Tom Hardy
British actor, portrayer of the fighter Tommy Conlon in Warrior (2011) and an active competitor in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with a brown belt.
Quick Facts
United KingdomBiography
Tom Hardy, born Edward Thomas Hardy, is a British actor. He was born on 15 September 1977 in Hammersmith, London, and studied at Drama Centre London.
In the film Warrior (2011), directed by Gavin O'Connor, he played Tommy Riordan Conlon, whom his father trains for a mixed martial arts tournament where he meets his brother. For the role he gained about 28 pounds of muscle mass and then used the same physique for Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The film was shot in, among other places, Pittsburgh and at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
He is himself an active practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In September 2022 he won the UMAC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championships, on 19 June 2023 he was promoted to purple belt, and as of 2026 he has reached brown belt, awarded to him by Sonny Weston at Horsham BJJ. He is chief ambassador of the REORG Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Foundation, which is supported by the Royal Marines.
His other roles include Charles Bronson in Bronson (2008), Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and both Kray brothers in Legend (2015). He was nominated for an Oscar for the role of John Fitzgerald in The Revenant (2015), and in the series Peaky Blinders he played Alfie Solomons. In 2018 he received the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to theatre.
Ranks and titles
- Brown beltBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.