Stephen Dillane
Encyclopedia
Stephen J. Dillane is an English actor. He won a Tony Award
for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard
's play The Real Thing
.
, to an English mother, Bridget (Curwen), and an Australian surgeon father, John Dillane. He read history and political science at the University of Exeter
and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser
. Unhappy in his career, he read how actor Trevor Eve
gave up architecture for acting and was thus inspired to enter the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
.
(Royal National Theatre
, 1989; spelled Stephen Dillon on the poster), Prior Walter in Angels in America
(1993), Hamlet
(1994), Clov in Samuel Beckett
's Endgame
(1996), Uncle Vanya
(1998), Henry in Tom Stoppard
's The Real Thing
(for which he won a Tony Award in 2000) and a one-man version of Macbeth
(2005). He has also performed T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' in London and New York City, and is soon to be seen in the 2010 Bridge Project's productions of 'The Tempest' and 'As You Like It'.
Onscreen, Dillane may be best known for his portrayal of Horatio
in Franco Zefferelli's film adaptation
of Hamlet
, with Mel Gibson
in the title role. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo
(1997), a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson
, and the impatient and easily agitated Redford
foil Harker in Spy Game
(2001).
He is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf
in The Hours
(2002), legendary English professional golfer
Harry Vardon
in The Greatest Game Ever Played
(2005) and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in John Adams (2008)
as Thomas Jefferson
. In July 2011, he was cast as Stannis Baratheon in the second season of HBO's fantasy TV series Game of Thrones
.
in the HBO mini-series John Adams (2008), and won the 2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his work in The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall.
) and Seamus Dillane. Stephen Dillane's younger brother, Richard Dillane
, is also an actor (Holby City
).
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's play The Real Thing
The Real Thing (play)
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
.
Early life
Dillane was born in Kensington, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, to an English mother, Bridget (Curwen), and an Australian surgeon father, John Dillane. He read history and political science at the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser
Croydon Advertiser
The Croydon Advertiser is a weekly newspaper covering the London Borough of Croydon, South London, and surrounding areas. It is the third-highest selling paid-for weekly paper in London...
. Unhappy in his career, he read how actor Trevor Eve
Trevor Eve
Trevor John Eve is a British film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series Shoestring and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC television drama Waking the Dead.-Early life:Eve was born in Sutton Coldfield,...
gave up architecture for acting and was thus inspired to enter the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
.
Work
Dillane is a distinguished theatre actor and his notable roles include Archer in The Beaux' StratagemThe Beaux' Stratagem
The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, in March 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have fallen on hard times, plan to travel through small towns, entrap young heiresses, steal their money and move on. In the...
(Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, 1989; spelled Stephen Dillon on the poster), Prior Walter in Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
(1993), Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(1994), Clov in Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Endgame
Endgame (play)
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French ; as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the...
(1996), Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
(1998), Henry in Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's The Real Thing
The Real Thing (play)
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
(for which he won a Tony Award in 2000) and a one-man version of Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(2005). He has also performed T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' in London and New York City, and is soon to be seen in the 2010 Bridge Project's productions of 'The Tempest' and 'As You Like It'.
Onscreen, Dillane may be best known for his portrayal of Horatio
Horatio (character)
Horatio is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. A friend of Prince Hamlet from Wittenberg University, Horatio's origins are unknown, though he is evidently poor and was present on the battlefield when Hamlet's father defeated 'the ambitious Norway'...
in Franco Zefferelli's film adaptation
Hamlet (1990 film)
Hamlet is a 1990 drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. It was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, with Mel Gibson as the young Prince Hamlet...
of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, with Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
in the title role. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo
Welcome To Sarajevo
Welcome to Sarajevo is a British war film from 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha's Story by Michael Nicholson.- Synopsis :...
(1997), a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson
Michael Nicholson
Michael Nicholson OBE is an English journalist and former ITN Senior Foreign Correspondent.- Journalistic career :Born in Romford, Essex, Nicholson attended the University of Leicester. Nicholson was a war reporter for ITN, who reported from wars in Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia,...
, and the impatient and easily agitated Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
foil Harker in Spy Game
Spy Game
Spy Game is a 2001 American spy film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The film grossed $62,362,785 in the United States and $143,049,560 worldwide.-Plot:...
(2001).
He is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf
Leonard Woolf
Leonard Sidney Woolf was an English political theorist, author, publisher and civil servant, and husband of author Virginia Woolf.-Early life:...
in The Hours
The Hours (film)
The Hours is a 2002 drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, and starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris. The screenplay by David Hare is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Michael Cunningham....
(2002), legendary English professional golfer
Professional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
Harry Vardon
Harry Vardon
Harry Vardon was a Jersey professional golfer and member of the fabled Great Triumvirate of the sport in his day, along with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. He won The Open Championship a record six times and also won the U.S. Open.-Biography:Vardon was born in Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands...
in The Greatest Game Ever Played
The Greatest Game Ever Played
The Greatest Game Ever Played is a 2005 biographical sports film based on the early life of golf champion Francis Ouimet. The film was directed by Bill Paxton; Shia LaBeouf plays the role of Ouimet. It is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures...
(2005) and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in John Adams (2008)
John Adams (TV miniseries)
John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling most of President John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the book John...
as Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. In July 2011, he was cast as Stannis Baratheon in the second season of HBO's fantasy TV series Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones (TV series)
Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...
.
Awards
He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
in the HBO mini-series John Adams (2008), and won the 2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his work in The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall.
Personal life
His sons, with actress Naomi Wirthner, are actor Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...
