# Tim Roth

Timothy Simon Roth (/rɒθ/; born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and director. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the "Brit Pack".
Roth was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer in his film debut The Hit (1984). Since then, he gained more attention for his roles in films, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), and Vincent & Theo and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (both 1990). Roth has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Four Rooms (1995) and The Hateful Eight (2015). For his performance in Rob Roy (1995), Roth won a BAFTA Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award.
Roth made his directorial debut with the film The War Zone (1999). He played Cal Lightman in the Fox series Lie to Me (2009–2011) and Jim Worth/Jack Devlin in the Sky Atlantic series Tin Star (2017–2020). In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Roth portrayed Emil Blonsky / The Abomination in The Incredible Hulk (2008), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).

## Early life

Roth was born on 14 May 1961 in Dulwich, London. His mother, Ann, was a painter and teacher. His American-born father, Ernie, was a Fleet Street journalist and painter. His father was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, to a family of Irish descent. Although he was not of Jewish background, his father changed his surname from "Smith" to the German/Yiddish "Roth" in the 1940s, as "an act of anti-Nazi solidarity". Roth's father was a World War II veteran.
Roth is a survivor of child sexual abuse, committed by his paternal grandfather, whom he has stated sexually abused him from childhood until his early teen years. He first revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse during press for the 1999 film The War Zone, which dealt with the topics of incest and sexual violence within a family, but declined to name the perpetrator at that time. In December 2016, he gave an interview to The Guardian in which he said that his abuser was his grandfather, who had also abused his father when he was a child.
Roth attended school in Lambeth before moving to Croydon Technical School, due to bullying. He attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. Roth wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Arts.

## Career

Roth starred in television films in the 1980s, including Made in Britain, Meantime and Murder with Mirrors. After his film debut The Hit, he earned an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto, a controversial drama based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy set in Brick Lane and broadcast by the BBC in 1986. Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack.
In 1990, he played Vincent van Gogh in Vincent & Theo, and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
Roth became an international star when he collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Four Rooms.
He played Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe. Roth starred in Woody Allen's musical film Everyone Says I Love You and in The Legend of 1900. He also co-starred with Tupac Shakur in the film Gridlock'd. Roth made his directorial debut film The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he played General Thade the evil chimpanzee in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. For the Harry Potter film series, Roth declined the role of Severus Snape, which went to Alan Rickman.
Roth starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film Youth Without Youth, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, and played Emil Blonsky / Abomination, a Russian-born officer in the British Royal Marines Commandos, in The Incredible Hulk. Louis Leterrier was a fan of Roth's work. Leterrier wrote on Empire magazine: "it's great watching a normal Cockney boy become a superhero!". Roth starred in the television series Lie to Me as Cal Lightman, an expert on body language assisting local and federal law organisations with crime. A fan of Monty Python since his youth, Roth appeared in the 2009 television documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut). He appeared on the cover of Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards from a Young Man.
In 2012, he became the president of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. He starred as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in United Passions, a film about football's governing body, released in 2014, to coincide with FIFA's 110th anniversary, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Roth played Oswaldo Mobray in the ensemble western film The Hateful Eight, and played a butler in a deleted scene for the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Roth starred in the 2015 film Chronic which had a limited release. He received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead nomination. Roth collaborated with director Michel Franco again, in 2021, when he starred in Sundown. Roth was also an executive producer on Franco's 2017 film, April's Daughter.
In 2017, Roth appeared in five episodes of the third season of Twin Peaks. Roth also starred in British crime drama Tin Star, which ran from 2017 - 2020.
Roth reprised his role as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2022, Roth starred in the psychological horror film Resurrection. The same year he also appeared in New Zealand sports drama, Punch. In 2023 Roth appeared in 10 episodes of the Australian drama, Last King of the Cross.
In 2025, Roth starred in the British thriller Tornado. He is due to appear in historical crime drama, The Immortal Man, a continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders.

## Personal life

Roth's son Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984, is also an actor. Roth married Nikki Butler in 1993. They had two sons, Timothy Hunter and Michael Cormac, named for Hunter S. Thompson and Cormac McCarthy respectively. On 16 October 2022, Cormac, a musician, died aged 25 from germ cell cancer.

### Political views

As of 2008, Roth was a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales. Roth protested against the Iraq War and later criticised former Prime Minister Tony Blair for his involvement, stating: "I've always felt Blair should be hauled off in handcuffs and put in Wormwood Scrubs. I think he’s profited from the death of Reg’s son and the Iraq war. I think that’s where he belongs... I have nothing but contempt for him".
He endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 United States presidential election. Roth was critical of Donald Trump's victory in 2016, saying: "I hate Trump. I hate everything that he stands for."