Tim Roth

Biography:

Tim Roth was born on May 14, 1961, in Dulwich, London. His mother, Ann, worked as both a painter and teacher, while his father, Ernie, was a Fleet Street journalist and painter. Ernie, born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, came from an Irish background. Though not Jewish, he changed his surname from “Smith” to “Roth” in the 1940s as a gesture of solidarity against Nazism. A World War II veteran, Roth’s father carried deep personal history that shaped the family.

Roth later revealed that he had been a survivor of child sexual abuse, enduring it at the hands of his paternal grandfather from childhood through his early teens. He first disclosed his experience during promotion for the 1999 film The War Zone, which explored themes of incest and abuse, but did not initially identify his abuser. In 2016, he stated publicly that his grandfather had also abused his father as a child.

Educated first in Lambeth, Roth later transferred to Croydon Technical School to escape bullying, and also attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. Initially aspiring to be a sculptor, he studied at London’s Camberwell College of Arts before pursuing acting.

Roth’s early career in the 1980s included television roles in Made in Britain, Meantime, and Murder with Mirrors. His feature debut, The Hit, earned him the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He appeared in King of the Ghetto in 1986 and became part of the so-called “Brit Pack” alongside actors like Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis.

In 1990, Roth portrayed Vincent van Gogh in Vincent & Theo and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. His international breakthrough came through collaborations with Quentin Tarantino on Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Four Rooms. He won critical acclaim for his role as Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy, earning a BAFTA Award and Academy Award nomination. He also appeared in Everyone Says I Love You, The Legend of 1900, and co-starred with Tupac Shakur in Gridlock’d. Roth made his directorial debut with The War Zone. He later played General Thade in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001). Notably, he turned down the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, which went to Alan Rickman.

Roth’s later work included Youth Without Youth, Funny Games, and his role as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in The Incredible Hulk. He starred as deception expert Cal Lightman in the series Lie to Me (2009–2011), appeared in the Monty Python: Almost the Truth documentary, and was featured on the cover of Manic Street Preachers’ 2010 album.

He presided over the Un Certain Regard jury at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and played FIFA President Sepp Blatter in United Passions (2014). He was part of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and later appeared briefly in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. His performance in Chronic (2015) earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and he reunited with director Michel Franco for Sundown (2021). He also acted in Twin Peaks (2017) and starred in the crime drama Tin Star (2017–2020).

Roth reprised his Abomination role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). Other recent projects include Resurrection (2022), Punch (2022), and the Australian drama Last King of the Cross (2023). In 2025, he starred in the thriller Tornado and is set to appear in The Immortal Man, connected to Peaky Blinders.

On the personal side, Roth’s son Jack, from a relationship with Lori Baker, is also an actor. In 1993, Roth married Nikki Butler, with whom he had two sons, Timothy Hunter and Michael Cormac—named after Hunter S. Thompson and Cormac McCarthy. Tragically, Cormac, a musician, died of germ cell cancer in 2022 at the age of 25.

Politically, Roth has long been outspoken. A Green Party supporter since 2008, he protested the Iraq War and criticized Tony Blair for his role in it. He endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and voiced strong opposition to Donald Trump, expressing contempt for everything Trump represented.