# Stephen Dillane

Stephen John Dillane (/dɪˈleɪn/; born 27 March 1957) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film The Hours, Stannis Baratheon in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2012–2015) and Thomas Jefferson in the HBO miniseries John Adams (2008), a part which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination. An experienced stage actor who has been called an "actor's actor", Dillane won a Tony Award for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing (2000) and gave critically acclaimed performances in Angels in America (1993), Hamlet (1990), and a one-man Macbeth (2005). His television work has additionally garnered him BAFTA and International Emmy Awards for best actor.

## Early life

Dillane was born in Kensington, London, to an English mother, Bridget (née Curwen), and an Irish-Australian surgeon father, John Dillane. The eldest of his siblings (his younger brother Richard is also an actor), he grew up in West Wickham, Kent.
At school, Dillane began performing in end-of-term plays and had "a certain facility" for funny accents. He often found himself in women's roles, which he says "wasn’t good for my confused adolescent psyche", but also recalls a part in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as being particularly memorable, noting that shouting "Fire!" as Rosencrantz while pointing at the audience was "a very thrilling thing to be able to do."
He studied history and politics at the University of Exeter, concentrating on the Russian Revolution, and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser. Unhappy in his career, he read one day how actor Trevor Eve gave up architecture for acting; this, along with reading Hamlet and Peter Brook's The Empty Space back-to-back, made him "light up inside somewhere" and spurred him to enter the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School at 25. During his early acting career, he was known as Stephen Dillon but reverted to his birth name in the 1990s.

## Career

Dillane is an experienced theatre actor; his notable roles include Archer in The Beaux' Stratagem (Royal National Theatre, 1989), Prior Walter in Angels in America (1993), Hamlet (1994), Clov in Samuel Beckett's Endgame (1996), Uncle Vanya (1998), Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (for which he won a Tony Award in 2000), The Coast of Utopia (2002), and a one-man version of Macbeth (2005) directed by Travis Preston. He has also performed T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets in London and New York City, and was seen in the 2010 Bridge Project's productions of The Tempest and As You Like It.
Dillane also portrayed Horatio in the 1990 film adaptation of Hamlet. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson, and the impatient and easily agitated Harker in Spy Game (2001).
Dillane is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf in The Hours (2002), English professional golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in John Adams as Thomas Jefferson.
He joined the cast of Game of Thrones in 2011 as Stannis Baratheon, a major contender for the throne of the fictional realm of Westeros. While admitting he had not read the books on which the series is based, he commented that the show's appeal was due to "the storytelling, the extraordinary world that’s created and the way it reflects our actual world – a naked, ruthless pursuit of power in all its forms."
In 2012, he also played Rupert Keel, head of the private security agency Byzantium, in the BBC drama series Hunted. The following year he went on to take the male lead, opposite Clémence Poésy, in the crime drama series The Tunnel, an Anglo-French remake of the Scandinavian The Bridge. Dillane, who had not seen the original series, plays Karl Roebuck, the laid-back, experienced British detective to Poésy's humourless French counterpart. His performance won him an International Emmy Award for Best Actor. In a second series in 2016, titled The Tunnel: Sabotage, he reprised his role alongside Poésy for a new case involving a deadly airliner crash in the English Channel.
Besides television, Dillane also starred in the 2012 British independent film Papadopoulos & Sons as successful entrepreneur Harry Papadopoulos, who rediscovers his life after being forced to start again from nothing in the wake of a banking crisis. His son, Frank Dillane, plays his son in the film. That same year he also had roles in the films Zero Dark Thirty and Twenty8k.
Offscreen, the actor in 2014 collaborated with visual artist Tacita Dean for the Sydney Biennale and Carriageworks in a project called Event for a Stage. The work, performed live and later adapted for radio broadcast and film, explored the process of filmmaking and the "concept of artifice on the stage" through a single actor, Dillane. The performance encompassed readings from texts as well as his personal reflections on acting, theatre, and family. 2015 saw Dillane making other brief returns to stage including a reprise of his reading of Four Quartets in London and a one-off appearance in Tim Crouch's An Oak Tree at the National Theatre.
In 2016, besides appearing in the second series of The Tunnel, Dillane returned to the Donmar Warehouse for a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. His performance as Frank, an itinerant Irish healer, was described as "poetic and powerful." In addition, he appeared as artist Graham Sutherland in The Crown, Netflix's TV series about British monarch Elizabeth II. In 2017, Dillane appeared in two biopics, playing Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax in Joe Wright's Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, and writer William Godwin, the father of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, in the film Mary Shelley.
In 2018, he appeared in the film The Thin Man, which has since been retitled The Man In The Hat, opposite Ciarán Hinds; it was directed by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck.

