David Thewlis was born under the sign of the Pisces in 1963 in Blackpool, England. The second of three children, David Thewlis spent the first eight years of his life in an apartment above the family's toy store (wallpaper and paint were sold during the slow winter months.) David remembers a very happy childhood. Inspiration came through the annual Christmas diaries his mother bought for him, which he filled with “words and sentences and poems.” Before he began professional acting, he was in a punk-rock music band. Other members of the group decided to study drama and David applied soon after. He was accepted and educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The Baricon, in London and graduated in 1985.
His first documented professional acting job after school was in a Kellogg’s Bran Flakes commercial. Applying his musical talents, he played Simon & Garfunkel in the clubs and bars of Blackpool to earn his Equity Card. Like many British actors, he gained acting experience on the stage, primarily in London regional theatres. Soon, he began acting in TV movies and shorts on the BBC. David won a Best Actor award at the Rheim Film Festival for the BBC production Journey to Knock.
His first feature film participation was in 1988’s Vroom, but his first feature film performance was in director Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet. Soon after, Leigh wrote the script for another of his films, Naked, more or less as a showcase for Thewlis. Indeed, this was successful, with the film gaining international acclaim. In 1994, Thewlis was either nominated for or won the Best Actor award for Naked from the following: The Cannes Film Festival, The National Society of Film Critics, The London Film Critics Circle, The New York Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics, The Rheim Film Festival, and The Evening Standard British Film Awards. Throughout the early nineties, other memorable performances were James Jackson in Prime Suspect 3, Jerry Barker in Black Beauty, Paul Verlaine in Total Eclipse, and John Pearce in Restoration. In 1995, Thewlis wrote and directed a short film called Hello, Hello, Hello. David received the honorable BAFTA award nomination for his direction of the short. David went on to star in many well-known films, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, Dragonheart, and Seven Years in Tibet. Perhaps most enchanting was his portrayal as Mr. Kinsky in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film Besieged. Other recent acting performances include Dan Starkey in Divorcing Jack, a mob boss in Gangster No. 1 and a detective in Paul Chart’s Great Sex.
David married Sara Sugarman, a British actress, in April 1992, but is now divorced. He is currently living with British actress Anna Friel. In 1999, David was in the process of directing his first feature length film, Cheeky, and publishing his first novel, The Man’s A Legend. The status of the novel is currently unconfirmed. What David values perhaps even more than acting is his love for writing, painting and music. In addition to his novel, David has also written several poems. For the curious, according to an on-line guide, Mr. Thewlis is a vegetarian. It is also interesting to note that David was banned from China because of his role in 1997’s Seven Years in Tibet.
David Thewlis is an actor, a director, a novelist, a poet, a painter, a musician. He is a constant joy and an enduring talent.
Christina Rogers
