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Toby Jones | |
|---|---|
_(52448062684).jpg) Jones in 2022 | |
| Born | Toby Edward Heslewood Jones (1966-09-07)7 September 1966 (age 59) Hammersmith,London, England |
| Education | Abingdon School |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester (1986–1989) L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq (1989–1991) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Father | Freddie Jones |
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones[1] (born 7 September 1966)[1] is an English actor. He is known for his extensivecharacter actor roles on stage and screen. From 1989 to 1991, Jones trained atL'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. He made his stage debut in 2001 in the comedy playThe Play What I Wrote, which played in theWest End and onBroadway, earning him aLaurence Olivier Award forBest Actor in a Supporting Role. In 2020, he was nominated for his secondOlivier Award, forBest Actor for his performance in a revival ofAnton Chekov'sUncle Vanya.
Jones made his film debut inSally Potter's period dramaOrlando in 1992. He appeared in minor roles in films such asNaked (1993),Les Misérables (1998),Ever After (1998),Finding Neverland (2005), andMrs Henderson Presents (2005). He portrayedTruman Capote in the biopicInfamous (2006). He has since acted inAmazing Grace (2006),The Painted Veil (2006),W. (2008),Frost/Nixon (2008),Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011),My Week with Marilyn (2011),Berberian Sound Studio (2012),Dad's Army (2016),Journey's End (2017), andEmpire of Light (2022).
Jones is also known for his voice roles asDobby in theHarry Potter films (2002–2010),Aristides Silk inThe Adventures of Tintin (2011) andOwl in Disney'sChristopher Robin (2018). He is also known for his blockbuster roles asClaudius Templesmith inThe Hunger Games franchise (2012–2013),Arnim Zola in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) filmsCaptain America: The First Avenger (2011) andCaptain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Mr. Eversoll inJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Basil Shaw inIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).
Jones's television credits includeDoctor Who (2010),Julian Fellowes'sTitanic miniseries (2012), MCU'sAgent Carter (2015),Sherlock (2017) andWhat If...? (2021) andWayward Pines (2015–2016). He was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his role asAlfred Hitchcock in theHBO television filmThe Girl (2012) and won a Best Male ComedyBAFTA for his role inDetectorists (2018). In 2024, Jones starred asAlan Bates in the acclaimed seriesMr Bates vs The Post Office, abiographical drama about theHorizon Post Office scandal. The series won aPeabody Award[2] at the 85th Annual ceremony.
Jones was born inHammersmith, London[3] to actors Jennifer Jones (née Heslewood) andFreddie Jones, and grew up in Oxford.[4][5] He has two brothers.[6] He attendedChrist Church Cathedral School andAbingdon School in Oxfordshire in the 1980s. He studied drama at theUniversity of Manchester from 1986 to 1989, and atL'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris from 1989 to 1991.[4]
Jones has appeared in more than 60 films since his first acting role in the 1992 filmOrlando. He voicedDobby in twoHarry Potter films:Chamber of Secrets (2002) andThe Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010). He playedRobert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury in theHBO/Channel 4 productionElizabeth I. In 2006, he portrayedTruman Capote in the biopicInfamous. He appeared in thefilm adaptation ofStephen King'sThe Mist in 2007. In 2008, he portrayedKarl Rove inOliver Stone'sW and Hollywood agentSwifty Lazar inFrost/Nixon. He appeared alongside his father in the 2004 filmLadies in Lavender.
Jones appeared in the 2010 episode "Amy's Choice", ofDoctor Who, asthe Dream Lord, and in theBig Finish Productions series'Dark Eyes (audio drama) as Kotris. He also played the role of Samuel Ratchett inAgatha Christie's Poirot TV Series 12 episode "Murder on the Orient Express". In 2011, he played the role of the British spy master Percy Alleline in the adaptation ofJohn Le Carré'sTinker Tailor Soldier Spy andArnim Zola inCaptain America: The First Avenger, a role which he reprised in the sequelCaptain America: The Winter Soldier three years later as well as in a cameo in the TV seriesAgent Carter the following year. In 2012, he had a leading role in theITV mini-seriesTitanic, starred as one of theseven dwarves inSnow White and the Huntsman, played Dr. Paul Shackleton inRed Lights, and Max inVirginia. He also portrayed film directorAlfred Hitchcock in theHBO television filmThe Girl, a role that earned him his firstGolden Globe Award nomination, as well as his firstPrimetime Emmy Award nomination.
In 1998, he appeared as aCity businessman in the music video forGomez's song "Whippin' Piccadilly", from their albumBring It On.[7]
He playedNeil Baldwin in the BBC dramaMarvellous in 2014.[8][9][10][11][12][5] Sam Wollaston, inThe Guardian, praised Jones's "lovely, very human, performance",[13] one that earned him his secondBritish Academy Television Award nomination. From 2014, he appeared in theBBC Four television seriesDetectorists,[14] for which he received a nomination for theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2016 before winning the award in 2018.
