Tom Hollander

Born in Bristol in 1967, Tom Hollander is an award-winning stage and screen actor. In 2023, Hollander will play Boris Berezovsky in Peter Morgan’s Patriots at the Noel Coward Theatre.

As a teenager, Hollander often took part in shows with the National Youth Theatre and the National Youth Music Theatre. Then, while at the University of Cambridge, he often participated in shows with the Cambridge Footlights — alumni include Emma Thompson, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Richard Osman, and Richard Ayoade. Hollander also starred in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac, starring the future deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and directed by the future award-winning Sam Mendes.

After graduating from Cambridge, Hollander immediately made an impression on the acting world, winning an Ian Charleson award for starring in The Way of the World at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. He continued to make impressions with the Ian Charleson awarding body, notably for a performance in Tartuffe at the Almeida Theatre.

In 2010, Hollander gave a blistering performance in A Flea in Her Ear at the Old Vic. In reviews for A Flea in Her Ear, critics said: “"At the heart of Richard Eyre's nimble production of this 1907 farce by Georges Feydeau is an unerringly precise performance by Tom Hollander, which mixes manic energy with moments of goggling incredulity."

He then starred in Tom Stoppard’s Travesties at the Menier Chocolate Factory, before transferring with the show at the Apollo Theatre and on Broadway. For Travesties, Hollander picked up Olivier and Tony nominations.

In a Travesties review on London Theatre, our critic said: “The text is kept alive primarily by the uniformly fine set of performances led by the uncompromising and determined Tom Hollander who gets the audience immediately on side with the slightest glimpse of a smile and flash in his eye. It's this inimitable charm that forgives the piece its apparent lack of sense; under his command we remain convinced and compelled that each vision and memory is real and thoroughly complete.”

Aside from the theatre, Tom Hollander is also known for co-writing and starring in the BAFTA-winning sitcom, Rev. He also gave a BAFTA-winning performance as Major Lance Cocoran in The Night Manager, and has starred in ITV’s Doctor Thorne. His film credits include About Time, The Lost Prince and The King’s Man.

In 2022, Hollander played Boris Berezovsky in the world premiere of Peter Morgan’s Patriots at the Almeida Theatre to Olivier Award-nominated acclaim. Hollander will reprise the role in the 2023 West End run.