Tom Cullen

Thomas Cullen (born 17 July 1985) is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film Weekend (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series Downton Abbey,[1] and as Sir Landry in the historical drama series Knightfall.[2]

Tom Cullen
Cullen in 2017
Born	Thomas Cullen 17 July 1985 Aberystwyth, Wales
Alma mater	Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Occupation	Actor writer director
Years active	2006–present

Early life

Cullen was born in Aberystwyth. His father is Irish and his mother is English.[3] He spent his early years in Llandrindod Wells and moved to Cardiff at age 12,[4] where he attended Llanishen High School. He is the son of two writers and has two siblings.[5] Before pursuing an acting career he was involved in music.[6] He graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2009 with First Class Honours degree in Acting after spending a year at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[7]

Career

Acting

Whilst still in training, Cullen was taken out of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to appear in Daddy's Girl, which won the BAFTA Cymru for Best Film,[8] and to star in Watch Me, which won the BAFTA Cymru for Best Short.[9] His stage roles include Gorgio at the Bristol Old Vic, Assembly and A Good Night Out in the Valleys at National Theatre Wales, and The Sanger at Sherman Cymru.[10] In 2011, he was named on the Screen International Stars of Tomorrow list.[11]

Cullen starred in the 2011 film Weekend as Russell, a Nottingham lifeguard. Weekend collected numerous awards including the Grand Jury award at the Nashville Film Festival and Best Achievement in Production at the British Independent Film Awards. Cullen won Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and Best Actor at the Nashville Film Festival in 2011 for his role as Russell.[12] His television roles include Jonas in Black Mirror, drug trafficker Yoram in Banged Up Abroad[10][13] and Richard in Pen Talar. He starred as Wulfric in the 2012 miniseries World Without End.[14] He had a recurring role as Mary Crawley's suitor Anthony Foyle (the Viscount Gillingham) in Downton Abbey.[15]

Recent films include Desert Dancer, the story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban, and the science fiction The Last Days on Mars, based around the first manned mission to Mars. Upcoming films include Happily Ever After, No Compass in the Wilderness, A Hundred Streets opposite Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton. and Mine opposite Armie Hammer.'.[10][16]

Cullen played Joe Rose in the new three-part ITV drama The Trials of Jimmy Rose, airing in September 2015.[17] He starred in a Canadian indie from production company Motel Pictures, The Other Half .[18] He plays the lead role of Mark in Harlan Coben's The Five, a ten-part Sky 1 mystery series.[19] He also stars as Landry in the History series Knightfall,[2] which started in December 2017.[20] Cullen played Guy Fawkes alongside Kit Harington and Liv Tyler in Gunpowder on BBC One.

Cullen's editorial work includes L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, and 10 Magazine.

Writing

In 2008, Cullen wrote and produced the short film Naughties with Alexander Vlahos. In 2009, he and Vlahos co-founded the Welsh company Undeb Theatre.[21] He wrote and directed his full-length play, Kingfisher, about a man returning from prison, in 2010, as well as other short plays performed by Undeb.[22]

Directing

Cullen made his directorial debut with the 2019 film Pink Wall starring Tatiana Maslany and Jay Duplass. The film is described by Screen Daily as "the story of a couple’s struggles with the pressures of gender expectations and the conflict between life and ambition."[23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Cravings	Jason
2008	Watch Me	Tom	Short film Nominated for BAFTA Cymru Best Short Film
2009	20 Questions	Adam	Short film
2010	Balance	Nico	Short film
2011	Weekend	Russell	British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer
2012	Henry	Henry	Short film
2013	Room 8	Ives	Short film BAFTA Award for Best British Short Film
2013	The Last Days on Mars	Richard Harrington
2014	Desert Dancer	Ardavan
2016	Black Mountain Poets	Richard
2016	Happily Ever After	Colin
2016	The Other Half	Nickie
2016	Trial	Ryan/New Aaron	Short film
2016	A Hundred Streets	Jake
2016	Mine	Tommy Madison
2018	Souls of Totality	Guy 3	Short film
2019	Pink Wall	-	Director-writer
2019	Castle in the Ground	Jimmy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Pen Talar	Richard	2 episodes
2011	Black Mirror	Jonas	Episode: "The Entire History of You"
2012	World Without End	Wulfric	8 episodes
2013–2014	Downton Abbey	Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham	12 episodes
2015	The Trials of Jimmy Rose	Joe Rose	3 episodes
2016	The Five	Mark Wells	10 episodes
2017	Orphan Black	Leonard Sipp	Episode: "Manacled Slim Wrists"
2017-2019	Knightfall	Landry du Lauzon	Lead role
2017	Gunpowder	Guy Fawkes	3 episodes
2018	Genius	Luc Simon	2 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2011	London Film Critics Circle Awards	British Actor of the Year	Weekend	Nominated
2011	BFI London Film Festival	Best British Newcomer	Weekend	Nominated
2011	Nashville Film Festival	Best Actor in a Narrative Feature	Weekend	Won
2011	British Independent Film Award	Most Promising Newcomer	Weekend	Won
2016	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Downton Abbey	Won

References

1. Arsenault, Bridget. "New Downton Abbey Star Tom Cullen Wishes He Could Play Lady Grantham". The Hive. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
2. Wagmeister, Elizabeth (13 May 2016). "Tom Cullen to Star in Jeremy Renner's History Series 'Knightfall' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
3. "Actor Tom Cullen on Downton Abbey, dancing and being 'the Devil incarnate'". WalesOnline. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
4. "Emerging Welsh actor Tom Cullen on his big screen success". WalesOnline. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
5. Grice, Natalie. "Indie film Weekend break for Cardiff actor Tom Cullen". BBC Wales News. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
6. Aftab, Kaleem. "Tom Cullen". Interview. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
7. Rorke, Robert. "Lady Mary's dashing new suitor to debut on 'Downton Abbey'". New York Post. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
8. "BAFTA Award for Daddy's Girl". Dragon Di. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
9. "BAFTA Nomination: Ieuan Morris 'Watch Me'". Glamorgan. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
10. "Spotlight Actors: Tom Cullen". Retrieved 16 September 2014.
11. "Screen International Stars of Tomorrow 2011". Screen Daily 30 June 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
12. "Weekend Awards". Weekend. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
13. "Tokyo - Locked Up Abroad". National Geographic. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
14. "FUTURES: Star Tom Cullen Turns a One Night Stand Into Art". IndieWire. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
15. "Downton Abbey: the dashing aristocrats lining up to lift Lady Mary out of despair". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
16. "Graduate Profile: Tom Cullen". Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
17. "Filming begins on The Trials of Jimmy Rose from ITV Studios". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
18. Vlessing, Etan (21 April 2015). "Tatiana Maslany, Tom Cullen to Star in Indie 'The Other Half'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
19. Roxborough, Scott (30 September 2015). "MIPCOM: Canal Plus Takes Harlan Coben's 'The Five' for France". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
20. "After Vikings, History Channel Brings The Knights Templar To TV With Knightfall". Movie Pilot. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017.
21. "Actors Unite for Theatre". WalesOnline. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
22. Wild, Susie. "Undeb celebrate first birthday with Undeb-velopment – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
23. Screen Daily, 'Weekend Star Tom Cullen Wraps Up Directorial Debut' 14 Dec 2017, https://www.screendaily.com/news/weekend-star-tom-cullen-wraps-directorial-debut-exclusive/5125001.article

External links

• Tom Cullen at IMDb