Tim Roth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Tim Roth as Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs |
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| Born: | 14 May, 1961 Dulwich, London, England |
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| Occupation: | Film actor and director |
Tim Roth (born 14 May 1961 as Timothy Simon Smith) is an English film actor and director. He was born in Dulwich, London.
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[edit] Biography
Timothy Simon Smith was born in London to a landscape painter mother and a journalist father, who had adopted the German-Jewish surname Roth after World War II to hide his nationality when traveling in countries hostile to the British.
At first, Roth wanted to be a sculptor, so he studied at London's Camberwell School of Art. After some time there, he decided to try acting and made his debut at the age of 21 playing a racist skinhead in a TV movie entitled Made in Britain. Later, his name and looks would land him a number of Jewish roles.[citation needed]
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 he cast him 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.
He is currently working on several projects, including Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth. 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 release early 2007.
[edit] Filmography (Actor)
- Made In Britain (1982)
- Meantime (1983)
- The Hit (1984)
- 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)
- The Beautiful Country (2004)
- With It (2004)
- Silver City (2004)
- Don't Come Knocking (2005)
- Dark Water (2005)
- Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)
- Youth Without Youth (2007)
- Funny Games (filming) (2007)
- Inglorious Bastards (in-production) (2008)
[edit] Filmography (Director)
- The War Zone (1999)
[edit] Personal life
- Roth is 1.70m in height (5 foot 7 inches).
- Roth had a son Jack with Lori Baker in 1983. He married Nikki Butler in 1993, and had 2 sons with her: Hunter (b. 1995) and Cormac (b. 1996).
[edit] Trivia
- In both Quentin Tarantino films that he stars in, he says the first line of the movie (although not chronologically), plays a robber (or someone pretending to be a robber), and is involved in the middle of a Mexican standoff near the end of the film. During both standoffs, he is the only one without a gun.
- Was a candidate to play Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but dropped out to star in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. [1]
[edit] 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."