## Personal life

Dillane has two sons with actress-director Naomi Wirthner: Séamus and actor Frank Dillane, with whom he co-starred in Papadopoulos & Sons.

### Politics

In October 2023, Dillane signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter to Joe Biden, President of the United States, calling for a ceasefire of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Business as Usual | Mr. Dunlop | |
| 1990 | Hamlet | Horatio | |
| 1991 | Heading Home | Leonard Meopham | |
| 1994 | La chance | Antonio | |
| 1996 | Two If by Sea | Evan Marsh | Alternate title: Stolen Hearts |
| 1997 | Welcome to Sarajevo | Michael Henderson | (Lead role) |
| 1997 | Firelight | Charles Godwin | |
| 1997 | Déjà Vu | Sean | (Lead role) |
| 1998 | Love & Rage | Dr. Croly | |
| 1999 | The Darkest Light | Tom | (Lead role) |
| 2000 | Ordinary Decent Criminal | Noel Quigley | |
| 2001 | Spy Game | CIA Agent Chuck Harker | |
| 2001 | The Parole Officer | Inspector Burton | |
| 2002 | The Truth About Charlie | Charlie | |
| 2002 | The Hours | Leonard Woolf | |
| 2003 | The Gathering | Simon Kirkman | |
| 2004 | King Arthur | Merlin | |
| 2004 | Haven | Mr. Allen | |
| 2005 | The Greatest Game Ever Played | Harry Vardon | |
| 2005 | Goal! | Glen Foy | |
| 2005 | Nine Lives | Martin | |
| 2006 | Klimt | Secretary | |
| 2007 | Goal II: Living the Dream | Glen Foy | |
| 2007 | Fugitive Pieces | Jakob Beer (Adult) | (Lead role) |
| 2007 | Savage Grace | Brooks Baekeland | |
| 2008 | Freakdog | Dr. Harris | Original title: Red Mist |
| 2009 | 44 Inch Chest | Mal | |
| 2009 | Storm | Keith Haywood | |
| 2011 | Perfect Sense | Stephen Montgomery | |
| 2012 | Papadopoulos & Sons | Harry Papadopoulos | (Lead role) |
| 2012 | Twenty8k | DCI Edward Stone | |
| 2012 | Zero Dark Thirty | National Security Adviser | |
| 2017 | Darkest Hour | Viscount Halifax | |
| 2017 | Mary Shelley | William Godwin | |
| 2018 | Outlaw King | King Edward I of England | |
| 2019 | The Professor and the Madman | Dr. Richard Brayne | |
| 2020 | The Man in the Hat | The Damp Man | |
| 2021 | Boxing Day | Richard | |
| 2024 | The Outrun | Andrew | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985 | Remington Steele | Bradford Galt | Episode: "Steel Searching: Part 1" |
| 1986 | Coronation Street | Mark Siddall | Episode: "#1.2624" |
| 1986 | ScreenPlay | George | Episode: "Shift Work" |
| 1986 | Screen Two | Reporter at Press Conference | Series 2; Episode 4: "Frankie & Johnnie" |
| 1987 | Bulman | DC Danny Keech | Episode: "White Lies" |
| 1987 | The Secret Garden | Captain Lennox | Television film |
| 1988 | The One Game | Nicholas Thorne | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 1988 | Christabel | Peter Bielenberg | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 1988 | The Face of Trespass | Gray Harston | Television film; alternate title: An Affair in Mind |
| 1989 | Comeback | Alec | Television film |
| 1989 | The Yellow Wallpaper | John | Television film |
| 1991 | Screen Two | Leonard Meopham | Series 7; Episode 1: "Heading Home" |
| 1991 | Sophie | John | Television film |
| 1991 | Boon | Paul Lyle | Episode: "Help Me Make It Through the Night" |
| 1991 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Philip Blackstock | Episode: "Achilles Heel" |
| 1992 | Frankie's House | Antony Strickland | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 1992 | Hostages | Chris Pearson | Television film |
| 1993 | You, Me and It | James Woodley | Mini-series; 3 episodes |
| 1993 | Soldier Soldier | Captain Mike Davidson | Episode: "Hard Knocks" |
| 1994 | The Rector's Wife | Jonathan Byrne | Mini-series; 3 episodes |
| 1995 | Performance | Mr. Blackmore | Episode: "The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd" |
| 1998 | Kings in Grass Castles | Patsy | Mini-series; 2 episodes |
| 2000 | Anna Karenina | Karenin | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 2001 | The Cazalets | Edward Cazalet | 6 episodes |
| 2008 | John Adams | Thomas Jefferson | Mini-series; 6 episodes |
| 2008 | The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall | Anthony Hurndall | Television film |
| 2008 | God on Trial | Schmidt | Television film |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Inspector Finch | Episode: "The Secret of Chimneys" |
| 2012 | Eternal Law | Carl | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Hunted | Rupert Keel | 8 episodes |
| 2012 | Secret State | Paul J. Clark | Mini-series; 4 episodes |
| 2012 | Murder: Joint Enterprise | Arlo Raglin | Television film |
| 2012–2015 | Game of Thrones | Stannis Baratheon | 24 episodes |
| 2013 | A Touch of Cloth | Macratty | 2 episodes: "Undercover Cloth: Parts One & Two" |
| 2013–2018 | The Tunnel | Karl Roebuck | 24 episodes |
| 2016 | The Crown | Graham Sutherland | Episode: "Assassins" |
| 2020–2024 | Alex Rider | Alan Blunt | Main role; 23 episodes |
| 2021 | Vigil | Rear Admiral Shaw | Mini-series; 6 episodes |
| 2021 | Red Election | MI5 director William Ogilvy | 10 episodes |
| 2024 | Kaos | Prometheus | 8 episodes |
| 2024 | Sherwood | Roy Branson | Series 2; 6 episodes |

