Tom Cullen

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title: "Tom Cullen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1985-births", "living-people", "male-actors-from-cardiff", "people-from-llandrindod-wells", "actors-from-aberystwyth", "alumni-of-the-royal-central-school-of-speech-and-drama", "alumni-of-the-royal-welsh-college-of-music-&-drama", "welsh-male-stage-actors", "welsh-male-television-actors", "welsh-male-film-actors", "21st-century-welsh-male-actors", "welsh-people-of-irish-descent", "welsh-people-of-english-descent", "people-educated-at-llanishen-high-school", "male-actors-from-ceredigion", "male-actors-from-powys"] description: "British actor" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cullen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British actor ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Tom Cullen
image	TomCullen.jpg
birth_name	Thomas Cullen
caption	Cullen in 2017
birth_date
birth_place	Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales
alma_mater	Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
occupation	{{flatlist
years_active	2006–present
::

| name = Tom Cullen | image = TomCullen.jpg | birth_name = Thomas Cullen | caption = Cullen in 2017 | birth_date = | birth_place = Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales | alma_mater = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama | occupation = {{flatlist|

• Actor
• writer
• director}} | years_active = 2006–present

Thomas Cullen (born 17 July 1985) is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film Weekend (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series Downton Abbey, and as Sir Landry in the historical drama series Knightfall. He also appeared in another historical drama playing the role of Thomas Seymour in Becoming Elizabeth.

Early life

Cullen was born in Aberystwyth, Wales. He is the son of two writers. His father is Irish and his mother is English. He spent his early years in Llandrindod Wells and moved to Cardiff at age 12, where he attended Llanishen High School. He has two siblings.

Before pursuing an acting career he was involved in music. He graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2009 with First Class Honours degree in Acting after spending a year at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

Acting

Whilst still in training, Cullen was taken out of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to appear in Daddy's Girl, which won the BAFTA Cymru for Best Film, and to star in Watch Me, which won the BAFTA Cymru for Best Short. His stage roles include Gorgio at the Bristol Old Vic, Assembly and A Good Night Out in the Valleys at National Theatre Wales, and The Sanger at Sherman Cymru. In 2011, he was named on the Screen International Stars of Tomorrow list.

Cullen starred in the 2011 film Weekend as Russell, a Nottingham lifeguard. Weekend collected numerous awards including the Grand Jury award at the Nashville Film Festival and Best Achievement in Production at the British Independent Film Awards. Cullen won Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and Best Actor at the Nashville Film Festival in 2011 for his role as Russell. His television roles include Jonas in Black Mirror. He starred as Wulfric in the 2012 miniseries World Without End. He had a recurring role as Mary Crawley's suitor Anthony Foyle (the Viscount Gillingham) in Downton Abbey.

Recent films include Desert Dancer, the story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban, and the science fiction The Last Days on Mars, based around the first crewed mission to Mars. Upcoming films include Happily Ever After, No Compass in the Wilderness, A Hundred Streets opposite Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton, and Mine opposite Armie Hammer.

Cullen played Joe Rose in the three-part ITV drama The Trials of Jimmy Rose, that aired in September 2015. He starred in a Canadian indie from production company Motel Pictures, The Other Half. He played the lead role of Mark in Harlan Coben's 2015 series The Five, a ten-part Sky 1 mystery series. He also starred as Landry in the History series Knightfall, which started in December 2017. Cullen played Guy Fawkes alongside Kit Harington and Liv Tyler in Gunpowder on BBC One.

Cullen's editorial work includes L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, and 10 Magazine.

Writing

In 2008, Cullen wrote and produced the short film Naughties with Alexander Vlahos. In 2009, he and Vlahos co-founded the Welsh company Undeb Theatre. He wrote and directed his full-length play, Kingfisher, about a man returning from prison, in 2010, as well as other short plays performed by Undeb.

Directing

Cullen made his directorial debut with the 2019 film Pink Wall starring Tatiana Maslany and Jay Duplass. The film is described by Screen Daily as "the story of a couple’s struggles with the pressures of gender expectations and the conflict between life and ambition."

