1998–2010: Early roles and breakthrough '' in 2010 In 1998, Hardy won
The Big Breakfast Find Me a Supermodel competition at the age of 21 (although the programme said he was 20), earning him a brief contract with Models 1. Hardy joined
Drama Centre London in September 1998, and was taken out early after winning the part of the United States Army Private John Janovec in the
HBO-BBC
mini-series Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in
Ridley Scott's war thriller
Black Hawk Down (2001). During this time, Hardy also had a brief stint as a
rapper and
hip-hop producer with his friend Edward Tracy (under the name "Tommy No 1 + Eddie Too Tall"), with whom he recorded a mixtape called
Falling On Your Arse in 1999 that remained unreleased until 2018. In 2002, Hardy appeared as the
Reman Praetor Shinzon, a
clone of
USS Enterprise Captain
Jean-Luc Picard in
Star Trek: Nemesis. The following year, he appeared in the film
Dot the i, and then travelled to North Africa for
Simon: An English Legionnaire, a story of the
French Foreign Legion. He then returned to the United Kingdom to feature in the horror film
LD 50 Lethal Dose (2003). Hardy was awarded the 2003
London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performances in
Blood and ''
In Arabia We'd All Be Kings performed at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his performance as Skank in the aforementioned production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings
. Hardy appeared with Emilia Fox in the BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen'' (2005) as
Robert Dudley, a childhood friend of
Elizabeth I. Dudley's character has been described as an ambiguous young man who is torn between the affection of his wife (played by Fox), his love for Elizabeth, and his own ambitions. Hardy featured in the
BBC Four adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series
A for Andromeda. In 2007, he appeared in
BBC Two's drama based on a true story
Stuart: A Life Backwards. He played the lead role of Stuart Shorter, a homeless man who had been subjected to years of abuse and whose death was possibly a suicide. The same year he played
Bill Sikes in the BBC miniseries
Oliver Twist, an adaptation of
Charles Dickens's novel that aired on
PBS Masterpiece Classic in the US. In February 2008 he played a drug-addicted rapist in the British horror-thriller
WΔZ. In September 2008 he appeared in
Guy Ritchie's London gangster film,
RocknRolla; Hardy played the role of the gay gangster Handsome Bob. In 2008 Hardy starred in the film
Bronson, about the English prisoner
Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in
solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three
stone (42 lb or 19 kg). In June 2009, Hardy starred in
Martina Cole's four-part TV drama
The Take on
Sky One as a drug and alcohol-fuelled gangster. The role gained him a Best Actor nomination at the 2009
Crime Thriller Awards. In August 2009 he appeared in
ITV's
Wuthering Heights, playing the role of Heathcliff. In early 2010 Hardy starred in
The Long Red Road at the
Goodman Theatre in Chicago, US. The play was written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by
Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy won some good reviews for his portrayal of Sam, an alcoholic trying to drink away his past. In 2010 he starred as Eames in
Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller
Inception, for which Hardy won a
BAFTA Rising Star award. Hardy replaced
Michael Fassbender in the
2011 film adaptation of
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which premiered at the
Venice International Film Festival. In March 2010 Hardy signed a
first-look deal at
Warner Bros. 2011–2017: Hollywood stardom In 2011, Hardy appeared in the film
Warrior, which was released on 9 September 2011 by
Lionsgate Films. His performance as Tommy Riordan, who is trained by his father to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament against his brother, gained praise from critics. Hardy also starred in
This Means War (2012), a romantic comedy directed by
McG. He played the
DC Comics supervillain
Bane in
The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Nolan's
The Dark Knight Trilogy, released on 20 July 2012. He played a bootlegger in
John Hillcoat's crime drama
Lawless (2012). Hardy signed up to play the lead role of
Sam Fisher in
Ubisoft's film adaptation of their video game series ''
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell''. He also appeared in
Riz Mc's music video for the song "Sour Times". In 2013, Hardy starred in the drama film
Locke. In 2014 he appeared in the crime film
The Drop alongside
James Gandolfini, in what would be Gandolfini's final appearance in a feature film before his death. Hardy also joined the cast of the BBC crime drama
Peaky Blinders in its second series. He portrays
Alfie Solomons (who is based on a
real-life East End Jewish gangster named Alfred Solomon), the head of a Jewish gang based in
Camden Town, and the runner of a distillery which disguises itself as a bakery. Writing for
Medium, Shani Silver described Hardy's portrayal of Alfie Solomons as 'The Scene-Stealingest Character Of All Time', commenting that "I’ve never understood if Alfie was meant to be a villain or comedic foil or some pick-a-mix of both, but I’ve never loved every second of someone’s screen time more." and
Charlize Theron at the
2015 Cannes Film Festival Hardy starred in five films in 2015. The first,
Child 44, set in 1950s
Soviet Union, saw him playing Leo Demidov, a Soviet secret police agent who investigates a series of child murders. Despite mild praise for his acting,
Child 44 was reviewed negatively by critics and was a box office failure. Hardy then played the title character,
Max Rockatansky, in the action film
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). His performance was praised by critics and overall the film received critical acclaim and became a box office success, grossing over US$378 million against a $150 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film in the
Mad Max franchise. He played a dual role as London gangsters
Reggie and Ronnie Kray in the crime thriller
Legend (2015). On 7 December 2015 Hardy won Best Actor at the
British Independent Film Awards for his portrayal of the Kray twins, and on the same night attended the premiere of the biographical western thriller
The Revenant, in which he reunited with his
Inception co-star
Leonardo DiCaprio at
Leicester Square, London. On 14 January 2016 Hardy received his first
Academy Award nomination for
Best Supporting Actor for his performance in
The Revenant. Hardy played a
Royal Air Force fighter pilot in Nolan's action-thriller
Dunkirk (2017), based on the British military
evacuation of the French port of Dunkirk in 1940 during the
Second World War. He appeared alongside
Mark Rylance,
Kenneth Branagh,
Cillian Murphy and
Harry Styles. Hardy also co-produced and starred in the eight-part
BBC One television drama series
Taboo. It was created by Hardy,
Steven Knight, and Hardy's father,
Edward "Chips" Hardy.
Taboo was aired in the United States by
FX.
2018–present: Venom films and beyond In 2018, Hardy starred in the film
Venom as the title comic book sometime hero,
Eddie Brock, and the
symbiote Venom. Based on the
Marvel source material, the film was released on 5 October, and is the first installment in
Sony's Spider-Man Universe. In 2019 Hardy served as an executive producer in the 2019 BBC/
FX three-part miniseries
A Christmas Carol. In 2020 Hardy starred in
Josh Trank's
Al Capone biographical film
Capone. Hardy is attached to star as the British war photographer
Don McCullin in a film based on McCullin's autobiography,
Unreasonable Behaviour. Hardy reprised the role of Eddie Brock and Venom in the sequel
Venom: Let There Be Carnage and co-wrote the story for the film. He is also slated to star as the
Antarctic explorer Sir
Ernest Shackleton in a biopic being created by the same makers of
Taboo. The Shackleton film, which will cover one of the most harrowing stories of
survival in exploration history, is also being produced by Hardy's production company
Hardy Son & Baker. Currently, Hardy stars in
Guy Ritchie's
MobLand which premiered 30 March 2025 on
Paramount+. It features
Pierce Brosnan and
Helen Mirren as heads of the Harrigan crime family. Hardy also starred in the Netflix film
Havoc. ==Philanthropy==