Born February 5, 1948 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, Tom Wilkinson was the son of urban farmers, Marjorie and Thomas Wilkinson.

Economic hardships forced the family to move to Canada for five years when Wilkinson was 11.  Upon their return to England, he attended the University of Kent, graduating with a degree in English and American Literature.  Interested in acting and directing while there, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after graduating in 1973.  He made his first appearance as an actor on TV in 1975.  He made his West End debut playing Horatio in a 1980 production of Hamlet.

Wilkinson did not become known in the U.S. until the 1990s when his appearances in such British TV series as Morse and Prime Suspect received distribution outside of the U.K.

On screen in such acclaimed films as In the Name of the Father, Priest, and Sense and Sensibility, he received a BAFTA for his performance as one of the six unemployed workers who strip for cash in the 1997 Oscar nominee, The Full Monty.  That same year he appeared as the Marquiss of Queensberry in Wilde and the following year he received a second BAFTA film nomination for his theatre financier with acting aspirations in Shakespeare in Love which won that year’s Oscar for best Picture.  By this time he already had two BAFTA Tv nominations to his credit.

The actor expanded his popularity in the U.S. with his portrayal of General Cornwallis in the 2000 blockbuster, The Patriot with Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger.  His performance as the grief stricken father in the 2001 Oscar nominee In the Bedroom brought him numerous awards recognition including his first and only Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

In 2002, Wilkinson appeared in the Emmy winning TV movie, The Gathering Storm and on the big screen in The Importance of Being Earnest.  The following year he received an Emmy nomination for TV’s Normal while appearing on screen in Girl with a Pearl Earring. In 2004, he was in both Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Stage Beauty.  In 2005, he had a major supporting role in Batman Begins, and in 2007 he was in the Oscar nominated Michael Clayton for which he received a second Oscar nomination himslef, albeit this time for Best Supporting Actor.

Wilkinson won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in TV’s John Adams for which Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney won Best Actor and Actress as John and Abigail Adams.

Nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of another notable American figure, he was Joseph Kenndy Sr. in 2011’s The Kennedys in support of Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper as John and Robert Kennedy, both of whom were nominated for Best Actor.  That same year he had one of his best film roles in years as one of the five stars of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel alongside Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, and Maggie Smith.

Wilkinson rejoined his co-stars from The Full Monty in a 2023 miniseries in which they played their same characters a quarter century later.

Tom Wilkinson died suddenly December 30, 2023.  He was 75.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE FULL MONTY (1997), directed by Peter Cattaneo

Nominated for 4 Oscars, the British film was even more popular in the U.K. where it was nominated for 12 BAFTA awards, winning 3 for Best Film, Audience Award, and Best Supporting Actor for Wilkinson who played Gerald, one of six unemployed steel workers who form a male striptease act with their women cheering them on to go for the full monty, slang for total nudity.  One of the most successful British films of all time, the original cast reunited for a TV miniseries sequel a quarter of a century later.  Wilkinson and unsuccessful BAFTA nominees Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, and Lesley Sharp were among them.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998), directed by John Madden

Nominated for 13 Oscars and winner of 7 including Best Picture, Actress (Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola, the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night), and Supporting Actress (Judi Dench as Elizabeth I), the film was also nominated for 15 BAFTA awards, winning 4 including Best Film, Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush as the theatre owner) and Supporting Actress (Dench).  Rush had been an unsuccessful Oscar nominee, while Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes in the title role, and Wilkinson as his financier were unsuccessful BAFTA nominees.  Colin Firth as the film’s villain and Ben Affleck as a matinee idol also had starring roles.

IN THE BEDROOM (2001), directed by Todd Field

Nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture. Actor (Wilkinson), Actress (Sissy Spacek), Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei), and Screenplay (Field), BAFTA nominated it just for Best Actor and Actress.  Although neither was successful with either Oscar or BAFTA, both Wilkinson and Spacek won numerous acting awards from the critics for their portrayals of the parents of a murdered college age son (Nick Stahl).  This was former actor Field’s first film as a director who has only made two films since, 2006’s Little Children and 2022’s Tár, but has received a total of 6 Oscar nominations for the three films.

MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007), directed by Tony Gilroy

Nominated for 7 Oscars and winner of one for best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton), the film received additional nods for Best Picture, Director, Actor (George Clooney), Supporting Actor (Wilkinson), Screenplay, and Score.  With its three acting nominations, the film was the only one of the year’s film with acting nominees to receive more than one acting nomination.  Clooney plays a lawyer who is a fixer for a big New York law firm.  Wilkinson is his friend and fellow lawyer whose nervous breakdown opens Clooney’s eyes to in-house corruption led by Swinton.  This was Gilroy’s first film as director.

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011), directed by John Madden

Nominated for 5 British Independent Film Awards including Best Film, Director, Actress (Judi Dench), Supporting Actor (Wilkinson), and Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith), this delightful comedy also proved strong roles for Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, and Celia Weston as fellow elderly resident tourists and Dev Patel as the manager of what they believed to be a newly restored hotel.  Dench as a recent widow, Nighy as a recently retired civil servant, and Smith as an embittered retired maid got all the best lines, but Wilkinson also had one of his best roles as a retired judge with a secret.

TOM WILKINSON AND OSCAR

In the Bedroom (2001) – nominated – Best Actor

Michael Clayton (2007) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor