Tom Hollander

Thomas Anthony Hollander, widely known as Tom Hollander, is a celebrated British actor who was born on 25 August 1967 in Bristol, and brought up in Oxford. His father of Czech Jewish descent converted to Catholicism and his mother is English. Hollander's family valued academia and music: his grandfather, Hans Hollander, was a musicologist who extensively wrote about the composer Janáček. His early education took place in Dragon School and Abingdon School, where he received musical training as the chief chorister. He was also an active member of the National Youth Theatre and the National Youth Music Theatre. His career started at the age of 14 in a BBC dramatisation of Leon Garfield's John Diamond.

After school, Hollander pursued an English major at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He remained passionate about stage productions, leading to his collaboration with his friend and fellow student, Sam Mendes. Hollander was an active participant of Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Society. He began his professional acting journey with appearances in television and film in 1981. His consistent performances earned him the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in The Way of the World. He continued to earn commendation for his performances in As You Like It, The Government Inspector, Tartuffe, and many others. Hollander's debut on Broadway was in the David Hare play The Judas Kiss in 1998, portraying Lord Alfred Douglas opposite Liam Neeson as Oscar Wilde.