Stephen Dillane facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stephen Dillane
Dillane at the 2012 Dinard British Film Festival
Born	Stephen John Dillane (1957-03-27) 27 March 1957 (age 68) London, England
Alma mater	University of Exeter Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Naomi Wirthner
Children	2, including Frank Dillane
Family	Richard Dillane (brother)

Stephen John Dillane (born March 27, 1957) is a talented British actor. He is well-known for playing important characters in movies and TV shows. Some of his most famous roles include Stannis Baratheon in the fantasy series Game of Thrones and Thomas Jefferson in the miniseries John Adams. He also played Leonard Woolf in the movie The Hours.

Stephen Dillane is also a very skilled stage actor. He won a Tony Award for his role in the play The Real Thing. He has also received awards like a BAFTA and an International Emmy Award for his TV work.

Early Life and Education

Stephen Dillane was born in Kensington, London, England. His mother was English, and his father was an Irish-Australian surgeon. He is the oldest of his siblings. His younger brother, Richard Dillane, is also an actor. Stephen grew up in West Wickham, Kent.

When he was in school, Stephen started acting in plays at the end of terms. He was good at doing funny accents. He even played women's roles sometimes! He remembers a part in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead where he had to shout "Fire!" This was a very exciting moment for him.

He went to the University of Exeter to study history and politics. He focused on the Russian Revolution. After college, he worked as a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser newspaper. However, he wasn't happy with this job. One day, he read about an actor who changed careers to act. This, along with reading Hamlet and a book called The Empty Space, made him want to act. So, at 25, he decided to go to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Early in his acting career, he used the name Stephen Dillon, but he later went back to his birth name in the 1990s.

Acting Career

Stephen Dillane in October 2009

Stephen Dillane has a lot of experience acting in plays. He has performed in many famous productions. Some of his notable stage roles include Prior Walter in Angels in America and the main character in Hamlet. He also played Henry in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing, which earned him a Tony Award in 2000. He even did a one-man show of Macbeth in 2005.

He has also appeared in many films. He played Horatio in the 1990 movie version of Hamlet. He was Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and the character Harker in Spy Game (2001).

Stephen Dillane is also well-known for his role as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film The Hours. He played the famous golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005). He was also Glen Foy in the Goal! movie series.

In 2011, he joined the cast of the popular TV series Game of Thrones. He played Stannis Baratheon, a powerful character who wanted to rule the fictional land of Westeros. Even though he hadn't read the books the show was based on, he felt the show was popular because of its amazing stories and how it showed people seeking power.

In 2012, he played Rupert Keel in the BBC drama series Hunted. The next year, he starred in The Tunnel, a crime drama. In this show, he played Karl Roebuck, a relaxed British detective. His performance won him an International Emmy Award for Best Actor. He returned for a second series of The Tunnel in 2016.

Besides TV, Stephen Dillane also starred in the 2012 British film Papadopoulos & Sons. He played Harry Papadopoulos, a businessman who loses everything and has to start over. His real-life son, Frank Dillane, played his son in the movie. That same year, he also had roles in the films Zero Dark Thirty and Twenty8k.

In 2016, he appeared in The Crown, a Netflix show about British royalty. He played the artist Graham Sutherland. In 2017, he was in two movies about real people. He played Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax in Darkest Hour and writer William Godwin in Mary Shelley.

More recently, he appeared in the film The Man In The Hat in 2020. Since 2020, he has also had a main role as Alan Blunt in the TV series Alex Rider. In 2021, he was in the miniseries Vigil.

Personal Life

Stephen Dillane is married to actress and director Naomi Wirthner. They have two sons, Séamus and Frank Dillane. Frank is also an actor, and they even acted together in the movie Papadopoulos & Sons.

In October 2023, Stephen Dillane signed a letter with other artists. This letter asked for peace in the conflict happening in Gaza.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Stage Roles

Awards and Achievements

Stephen Dillane has won many awards for his acting. Here are some of them:

• 1995: Richard Burton Shakespeare Globe Award for Hamlet (Won)
• 1998: AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for Kings in Grass Castles (Won)
• 1999: Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for The Real Thing (Won)
• 2000: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for The Real Thing (Won)
• 2000: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for The Real Thing (Won)
• 2009: British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Won)
• 2010: San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble for 44 Inch Chest (Won)
• 2014: International Emmy Award for Best Actor for The Tunnel (Won)
• 2016: Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor for Faith Healer (Won)

See also

In Spanish: Stephen Dillane para niños