Tom Hardy (Hardy Tom)

In 2002, Hardy appeared in the independent film Dot the i, sharing the bill with Gael García Bernal. He 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 (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek Nemesis. He returned to England to feature in the 2003 thriller LD 50 Lethal Dose.

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 Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi series A for Andromeda, on BBC Four.

In early 2009, Hardy starred in the film Bronson, about the real-life prisoner Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three stone of muscle.

In August 2009, he appeared in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, playing the part of Heathcliff, the classic love character who falls in love with his childhood friend Cathy (played by Charlotte Riley), "the love that destroyed everything it touched". It was even suggested by tabloid paper The Sun that he began a relationship with Charlotte Riley shortly after finishing work on The Take, and that he left his partner of two years and mother of his infant son to be with Riley. Riley has disputed this rumor in interviews.

Hardy has co-written two television shows with writer Kelly Marcel. "Candy Chops" was sold to Rob Brydon's production company - Arbie and "Kickapoo Dust" is owned by Left Bank.

Tom married Sarah Hardy in 1999, but they divorced some time later. He has a son, Louis Hardy, with ex-girlfriend Rachael Speed. He is currently said to be in a relationship with Charlotte Riley.

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