20 Things You Didn’t Know about Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy, aka Edward Thomas Hardy, is a famous English actor born on September 15, 1977. He has two children, two dogs, and is married to actress Charlotte Riley. He studied acting at both the Richmond Drama School and the Drama Centre London.
Tom Hardy made his television debut in the 2001 mini-series Band of Brothers and his film debut in the popular 2001 movie Black Hawn Down. Although he acted steadily after these two roles,
Tom Hardy did not receive his breakthrough role until 2010 when he had a part in the movie Inception. He won a BAFTA Rising Star award his part in this science fiction thriller.
Tom Hardy’s acting career really took off after Inception. In 2011 he starred in the film Warrior, followed by the romantic comedy This Means War, Batman: The Dark Night Rises, and Lawless in 2012. In 2015 alone, he starred in five films, including the title character in the critically acclaimed film Mad Max: Fury Road, which went on to become the highest-grossing film of the entire Mad Max series.
In 2016, Tom Hardy received his first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the thriller The Revenant.
And now, Tom Hardy fans, prepare to be amazed at all the things you did not already know about Tom Hardy:
1. Tom Hardy is a Mixed Martial Arts fan
It was while training for the part of U.S. Marine Tommy Riordan in the movie Warrior that he began Mixed Martial Arts training. He fell in love with the sport. Now you can actually see some of his skills portrayed in his movies. Clearly his portrayal of Bane showed off some of is fighting ability and it seems that each year Hardy is in some way showcasing his fighting skills in movies.
2. Tom Hardy had a dog named Mad Max.
He had the dog from the time he was seventeen but had never been a Mad Max fan or even seen the movie. The dog was already named Mad Max when he was gifted to Tom Hardy. In fact, Tom Hardy didn’t watch the 1979 Mad Max movie until he was chosen to play the lead in the 2015 Mad Max: Fury Road. Unfortunately, his trusty friend Mad Max passed away the year he got the role in the Mad Max film. He thought of the part he played in the film as a sort of tribute to his dog.
3. His Mentor is Gary Oldman
Every actor has that one actor or actress that they look up to as a mentor, role model or hero. That one actor they would love to meet and work with. Tom Hardy’s is celebrity idol is Gary Oldman. In the beginning of his career, Tom Hardy had said he would love to work with Gary Oldman. He later went on to add that Gary Oldman is one if his heroes.
He actually did get the chance to work him. And not just once or twice. On four occasions he received the honor of working with Gary Oldman. The two acted together in the movies Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless, and Child 44.
4. Tom Hardy has struggled with drug addiction.
His problems started at the young age of eleven. A policeman went to his school to warn the kids about the dangers of sniffing glue. While this deterred most kids, this presentation gave Tom Hardy an idea and he knew where to get some.
By the age of thirteen he was already addicted to Hallucinogens. Even worse, by the time he was sixteen, Tom Hardy was an alcoholic and crack-cocaine addict. At seventeen he stole his father’s friend’s Mercedes. He was pulled over with the stolen car and had a gun in the car with him. Tom Hardy almost ended up in prison for a long time over that incident, but his father had connections.
His addiction got so bad that he has even said he would have sold his own mother for a rock of crack. At the peak of his addiction, in 2003, Tom Hardy was found in Soho, London covered in vomit and blood. He decided then to clean up his act. He is sober more than ten years now.
5. Committed to Helping Others
With his drug and alcohol problems behind him, Tom Hardy is committed to helping others suffering from the same problems. He has become an Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust Youth Charity. Here, he helps London youth overcome the struggles and difficulties they are experiencing and help guide them to a better life.
6. Charity Work
In addition to being an Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust Youth Charity, he is a homeless charity patron in London. He also supports the Bowel Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK charities. Part of this is definitely because of his past addictions. Hardy’s definitely committed to giving back after having been down such a dangerous path. He’s nothing but grateful for his success.
7. Tom Hardy is a romantic and family man.
Although his first marriage did not work out, largely because of his drug and alcohol addictions, he is happily married to actress Charlotte Riley. They began dating n 2009 while on the set of Wuthering Heights together.
They became engaged in 2010 and married four years later, in 2014. They kept theit marriage secret and had a private ceremony in South France. In October of 2015, they welcomed their first child together (Hardy has another from a past relationship).
Tom hardy and his wife kept the pregnancy secret until a month before the baby was born and are opting to keep it out of the lime-light. They have not released the gender or name to the public
8. Tom Hardy comes from an extremely talented family.
His mother, Anne is a talented painter and artist. His father, Edwards “Chips” Hardy is an author and comedy writer. Tom Hardy himself is multi-talented. He is a well-known actor, but also a screenwriter and producer. He and his father co-wrote and produced a mini-series called Taboo. It will be released later this year and features Tom Hardy as well
9. Tom Hardy loves dogs.
He has two dogs of his own with wife Charlotte. Both dogs were rescues that they adopted. Tom Hardy has also acted in a PETA commercial to help encourage rescued dog adoptions. In fact there was one moment when Tom Hardy was on the red carpet and people were saying how his dogs actually stole the show. The photos went viral and Hardy and his association with dogs have been a hit ever since.