In 2015, Jones played the part of Roger Yount, a banker, in the three-part BBC seriesCapital based on John Lanchester'snovel of the same name.[15] Discussing working with Jones onCapital, writerPeter Bowker said, "I think Toby is a genius and thought that long before I worked with him. He always wants to know a character's needs, and what's beneath those needs. Then he takes all that material and somehow embeds it into the character and physically inhabits the character, so that you never think he's playing the character. It's fascinating to watch him close up. He carries the emotional complexities in every tiny gesture that his character makes so that you immediately can see what his character is like. A character like Roger is full of contradictions, a city banker with an air of entitlement but also a little insecurity picking away at him. Toby can portray that in his walk alone. That's what's great about him, he can portray cold he can portray warm and he can portray both of those things at once."[16]
He playedCaptain Mainwaring in the filmDad's Army, released in February 2016.[17] In July, of the same year he starred as the eponymous agent Verloc in the BBC'sThe Secret Agent, a three-part television adaptation ofJoseph Conrad's 1907 novel.[18]
In 2017, he portrayedCulverton Smith in "The Lying Detective", an episode of theBBCcrime dramaSherlock. In 2018, he played the dinosaur auctioneer Mr. Eversoll inJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth instalment of theJurassic Park series.[19] In the same year, Jones voicedOwl in Disney's live-actionChristopher Robin.
Jones co-wrote withTim Crouch the comedy seriesDon't Forget the Driver, released on BBC 2 in 2019, and in which he appeared as Peter Green; it was Jones's first time writing for television.[3][20]
In 2024, Jones played Alan Bates in the ITV dramaMr Bates vs The Post Office, a dramatisation of theBritish Post Office scandal.
He appears as newspaper editorAlan Rusbridger in ITV television drama series about theNews International phone hacking scandal,The Hack.[21] In 2025 he also appeared asPhilip Burton inMr Burton a film about the early life ofRichard Burton.
In 2003 Jones played the part of Lord Brideshead in aBBC Radio adaptation ofBrideshead Revisited. Jones voiced the title character in the 2005BBC Radio 4 adaptation ofOblomov. He also read the 2009 Radio 4 adaptation of John Irving'sA Prayer for Owen Meany. He played Inspector Goole in the 2010 BBC Radio adaptation ofAn Inspector Calls. Since 2013 Jones has been the voice of the lead character, Joey Oldman in theBBC Radio 4 seriesThe Corrupted, an adaptation of theG. F. Newman novelCrime and Punishment. On 2 December 2012 he played Napoleon Bonaparte in Anthony Burgess'sNapoleon Rising on Radio 3. In 2013 he played Kotris in the award-winningDoctor Who audio play,Dark Eyes, and read an abridged version of "The Manual of Detection" byJedediah Berry for the BBC.[22] In 2020 he portrayedFalstaff inBBC Radio 3'sHenry IV, Part 1.[23]
In 2021, Jones recorded the audiobook versions ofJohn Le Carré's final novelSilverview for Penguin Audio and, for Harper Audio, the seminal dystopian novelWe byYevgeny Zamyatin in a translation by Bela Shayevich.
In 2001, he starred in theLondon West End comedyThe Play What I Wrote, directed byKenneth Branagh. His comic turn as Arthur earned him theOlivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and the play moved to Broadway in 2003.
In 2009, he returned to the stage inEvery Good Boy Deserves Favour at theNational Theatre,[24]Parlour Song at theAlmeida Theatre,[25] andThe First Domino atBrighton Festival Fringe.[26] In 2011, he playedJ. M. W. Turner inThe Painter at theArcola Theatre. Jones starred as Stanley in the 2018 revival ofThe Birthday Party at TheHarold Pinter Theatre.[27] In 2020, he starred in the title role in theConor McPherson adaptation ofUncle Vanya byAnton Chekhov, at theHarold Pinter Theatre.
