# Burn Gorman

Burn Hugh Gorman (born 1 September 1974) is an American-born English actor and musician. He is known for his television roles as Owen Harper in the BBC series Torchwood (2006–2008), Eastenders 2007, Karl Tanner in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2013–14), Major Edmund Hewlett in the AMC series Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017), 'The Marshal' in the Prime Video series The Man in the High Castle (2015), and Adolphus Murtry in Prime Video series The Expanse (2019). His film roles include Phillip Stryver in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Hermann Gottlieb in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (2013) and its sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Commander Hoff in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Father Damien in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).

## Early life

Burn Hugh Gorman was born on 1 September 1974 in Los Angeles, California, the son of English parents. His father was a professor of linguistics at UCLA. He has three older sisters. He has reportedly claimed to be the nephew of Bartley Gorman, considered "King of the Gypsies". At the age of 7, he moved with his family back to England, where they settled in London. He later trained at the Manchester School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Gorman is also an accomplished beatboxer, having participated in the 2003 International Human Beatbox Convention (where he won the title of Radio 1Xtra's Human Beatbox Champion).

## Career

One of Gorman's earliest television roles was in 1998 as Etheric Foundation cult leader Ben Andrews in Granada TV's Coronation Street. He played William Guppy in the 2005 BBC One adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, before being cast as Owen Harper in the BBC science fiction series Torchwood. Gorman starred in the first two series of the show before his character was killed off in the series 2 finale, "Exit Wounds".
Other BBC television roles include Lark Rise to Candleford, Funland and Bonekickers; he also appeared in Channel 4's political thriller Low Winter Sun.
Gorman played scriptwriter Ray Galton in the BBC Four television play The Curse of Steptoe. He has also appeared in television series such as Dalziel and Pascoe, Casualty, Merseybeat and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.
Gorman played Jed on the soap opera EastEnders in March 2007. He starred as Hindley Earnshaw in the ITV adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. In 2011, he starred in Sky1's second Martina Cole adaptation, The Runaway and in 2014, portrayed Adam, the lead character's stalker and fellow immortal, in ABC's Forever. He played Karl Tanner in seasons 3 and 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones, Major Hewlett in the AMC miniseries Turn and Nicholas Farlow on the BBC miniseries Jamestown.
On film, Gorman has had roles in Layer Cake, The Best Man, Penelope, Fred Claus, Cemetery Junction and The Dark Knight Rises. He also appeared as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb in the film Pacific Rim and its sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising.
On radio, Gorman played Elizabethan spy Robert Poley in Michael Butt's The Babington Plot (2008) and Unauthorized History: The Killing (2010) and Mike Walker's The Reckoning: The Death of Christopher Marlowe (2022).
Gorman's stage credits include Ladybird (Royal Court), Flush (Soho Theatre), and Gong Donkeys (Bush Theatre), prompting Michael Billington of The Guardian to write that "Gorman proves that he is one of the best young actors in Britain". He has performed in readings, workshops, and development initiatives with the National Theatre Studio, Young Vic, Royal Court, Oxford Stage Company, Paines Plough and Soho Theatre. Outside London, he has worked with Nottingham Playhouse, the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and the Royal Exchange and Contact Theatres, where he was nominated for a Manchester Evening News Best Newcomer Award.
From 2008 to 2009, Gorman played Bill Sikes in the West End revival of the musical Oliver! for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical in the 2010 Whatsonstage Theatre Awards.