10. Tom Hardy was a model.
Back in 1998, when he was twenty-one, before becoming a full-time actor, Tom Hardy entered and won a modeling competition that aired on a British television show. Upon winning the contest on Britain’s Channel 4 show, The Big Breakfast, he signed as a model. However, this would be only a brief stint that would lead to acting.
11. Tom Hardy played two characters in the same movie.
In the 2015 movie Legend, Tom Hardy portrayed two different characters, Ronnie Kray and Reggie Kray. This movie is about a set of twins that terrorized London in the 1950’s and 1960″s. For those of you who enjoy Tom Hardy’s acting skills then you surely must have enjoyed when there was not only one Hardy, but two.
12. Tom Hardy was expelled from school not once, but two times.
There were high expectations placed on Tom hardy from an early age, but he struggled through school and was described as a wayward youth. He was expelled from Reeds School for theft. He was later thrown out of the Richmond Drama School for behavioral reasons. He did not complete the last school he attended, Drama Centre of London either. This time, he was not thrown out; he left to join the case of the Steven Spielberg mini-series Band Of Brother.
13. Tom Hardy wanted to be a rapper.
In fact, the had a record contract. His manager was the same man that manages the Fugees. He worked with Grammy-winning producers Warren Riker and Gordon Williams to record a couple of rap albums. His rapping career did not pan out and he claims that he wasn’t that good. Though we must admit it would be pretty awesome to see Hardy on stage giving it another go.
14. Tom Hardy has been involved in several on-set disputes.
The most well-known occurred during taping of the movie Lawless between Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf. There was a fight that transpired between the two actors. The two men were separated just in time before it came to blows and they now claim that it was a brotherly love fight.
It has been rumored that Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron did not get along while filming the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. There was an ongoing feud between the two during the entire filming process. Most recently, while filming The Revenant, Tom Hardy and the director, Alejandro G. Inarritu, apparently had a few disagreements as well.
It appears Tom Hardy has learned to control his anger, though and they worked through it using humor. They say in the early days of his career Tom Hardy would show up worse for ware and was unpredictable. He was actually able to persuade Ridley Scott to let him light himself on fire instead of using a stunt double.
15. Tom Hardy has body art and lots of it.
He has been getting tattooed regularly for over twenty years, since the age of fifteen. His first tattoo was a fighting leprechaun on his right bicep. This was to honor his Irish heritage, which comes from his mother.
She didn’t feel very honored by this and burst out crying. His ex-wife was born in the year of the dragon, so Tom Hardy got a dragon tattoo. He has since called it a mistake tattoo. For Tom Hardy, each tattoo he has holds special meaning for him. Each tattoo signifies a time in his life that he has been through. He gets a tattoo for every job he does. For the movie Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, his tattoos had to be digitally removed.
16. He will go to extreme lengths for parts he plays.
He will and has transformed his body for a role. For the role of inmate Charles Bronson, he had to change his body shape. To accomplish this feat, Tom Hardy did 2,500 press-ups a day, every day.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he did this two times! The first time he bulked up, the movie fell through. He lost the extra weight and starred in the film Stuart: A Life Backwards. Then, production of the movie was back up again, so he had to bulk up all over again. That’s an awful lot of press-ups! For the movie The Warrior, Tom Hardy played MMA fighter Tommy Conlon.
This is where he found his love of mixed martial arts. Seven days a week for three months he followed a rigid, strict, intense workout. His days consisted of two hours of boxing, two hours of muay thai, two hours of ju jitsu, two hours of weight lifting, and two hours of choreography. That’s ten hours of working out, every single day for three weeks! Almost as impressive was his transformation to play Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy had to add thirty pounds of muscle to his body.
17. Tom Hardy has experimented.
In 2008, he played a closet homosexual in the British gangster movie RocknRolla. His character had a crush on a Scottish mobster played by Gerard Butler. He has admitted to feeling slightly possessive over Gerard Butler with the gay dancers when taking dance lessons. He felt the need to snuggle a little closer. A few years after the movie, while being interviewed, Tom hardy was asked if he had ever had sexual relation with another male.
He said of course he had, that he was an actor and has played with everything and everyone. However, he says that he is not into men in a sexual manner. He loves the form and the physicality, but that gay sex does nothing for him. Tom Hardy goes a step further by explaining he has no problem with homosexuals and in fact, finds himself to be feminine.
18. It’s not very likely you will see Tom Hardy sporting a bow-tie.
Although he has worn the occasional bow-tie for special occasions, he has to wear a clip-on if left to do it himself. He says he can tie a Windsor knot and regular knot, but he can’t seem to master the bow-tie. Something tells us that there are worse problems in the world. Still though, maybe some of the fashion police thinks he’d be better off wearing more bow-ties?
19. Tom Hardy is a fan of the ballet.
Such a big fan that every year he goes to see the Nutcracker. Ans, he is an English National Ballet supporter. Given his incredible fighting skills it wouldn’t surprise us if Hardy, at some point in his career played the part of a ballet dancer. It would be fitting considering his passion for the art and how little movies are actually given attention to ballet.
20. Tom Hardy has a curled pinky finger.
As the result of a kitchen knife incident that occurred when he was younger, his pinky is permanently curled. When the injury occurred, he didn’t get it fixed, so this is the way it is now. It hasn’t impeded him in any sport, acting role, or any other endeavor so perhaps it’s just a reminder to stay safe in the kitchen.