secret Speech and Agent 6. His first standalone novel, The Farm, was published in 2014.

Personal life and education

The son of Swedish mother Barbro and English father Ron, both antiques dealers,{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/tom-rob-smith-a-family-at-war-5clvlc59ml7|title = Tom Rob Smith: A family at war|last1 = Smith|first1 = Tom Rob}} Smith was born and raised at Norbury, South London.{{Cite interview |first1=Tom Rob |last1=Smith |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/02/crimebooks.features |title =In pursuit of a Russian Ripper

|interviewer=Peter Guttridge |work=The Observer |location=London |via=TheGuardian.com |date=1 March 2008}} He went to school at Dulwich College between the years of 1987 and 1997. Following his graduation from St John's College, Cambridge, in 2001, he received the Harper Wood Studentship for English Poetry and Literature and continued his Creative Writing studies for a year at the University of Pavia, in Italy. He was formerly the partner of Ben Stephenson.{{cite interview |last1=Stephenson |first1=Ben |interviewer=Neil Midgley |title=Interview: Ben Stephenson on the future of BBC drama |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5127027/Interview-Ben-Stephenson-on-the-future-of-BBC-drama.html |access-date=31 August 2020 |date=8 April 2009}}{{cite news |last1=Spence |first1=Alex |title=BBC buys thriller series by drama chief's boyfriend |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/bbc-buys-thriller-series-by-drama-chiefs-boyfriend-9c9k5rj5wrf |access-date=31 August 2020 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Bad Robot's TV Chief on 'Westworld' Impact, 'Castle Rock' Ambitions and What's Next |work=Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bad-robots-tv-chief-westworld-impact-castle-rock-ambitions-whats-next-1105134 |date=25 April 2018 |access-date=31 August 2020}}

Career

After completing his studies, Smith worked as a writer and a script editor, including a stint with the BBC. Among his projects was story-lining Cambodia's first soap opera, set in Phnom Penh.

His first novel, Child 44, published in early 2008, was inspired by the true-life case of Andrei Chikatilo, who committed a series of child murders in Soviet Russia. It was awarded the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller of the year by the Crime Writers' Association, named on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, and nominated for the 2008 Costa First Novel Award (former Whitbread). In July 2009, he won the Waverton Good Read Award for first novels and the Galaxy Book Award for Best Newcomer with Child 44. It has been translated into 36 languages and in January 2011, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan listed it in their Book Club "100 Books of the Decade".{{cite web |url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/tom-rob-smith/child-44 |title=Tom Rob Smith Child 44 Foreign and Awards|website=Curtis Brown}} In 2007, Ridley Scott optioned the film rights.{{cite news |url=https://www.timeout.com/film/news/1826/ridley-scott-adopts-child-44.html |title=Ridley Scott Adopts Child 44 |author=Film News |work=Time Out |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018134854/http://www.timeout.com/film/news/1826/ridley-scott-adopts-child-44.html |archive-date=18 October 2012 }}

Fox 2000 bought the project. A film based on the novel was announced in 2009, with Ridley Scott originally attached as both director and producer.{{cite web|url=http://www.themovieinsider.com/m4045/child-44-/ |title=Child 44 Movie |website=Themovieinsider.com |date=7 May 2007 |access-date=27 February 2012}} The 2015 film was produced by Scott and his longtime production collaborator Michael Costigan, via Scott Free Productions, and directed by Daniel Espinosa. Child 44 stars Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Charles Dance, and Joel Kinnaman.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023|reason=IMDb is *not* a reliable source (see WP:IMDB, WP:IMDB/RS and WP:IMDB-EL).}}

Smith's sequel to Child 44, The Secret Speech, was published in April 2009, and the final novel in the trilogy, Agent 6, was published in July 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/tom-rob-smith/agent-6 |title=Agent 6 Synopsis|website=curtisbrown.co.uk}} Smith's fourth book, a standalone novel entitled The Farm, was published in February 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/work.aspx?work=34102|website=Curtis Brown|location=UK|author=Smith, Tom Rob|title=The Farm|year=2014}}

Smith also wrote a drama television series, London Spy, which was first broadcast on BBC Two in November 2015.

Smith was selected as executive producer and writer for season 2 of American Crime Story, an FX true crime anthology series. It is titled The Assassination of Gianni Versace and explores the murder of designer Gianni Versace by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2016/10/american-crime-story-renewed-fx-season-3-versace-murder-1201838392/|publisher=Deadline Hollywood |location=US|last1=Andreeva |first1=Nellie |title='American Crime Story' Renewed By FX For Season 3, Will Take On Versace Murder|year=2016}}

Bibliography

=Child 44 Trilogy=

Child 44 (2008). {{ISBN|978-1847371263}}
The Secret Speech (2009). {{ISBN|978-1847371287}}
Agent 6 (2011). {{ISBN|978-1847375674}}

=Other=

The Farm (2014). {{ISBN|978-1847375698}}
Cold People (2023). {{ISBN|978-1471133107}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"

style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"

! Production

! Episodes

! Broadcaster

Doctors

"Today's the Day" (2003)
"Gap Year" (2004)

| BBC One

Dream Team

6 episodes (2005)

| Sky One

London Spy

Series creator (2015)

| BBC Two

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Series creator (2018)

| FX

MotherFatherSon

Series creator (2019)

| BBC Two

Class of '09

Series creator, all episodes (2023)

| FX on Hulu

References

External links

{{official website|http://www.tomrobsmith.com/}}
{{IMDb name|1602547}}
[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/981834.Tom_Rob_Smith?from_search=true Tom Rob Smith on Good reads]

{{Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted}}

Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century English male writers

Category:21st-century English novelists

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Category:Barry Award winners

Category:English male screenwriters

Category:English television writers

Category:English male novelists

Category:English people of Swedish descent

Category:English LGBTQ screenwriters