OnThe Graham Norton Show, Jones said that he and his wife Karen were together for 26 years before they married in 2015. They have two daughters.[28]
In 2018, Jones was awarded an honorary doctorate byOxford Brookes University.[29] He was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2021 New Year Honours, for services to drama.[30]
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Lovejoy | Sgt. Protheroe | Episode: "Pig in a Poke" |
| 1994 | Cadfael | Griffin | Episode: "The Sanctuary Sparrow" |
| 1995 | Performance | Wart | Episode: "Henry IV" |
| 1996 | Death of a Salesman | Waiter | Television film |
| 1998 | Out of Hours | Martin Styles | 6 episodes |
| 1999 | Underground | Beast | Television film |
| Aristocrats | Ste Fox | 4 episodes | |
| 1999–2000 | Midsomer Murders | Dan Peterson | |
| 2001 | The Way We Live Now | Squercum | Episode #1.4 |
| Victoria & Albert | Edward Oxford | 2 episodes | |
| In Love and War | Bolo | Television film | |
| Love or Money | Phil | ||
| 2002 | 15 Storeys High | Obsessive-compulsive man | Episode: "Ice Queen" |
| 2005 | Coming Up | Simon | Episode: "Loving Ludmilla" |
| 2005 | Elizabeth I | Robert Cecil | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | A Harlot's Progress | William Hogarth | Television film |
| 2007 | The Old Curiosity Shop | Daniel Quilp | |
| The Last Detective | Bennett | Episode: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Willesden" | |
| 2010 | Mo | Dr Mark Glaser | Television film |
| Doctor Who | The Dream Lord | Episode: "Amy's Choice" | |
| Agatha Christie's Poirot | Samuel Ratchett/Lanfranco Cassetti | Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express" | |
| 2011 | Christopher and His Kind | Gerald Hamilton | Television film |
| 2012 | Titanic | John Batley | 4 episodes |
| The Girl | Alfred Hitchcock | HBO/BBC Television film | |
| 2013 | Murder on the Victorian Railway | Narrator | Voice; Television film |
| Words of Everest | Jan Morris | Television documentary | |
| 2014 | Marvellous | Neil Baldwin | Television film |
| 2014–17, 2022 | Detectorists | Lance Stater | 20 episodes |
| 2015–16 | Wayward Pines | David Pilcher/Dr. Jenkins | 15 episodes |
| 2015 | Agent Carter | Arnim Zola | Episode: "Valediction" |
| Capital | Roger Yount | 3 episodes | |
| The Last Days Of... | Narrator | Voice; 4 episodes | |
| 2016 | The Secret Agent | Anton Verloc | 3 episodes |
| The Witness for the Prosecution | John Mayhew | 2 episodes | |
| Civil | Otis O'Dell | Pilot | |
| 2017 | Sherlock | Culverton Smith[37] | Episode: "The Lying Detective" |
| 2019 | Don't Forget the Driver | Pete Green | 6 episodes; also co-creator and writer |
| The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance | The Librarian | Voice; 6 episodes | |
| 2021 | What If...? | Arnim Zola | Voice; 3 episodes: "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?", "What If... Ultron Won?", "What If... the Watcher Broke His Oath?" |
| Danny Boy | Phil Shiner | Television film[38] | |
| Worzel Gummidge | The Bonfire Night Committee | Episode: "Guy Forks"[39] | |
| 2022 | Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts | Himself | HBO Max special |
| My Grandparents' War | Himself/presenter | Episode: "Toby Jones"[40] | |
| The English | Sebold Cusk | Episode: "What You Want & What You Need"[41] | |
| 2023 | The Long Shadow | DCS Dennis Hoban | Lead role[42] |
| 2024 | Mr Bates vs The Post Office | Alan Bates | 4 episodes |
| 2025 | A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story | John Bickford | [43] |
| MobLand | Tattersall | 3 Episodes | |
| Dad’s Army at the BBC | Narrator | [44] | |
| The Hack | Alan Rusbridger | [45] |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Play What I Wrote | Arthur | Lyceum Theatre, Broadway |
| 2009 | Every Good Boy Deserves a Favor | Performer | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2013 | Circle Mirror Transformation | Schultz | Rose Lipman Building, London |
| 2014 | Parlor Song | Ned | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 2018 | The Birthday Party | Stanley Webber | Harold Pinter Theatre, West End |
| 2019 | Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. | Bluebeard's friend (Bluebeard) / Jimmy (Imp) | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 2020 | Uncle Vanya | Uncle Vanya | Harold Pinter Theatre, West End |
| 2025 | Othello | Iago | Theatre Royal Haymarket, West End |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! | Arnim Zola | Hong Kong Disneyland |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | London Film Critics' Circle Award | British Actor of the Year | Infamous | Won |
| 2008 | London Film Critics' Circle Award | British Supporting Actor of the Year | The Painted Veil | Nominated |
| 2009 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture | Frost/Nixon | Nominated |
| London Film Critics' Circle Award | British Supporting Actor of the Year | Frost/Nixon andW. | Nominated | |
| 2013 | London Film Critics' Circle Award | British Actor of the Year | Berberian Sound Studio | Won |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actor – Miniseries or TV Movie | The Girl | Nominated |
| Primetime Emmy Award | Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie | Nominated | ||
| British Academy Television Award | Best Actor | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | Best Actor | Marvellous | Nominated | |
| 2016 | Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme | Detectorists | Nominated | |
| 2018 | Won | |||
| 2024 | National Television Awards | Drama Performance | Mr Bates vs The Post Office | Won |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Laurence Olivier Award[46] | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | The Play What I Wrote | Won |
| 2020 | Laurence Olivier Award[47] | Best Actor | Uncle Vanya | Nominated |
In July 2025, Jones was awarded an honorary degree byKeele University.[48] At the award ceremony he was reunited with Neil Baldwin, whom he played inMarvellous.[48][49]
