Stephen Tompkinson - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Stephen was born in Stockton-on-Tees on 15 October 1965. When he was about age 4, his family moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and then to Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, where he grew up and attended St Bede's Roman Catholic High School in Lytham and St Mary's Sixth Form in Blackpool.

His parents — father Brian Tompkinson, who is a retired bank manager, and his mother Josephine, who was a school teacher — blessed him and his older brother, John, with a stable and traditional upbringing. He retains fond memories of an idyllic childhood, playing cricket and spending time on the pier after school, as well as holiday trips back to Stockton-on-Tees and to Scotland with his family. But his Dad tells the real story of his boyhood misadventures:

"I remember going into his room to kiss him goodnight as I always did, and when I spoke to him there was no reply....I pulled back the covers and there was no Stephen, just the pillows. He'd snuck out of the window to Blackpool with his friends. The window was locked when he got back though. Also, we were having some works done on the house so were living somewhere else temporarily for six months. There was a small gap he squeezed through out of the window. He slipped. It was an 80-ft drop below him and he was hanging on by his fingertips. His brother pulled him back up to safety, but he might not have been with us today. We're lucky to have him. I'm very proud of what both Stephen and John have achieved. They are both very close and they had a lovely childhood here in St Annes."

Speaking of his parents, he said, "I couldn't have achieved anything without their support." He especially credits his grandfather — who he describes as "a comic genius" — with teaching him comic timing through the films of Laurel and Hardy. Speaking of this formative experience, he said:

"My first memory of television was watching Laurel and Hardy with my grandad. Everyone else was laughing at Ollie's pratfalls. My grandad sat me on his knee and said 'watch Stan'. To me it seemed like he was doing nothing but grandad could see his genius. That's what made me want to become an actor."

Jeff Lynam, English teacher at St Bede's, shared his love of drama by staying after school to put on plays with his students. Stephen's first lead was as a red admiral butterfly in "The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner." Through drama he allowed his imagination to run wild, but he also came to appreciate Shakespeare and to realise that the truths of the Bard's plays never change. He fondly remembers his teachers:

"Jeff was so inspirational that you wanted to do your best and I got As in O-level English language and literature.... is the sort of teacher who makes you want to succeed because you feel you are representing him."

"My teachers Anne Bouget and Steven Brennan were massive influences on me. decided that as part of studying The Crucible by Arthur Miller we should put the play on. I got to play John Proctor, which was such a huge part for me to be playing. Up until that point I was going to read English at university so I had something as a fall back. But that performance changed everything. My mum and dad were so moved by it; they could see my talent was growing and they wanted me to strike while the iron was hot."

He went on to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, alongside James Nesbitt and Rufus Sewell, and graduated in 1988.

"While doing my A-Levels, I auditioned for drama schools. The first audition was for the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. It had the best reputation of all and I was lucky enough to get a place there at 18. I felt I'd entered an Aladdin's cave when I started my three-year course. I knew only the basics of acting and there I was in a place where Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench and Peggy Ashcroft had studied."