Career
In 1998, Hardy won The Big Breakfast's Find Me a Supermodel competition at age 21 (and with it a brief contract with Models One). Hardy joined Drama Centre London in September 1998, and was taken out early after winning the part of US Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO-BBC miniseries Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war thriller Black Hawk Down. In 2003, Hardy appeared in the film dot the i, and then travelled to North Africa for Simon: An English Legionnaire, a story of the French Foreign Legion. In the same year, he gained some heavy international exposure as the Reman Praetor Shinzon, a clone of USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek Nemesis. He then returned to England to feature in the 2003 thriller LD 50 Lethal Dose.
Hardy was awarded the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performances in Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings performed at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his performance as Skank in the aforementioned production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. Hardy appeared in the 2005 BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen as Robert Dudley, a childhood friend of Elizabeth I. The miniseries portrays them as having a platonic, though highly romantic, affair throughout her reign over England during the 16th century. Hardy featured in the BBC Four adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi series A for Andromeda.
In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Two drama based on a true story, Stuart: A Life Backwards. He played the lead role of Stuart Shorter, a homeless man who had been subjected to years of abuse and whose death was possibly suicide. In February 2008, he played a drug-addicted rapist in the British horror-thriller WΔZ. In September 2008, he appeared in Guy Ritchie's London gangster film, RocknRolla. He played the role of gay gangster Handsome Bob. Though a sequel to RocknRolla titled the "The Real RocknRolla" has been rumoured to be in production, in which Hardy will reprise the role of Handsome Bob, filming has yet to commence on the project. In early 2009, Hardy starred in the film Bronson, about the real-life English prisoner Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three stone (19 kg/42 pounds).
In June 2009, Hardy starred in the Martina Cole written four-part TV drama The Take on Sky One as a drugs and alcohol fuelled gangster. The role gained him a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. In August 2009, he appeared in ITV's Wuthering Heights, playing the part of Heathcliff, the classic love character who falls in love with his childhood friend Cathy.
In early 2010, Hardy starred in The Long Red Road at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The play was written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy won some good reviews for his portrayal of Sam, an alcoholic trying to drink away his past. In 2010, he starred as Eames in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller Inception for which he won a BAFTA Rising Star award. In June 2010, Hardy announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that he will play the title role in a new version of Mad Max. Hardy replaced Michael Fassbender in the 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, released on 5 September 2011 at the 68th edition of the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice.
Hardy starred as one of the two protagonists in the film Warrior, who is trained by his father to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament against his brother, for which he gained critical acclaim. It was released on 9 September 2011 by Lionsgate Films. Hardy also starred in This Means War, a 2012 romantic comedy film directed by McG. He played the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, released on 20 July 2012. He played a bootlegger in John Hillcoat's Lawless (2012). He stated in January 2012 that he had been watching gangster films in preparation for his role as Al Capone in David Yates' Cicero trilogy, which is expected to begin filming in 2013. In March 2010, Hardy signed a first look deal at Warner Bros. Hardy has signed up to play the lead role of Sam Fisher in Ubisoft's upcoming film adaptation of their video game series Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. He has also appeared in Riz Mc's music video for the song "Sour Times".
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