Timothy Spall

Timothy Leonard Spall ( SPAWL; born 27 February 1957) is an English actor. He gained recognition for his character actor roles on stage and screen. In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. Spall is known for his collaborations with director Mike Leigh, acting in six of his films: Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014). He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his roles in Secrets and Lies and Topsy-Turvy, and in 2014 he received the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award for his portrayal of J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner. Spall has acted in films such as Hamlet (1996), Still Crazy (1998), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Enchanted (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), The Damned United (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Ginger and Rosa (2012), Denial (2016), The Party (2017), and Spencer (2021). He voiced Nick the rat in Chicken Run (2000), and portrayed Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) in five Harry Potter films, from Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010). In 2025, he appeared in Goodbye June directed by Kate Winslet. On television, Spall played Barry Spencer Taylor in the ITV comedy drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–2004) and Lord Arthur Wallington in the BBC Cold War drama Summer of Rockets (2019). He won the 2024 International Emmy Awards and BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for his performance as Peter Farquhar in The Sixth Commandment. He currently plays the leading role in the BBC murder mystery series Death Valley. From 2010 to 2012, the BBC broadcast three documentary series Timothy Spall: ...at Sea, about...