) and Seamus Dillane. Stephen Dillane's younger brother, Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane is an English actor. He appeared as Merv, the husband of Margaret Humphreys in Jim Loach's fact-based movie Oranges and Sunshine, as Wernher von Braun in the BBC television docudrama Space Race, as Nero in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the National Theatre of GB and as Stephen...
, is also an actor (Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
).
Filmography
- The Secret GardenThe Secret GardenThe Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
(1987) - The One GameThe One GameThe One Game is a four part 1988 British television drama serial, produced by Central Independent Television and broadcast on ITV from 4 June to 25 June 1988...
(1988) - HamletHamlet (1990 film)Hamlet is a 1990 drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. It was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, with Mel Gibson as the young Prince Hamlet...
(1990) - Two If by SeaTwo If by SeaTwo If by Sea is a 1996 romantic comedy feature starring Sandra Bullock, Denis Leary, Stephen Dillane and Yaphet Kotto. It was directed by Bill Bennett and written by Ann Lembeck, Mike Armstrong and Denis Leary.- Plot :...
(1996) - Welcome to SarajevoWelcome To SarajevoWelcome to Sarajevo is a British war film from 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha's Story by Michael Nicholson.- Synopsis :...
(1997) - Déjà VuDéjà Vu (1997 film)Déjà Vu is a 1997 American dramatic romance film directed by Henry Jaglom. It stars the British actors, Stephen Dillane and Vanessa Redgrave. It premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on 25 October 1997 and was released theatrically on 22 April 1998.-Plot:Dana , a young American woman,...
(1997) - Love and RageLove and Rage (film)Love and Rage is a 1998 British Irish-German drama film directed by Cathal Black and starring Greta Scacchi, Daniel Craig and Stephen Dillane. It is based on a novel by James Carney....
(1998) - FirelightFirelightFirelight is a 1997 period romance/drama film written and directed by William Nicholson, and starring Sophie Marceau and Stephen Dillane. This was Nicholson's first and only film as a director.- Plot :...
(1998) - Ordinary Decent CriminalOrdinary Decent CriminalOrdinary Decent Criminal is a 2000 crime/comedy film, directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, written by Gerard Stembridge. The film is loosely based on the story of Martin Cahill, a famous Irish crime boss.- Plot :...
(2000) - Spy GameSpy GameSpy Game is a 2001 American spy film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The film grossed $62,362,785 in the United States and $143,049,560 worldwide.-Plot:...
(2001) - The Parole OfficerThe Parole OfficerThe Parole Officer is a 2001 film, directed by John Duigan and was the first feature film to star comedian Steve Coogan. The film follows a mismatched group of former criminals as they assist their probation officer in proving his innocence after a murder accusation.-Plot:Simon Garden is a...
(2001) - The Truth About CharlieThe Truth About CharlieThe Truth About Charlie is a 2002 remake of the 1963 film Charade. It is also an homage to François Truffaut's 1960 film Shoot the Piano Player complete with that film's star, Charles Aznavour, making two surreal appearances singing his song "Quand tu m'aimes" .The Truth About Charlie was produced,...
(2002) - The Gathering (2002)
- The HoursThe Hours (film)The Hours is a 2002 drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, and starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris. The screenplay by David Hare is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Michael Cunningham....
(2002) - King ArthurKing Arthur (film)King Arthur is a 2004 film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Franzoni. It stars Clive Owen as the title character, Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot, and Keira Knightley as Guinevere....
(2004) - HavenHaven (film)Haven is a 2004 feature film set in the Cayman Islands, a British offshore financial centre. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004. It is written and directed by native Caymanian Frank E...
(2004) - The Greatest Game Ever PlayedThe Greatest Game Ever PlayedThe Greatest Game Ever Played is a 2005 biographical sports film based on the early life of golf champion Francis Ouimet. The film was directed by Bill Paxton; Shia LaBeouf plays the role of Ouimet. It is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures...
(2005) - Goal!Goal! (film)Goal! is a 2005 film directed by Danny Cannon. It is the first installment of a trilogy also named Goal!. This film was made with full cooperation from FIFA, which is one of the reasons actual teams and players are used throughout the film...
(2005) - Nine LivesNine Lives (2005 film)Nine Lives is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Rodrigo García. The screenplay, an example of hyperlink cinema, relates nine short, loosely intertwined tales with nine different women at their cores. Their themes include parent-child relationships, fractured love, adultery,...
(2005) - Goal! 2: Living the Dream...Goal! 2: Living the Dream...Goal II: Living the Dream is the second part of the football film trilogy Goal! and it was released on 9 February 2007 in the United Kingdom and 29 August 2008 in the United States.- Plot :...
(2007) - Fugitive PiecesFugitive PiecesFugitive Pieces is a novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. First published in 1996 , it was awarded the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, Orange Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize....
(2007) - Savage GraceSavage GraceSavage Grace is a 2007 film directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard Rodman, based on the book Savage Grace by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson. The story is based on the dysfunctional, allegedly incestuous relationship between heiress and socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son, Antony...
(2007) - John AdamsJohn Adams (TV miniseries)John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling most of President John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the book John...
(2008) - God on TrialGod on TrialGod on Trial is a 2008 BBC/WGBH Boston television play written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, starring Antony Sher, Rupert Graves and Jack Shepherd. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War II. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people...
(2008) - 44 Inch Chest44 Inch Chest44 Inch Chest is a 2009 British film starring Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Ian McShane. The script was written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto, who wrote another British gangster drama Sexy Beast, and produced by Richard Brown and Steve Golin...
(2009) - Storm (2009)
- Game of ThronesGame of Thrones (TV series)Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...
(2011)