Tom Wilkinson - biography

“Acting for me is not that quid pro quo.”

“All good actors are easy to work with.  It’s the ones that aren’t very good who tend to be very difficult.”

“When you’re an actor you don’t really know what you have to do until you see what you look like.”

“You don’t have any kind of sense of being foolish when you are acting.  When you’re younger you don’t want to look a fool, so you don’t do things that might make you vulnerable.”

“Once Miramax gets involved, if they like your movie, there’s a big machine that gets involved.”

“One of the characteristics of plays that are made into films is that they can be very talky.”

“There’s only one shot you have at a movie, and that’s your best shot.  If you can’t give it that, don’t go.  They’re paying you!  You gotta do a job for them.”

“I won’t say I wouldn’t be grateful and happy and delighted and thrilled to bits to receive a nomination.  But I wouldn’t be suicidal if it didn’t happen.”

“You can’t do things for money.  You just can’t act them.  There’s gotta be something about the script that you really want to do.  I wouldn’t do a job if I didn’t think I could do the best work I possibly could.”

“I would recommend it to everybody, every now and again you just put a dress on, see what it feels like, because it’s, its interesting.  A whole complex series of thoughts and feelings assail you as you look at yourself.”

“I once did a role which I couldn’t rehearse in my street clothes, I had to have the character’s costume on before I could rehearse it.  I just couldn’t think as the character unless I looked like him, or I knew that I looked like him.”

“If the script is telling the story well, that is your inspiration, and you do not need to go somewhere else.”

“If you have something that you know is important to you and vital to you...  then this will perhaps help people understand the importance of confronting it and being brave about it.”

“It’s no good being great in something that goes straight to video.”

“Most stuff you can do standing on your head.”

Tom Wilkinson has appeared in the following films:
Smuga cienia (1976)
Wetherby (1985)
Sylvia (1985)
Parker (1986)
Paper Mask (1990)
A Business Affair (1994)
Prince of Jutland (1994)
Priest (1994)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Oscar and Lucinda (1997)
Wilde (1997)
Smilla’s Feeling for Snow (1997)
The Full Monty (1997)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Rush Hour (1998)
The Governess (1998)
Jilting Joe (1998)
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)
Ride with the Devil (1999)
The Patriot (2000)
Essex Boys (2000)
Chain of Fools (2000)
Another Life (2001)
Black Knight (2001)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Before You Go (2002)
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
If Only (2004)
Stage Beauty (2004)
A Good Woman (2004)
Batman Begins (2005)
Ripley Under Ground (2005)
Separate Lies (2005)
Piccadilly Jim (2005)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
The Last Kiss (2006)
The Night of the White Pants (2006)
Cassandra’s Dream (2007)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Dedication (2007)
RocknRolla (2008)
44 Inch Chest (2009)
Duplicity (2009)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
The Debt (2010)
The Conspirator (2010)
Burke and Hare (2010)
Jackboots on Whitehall (2010)
The Green Hornet (2011)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
The Samaritan (2012)