Toby Jones

Biography:

Toby Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, to actors Jennifer Heslewood and Freddie Jones. He grew up with two brothers and studied at Christ Church Cathedral School and Abingdon School in Oxfordshire during the 1980s. From 1986 to 1989, he pursued drama at the University of Manchester before continuing his training at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris until 1991.

Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992) and has since appeared in over sixty films. His early credits include Naked (1993), Les Misérables (1998), and Ever After (1998). He voiced Dobby in two Harry Potter films (Chamber of Secrets, 2002; Deathly Hallows – Part 1, 2010), and portrayed Truman Capote in Infamous (2006). Other notable roles include appearances in Amazing Grace (2006), The Painted Veil (2006), W. (2008) as Karl Rove, Frost/Nixon (2008) as Swifty Lazar, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) as Percy Alleline, and My Week with Marilyn (2011). His blockbuster credits feature Arnim Zola in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011; The Winter Soldier, 2014; cameo in Agent Carter, 2015), Claudius Templesmith in The Hunger Games films (2012–2013), Mr. Eversoll in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), Owl in Disney’s Christopher Robin (2018), and Basil Shaw in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).

On television, Jones is recognized for playing the Dream Lord in Doctor Who (2010), Alfred Hitchcock in HBO’s The Girl (2012)—a performance that earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations—Culverton Smith in Sherlock (2017), roles in Titanic (2012), Wayward Pines (2015–2016), Capital (2015), The Secret Agent (2016), and voicing in Marvel’s What If…? (2021). His portrayal of Neil Baldwin in Marvellous (2014) won critical acclaim and a BAFTA nomination, while his performance in Detectorists (2014–2017) earned him the BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2018. Most recently, in 2024, he played Alan Bates in ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, a dramatization of the Post Office Horizon scandal, which went on to win a Peabody Award. He also portrays Alan Rusbridger in The Hack, about the News International phone-hacking scandal.

Jones has also had a strong presence in theatre. His performance in The Play What I Wrote (2001) earned him the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he later appeared on Broadway when the play transferred in 2003. Other notable stage roles include Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (2009), The Painter (2011), The Birthday Party (2018), and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (2020).

He is equally prolific in radio, with performances in adaptations such as Brideshead Revisited (2003), Oblomov (2005), An Inspector Calls (2010), and Henry IV, Part 1 (2020). Since 2013, he has voiced Joey Oldman in BBC Radio 4’s The Corrupted. He has also narrated audiobooks, including John Le Carré’s Silverview (2021) and Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (2021).

In recognition of his achievements, Jones received an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2018 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2021 for services to drama.

Jones has been married to Karen, his partner of 26 years, since 2015, and they have two daughters.