Detailed Biography

Stephen Dillane is a British actor.

Biography

Dillane was born in West Wickham in South-East London, England, to an Australian surgeon father and an English mother. He read history and political science at the University of Exeter and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser. Unhappy in his career, he read how actor Trevor Eve gave up architecture for acting and was thus inspired to enter the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Dillane is a distinguished theatre actor and his notable roles include Archer in The Beaux' Stratagem , Prior Walter in Angels in America , Hamlet , Clov in Samuel Beckett's Endgame , Uncle Vanya , Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing and a one-man version of Macbeth .

Onscreen, Dillane may be best known for his portrayal of Horatio in Franco Zefferelli's film adaptation of Hamlet, with Mel Gibson in the title role. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo , a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson. He is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf in The Hours , legendary English professional golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy.

He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Thomas Jefferson in the HBO mini-series John Adams , and won the 2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his work in The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall.

His son, with actress Naomi Wirthner, is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince actor Frank Dillane.