### Stage (select work)

| Title | Year | Role | Venue |
| 1989 | The Beaux' Stratagem | Archer | Royal National Theatre |
| 1990 | Long Day's Journey into Night | Edmund Tyrone | Royal National Theatre |
| 1993–1994 | Angels in America | Prior Walter | Royal National Theatre |
| 1994–1995 | Hamlet | Prince Hamlet | International Tour and Gielgud Theatre |
| 1996 | Endgame | Clov | Donmar Warehouse |
| 1998 | Uncle Vanya | Vanya | Young Vic Theatre |
| 1999–2000 | The Real Thing | Henry | Donmar, West End, Broadway |
| 2002 | The Coast of Utopia | Alexander Herzen | Royal National Theatre |
| 2004–2006 | Macbeth | Various | Almeida Theatre, Various |
| 2010 | As You Like It | Jaques | Tour including Old Vic and Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| 2010 | The Tempest | Prospero | Tour including Old Vic and Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| 2010–2011 | The Master Builder | Halvard Solness | Almeida Theatre |
| 2016 | Faith Healer | Francis Hardy | Donmar Warehouse |
| 2019 | When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other | Man | Royal National Theatre |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Work | Result |
| 1995 | Richard Burton Shakespeare Globe Award | Hamlet | Won |
| 1998 | AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama | Kings in Grass Castles | Won |
| 1999 | Evening Standard Award for Best Actor | The Real Thing | Won |
| 2000 | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor | The Real Thing | Nominated |
| 2000 | Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play | The Real Thing | Won |
| 2000 | Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play | The Real Thing | Nominated |
| 2000 | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play | The Real Thing | Won |
| 2003 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | The Hours | Nominated |
| 2004 | London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Supporting Actor of the Year | The Hours | Nominated |
| 2006 | Helpmann Awards for Best Actor in a Play | Macbeth | Nominated |
| 2008 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | John Adams | Nominated |
| 2009 | British Academy Television Award for Best Actor | The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall | Won |
| 2010 | San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble | 44 Inch Chest | Won |
| 2014 | Royal Television Society Programme Award for Best Male Actor | The Tunnel | Nominated |
| 2014 | International Emmy Award for Best Actor | The Tunnel | Won |
| 2016 | Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor | Faith Healer | Won |
| 2019 | Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for Best Actor | How It Is: Part One | Nominated |
| 2023 | The Offies, Lead Performance in a Play | How It Is: Part Two | Nominated |