Timothy Spall

Biography

Timothy Leonard Spall, born on February 27, 1957, is an accomplished English actor and television presenter. He rose to fame in the UK for his role as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

In 1996, Spall received significant recognition for his performance in Secrets & Lies, earning a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His film career includes a diverse range of roles in notable productions such as Hamlet (1996), Still Crazy (1998), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Enchanted (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), The Damned United (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Ginger and Rosa (2012), Denial (2016), and The Party (2017). He also lent his voice to Nick, a sardonic, overweight rat in the animated film Chicken Run (2000), and portrayed Peter Pettigrew in five installments of the Harry Potter series, from Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010).

Spall’s long-standing collaboration with director Mike Leigh has yielded six films, including Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014), the latter earning him the Best Actor Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for his depiction of J. M. W. Turner.

He also featured in the documentary series Timothy Spall: ...at Sea (2010–2012) and took on the role of Lord Arthur Wallington in the 2019 BBC Cold War drama Summer of Rockets.