## Personal life

Gorman married schoolteacher Sarah Beard on 17 July 2004. They have three children, two girls and a boy. Their first child, Max, was born in Cardiff, where Gorman was filming the first series of Torchwood. They later separated and divorced in 2017.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Love is Not Enough | Al Weisberger | |
| 2004 | Layer Cake | Gazza | |
| 2005 | Colour Me Kubrick | Willie | |
| 2005 | The Best Man | Bus Driver | |
| 2006 | Penelope | Larry | |
| 2007 | Fred Claus | Elf | |
| 2008 | The Oxford Murders | Yuri Podorov | |
| 2010 | Cemetery Junction | PC Renwick | |
| 2011 | Up There | Martin | |
| 2011 | Johnny English Reborn | Agent Slater | |
| 2012 | Red Lights | Benedict Cohen | |
| 2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | Phillip Stryver | |
| 2013 | The Other Man | Simon | Short film |
| 2013 | Jimi: All Is by My Side | Michael Jeffery | |
| 2013 | Pacific Rim | Hermann Gottlieb | |
| 2014 | Low Down | Wiggenhern | |
| 2014 | Walking with the Enemy | Otto Skorzeny | |
| 2014 | Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Mr. Brand | |
| 2015 | Crimson Peak | Mr Holly | |
| 2016 | In a Valley of Violence | Priest | |
| 2016 | Imperium | Morgan | |
| 2018 | Pacific Rim: Uprising | Hermann Gottlieb | |
| 2020 | Undergods | Tim | |
| 2020 | The Good Traitor | Berle | |
| 2020 | Enola Holmes | Linthorn | |
| 2022 | Watcher | Daniel Weber | |
| 2022 | Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio | The Priest | Voice role |
| 2023 | Ghosted | Taxi driver | |
| 2023 | Ransomed | Richard Carter | South Korean film |
| 2023 | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Commander Hoff | |
| 2024 | Lift | Cormac | |
| 2024 | Beetlejuice Beetlejuice | Father Damien | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | Coronation Street | Ben Andrews | Recurring role, 16 episodes |
| 2000 | Casualty | Geoff Simpson | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Merseybeat | Sean Finnigan | 1 episode |
| 2002 | A Good Thief | DC Fairchild | Television film |
| 2005 | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Billy Verger | Episode: "In Divine Proportion" |
| 2005 | Funland | Tim Timothy | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | Bleak House | William Guppy | Main role, 11 episodes |
| 2006 | Low Winter Sun | Det. Con. Kenny Morton | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Jerry Hart | Episode: "A Death in the Family" |
| 2006–2008 | Torchwood | Owen Harper | Main role, 26 episodes |
| 2007 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Jacko Argyle | 1 episode |
| 2007 | EastEnders | Jed | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Bonekickers | Banks | 1 episode |
| 2008 | The Curse of Steptoe | Ray Galton | Television film |
| 2009 | Wuthering Heights | Hindley Earnshaw | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 2011 | The Runaway | Richard Gates | Miniseries, 5 episodes |
| 2011 | The Hour | Thomas Kish | 4 episodes |
| 2011 | Lark Rise to Candleford | Reverend Marley | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Spies of Warsaw | Jourdain | Miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 2013 | Revenge | Mr Trask | 4 episodes |
| 2013 | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Scientist | 1 episode |
| 2013–2014 | Game of Thrones | Karl Tanner | 4 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | Forever | Adam / Lewis Farber | Recurring role, 8 episodes |
| 2014–2017 | Turn: Washington's Spies | Major Edmund Hewlett | Main role, 28 episodes |
| 2015 | And Then There Were None | Detective Sergeant William Blore | Miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 2015 | The Man in the High Castle | The Marshal | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Stan Lee's Lucky Man | Doug | 3 episodes |
| 2017–2019 | Jamestown | Nicholas Farlow | Main role, 15 episodes |
| 2019 | The Expanse | Adolphus Murtry | Recurring role, 10 episodes |
| 2019 | Cheat | Ben Jarvis | 4 episodes |
| 2022 | Halo | Vinsher Grath | Recurring role, 5 episodes |
| 2022 | The Offer | Charles Bluhdorn | Miniseries, 10 episodes |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009 | Risen | Fincher, Brent, Dwight, Flavio, Tucker | Voice; English dub |
| 2011 | Star Wars: The Old Republic | Darth Angral, Darth Tormen, Apprentice Ortosin | Voice |

## Radio

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1998 | The Old Man and the Angel | |
| 1999 | And Counting | |
| 1999 | Glad To Be Back | |
| 1998 | The Taming of the Shrew | Grumio |
| 2002 | The Go Slow Club | Bob |
| 2002 | Fat Campl | Craig |
| 2003 | The Wire | Otis |
| 2004 | Classic Serial: The Pickwick Papers | Sam Weller |
| 2007 | King Trash | Clint |
| 2008 | Classic Serial: The Mayor of Casterbridge | Abel |
| 2008 | The Babington Plot | Robert Poley |
| 2008 | New Metamorphoses | Andre |
| 2009 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Tin Man |
| 2010 | Unauthorized History: The Killing | Robert Poley |
| 2012 | The Odd Job | Clive |
| 2012 | The Spy | Harvey Birch |
| 2013 | He Died With His Eyes Open | The Detective |
| 2022 | The Reckoning: The Death of Christopher Marlowe | Robert Poley |