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Daddy's Girl	Boy (Jason)	U.S. title: Cravings
2008	Watch Me	Tom	Short film
Nominated for BAFTA Cymru Best Short Film
2009	Twenty Questions	Adam	Short film
2010	Balance	Nico	Short film
2011	Weekend	Russell	British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer
2012	Henry	Henry	Short film
2013	Room 8	Ives	Short film
BAFTA Award for Best British Short Film
The Last Days on Mars	Richard Harrington
2014	Desert Dancer	Ardavan
2015	Black Mountain Poets	Richard
The Batsman and the Ballerina	Simon	Short film
2016	The Other Half	Nickie	Also executive producer
Happily Ever After	Colin
100 Streets	Jake
Mine	Tommy Madison
Trial	Ryan / New Aaron	Short film
2018	Souls of Totality	Guy 3	Short film
2019	Pink Wall	Chris	Also writer, director and co-producer
Castle in the Ground	Jimmy
2021	Zebra Girl	Dan
My Son	Frank
Barbarians	Lucas
2023	My Happy Ending	Dr. Hanson
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Pen Talar	Richard	Episodes 7 & 8
Banged Up Abroad	Yoram	Series 5; 1 episode
2011	Black Mirror	Jonas	Series 1; episode 3: "The Entire History of You"
2012	World Without End	Wulfric	Mini-series; episodes 1–8
2013–2014	Downton Abbey	Anthony Gillingham	Series 4 & 5; 12 episodes
2015	The Trials of Jimmy Rose	Joe Rose	Mini-series; episodes 1–3
2016	The Five	Mark Wells	Mini-series; episodes 1–10
2017	Orphan Black	Leonard Sipp	Season 5; episode 6: "Manacled Slim Wrists"
Gunpowder	Guy Fawkes	Mini-series; episodes 1–3
2017–2019	Knightfall	Landry du Lauzon	Lead role. Seasons 1 & 2; 18 episodes
2018	Genius	Luc Simon	Season 2; episodes 6 & 10: "Picasso: Chapters Six and Ten"
2021	Invasion	Mr. Edwards	Season 1; episodes 2–4
2022	Becoming Elizabeth	Thomas Seymour	Episodes 1–6 & 8
2023–2025	The Gold	John Palmer	Series 1 & 2; 12 episodes
2024	The Way	Jack Price MP	Episode 1: "The War"
Insomnia	Robert Averill	Episodes 1–6
2025	Mudtown	Peter Burton	Main cast
Trespasses	Michael Agnew	Main cast
::

Awards and nominations

::data[format=table]

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2011	London Film Critics Circle Awards	British Actor of the Year	Weekend
BFI London Film Festival	Best British Newcomer
Nashville Film Festival	Best Actor in a Narrative Feature
British Independent Film Award	Most Promising Newcomer
2016	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Downton Abbey
::

References

References

1. Arsenault, Bridget. (20 January 2014). "New ''Downton Abbey'' Star Tom Cullen Wishes He Could Play Lady Grantham".
2. (13 May 2016). "Tom Cullen to Star in Jeremy Renner's History Series 'Knightfall' (EXCLUSIVE)". [[Variety (magazine).
3. (2 April 2016). "Actor Tom Cullen on ''Downton Abbey'', dancing and being 'the Devil incarnate'". [[WalesOnline]].
4. (17 December 2011). "Emerging Welsh actor Tom Cullen on his big screen success". WalesOnline.
5. Cook, Sam. (2023-06-03). "How Tom Cullen went from being drama school rebel to Downton Abbey success story".
6. (4 November 2011). "Indie film Weekend break for Cardiff actor Tom Cullen". BBC News.
7. (24 September 2011). "Tom Cullen". [[Interview (magazine).
8. (10 January 2014). "Lady Mary's dashing new suitor to debut on 'Downton Abbey'". New York Post.
9. "BAFTA Award for Daddy's Girl". Dragon Di.
10. "BAFTA Nomination: Ieuan Morris 'Watch Me'". Glamorgan.
11. "Spotlight Actors: Tom Cullen".
12. "Screen International Stars of Tomorrow 2011". Screen Daily 30 June 2011.
13. "Weekend Awards".
14. (7 July 2011). "FUTURES: Star Tom Cullen Turns a One Night Stand Into Art". IndieWire.
15. (March 2013). "''Downton Abbey'': the dashing aristocrats lining up to lift Lady Mary out of despair". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
16. "Graduate Profile: Tom Cullen". Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
17. "Filming begins on The Trials of Jimmy Rose from ITV Studios". ITV Press Centre.
18. (21 April 2015). "Tatiana Maslany, Tom Cullen to Star in Indie 'The Other Half'". The Hollywood Reporter.
19. (30 September 2015). "MIPCOM: Canal Plus Takes Harlan Coben's 'The Five' for France". The Hollywood Reporter.
20. "After ''Vikings'', History Channel Brings The Knights Templar To TV With ''Knightfall''". [[Movie Pilot]].
21. (27 September 2009). "Actors Unite for Theatre". WalesOnline.
22. (16 November 2010). "Undeb celebrate first birthday with Undeb-velopment – review". The Guardian.
23. Screen Daily, 'Weekend Star Tom Cullen Wraps Up Directorial Debut' 14 Dec 2017, https://www.screendaily.com/news/weekend-star-tom-cullen-wraps-directorial-debut-exclusive/5125001.article
24. "First Look images and further casting announced for upcoming BBC Drama The Gold".
25. (19 February 2024). "Meet the cast of Michael Sheen's BBC drama The Way".
26. (20 May 2024). "Insomnia review: Is Vicky McClure's night-time thriller any good?".
27. (10 October 2024). "FIRST LOOK images released for Alibi and S4C's upcoming legal crime drama, Mudtown".
28. (2025-11-09). "Tom Cullen on complicated roles and new drama Trespasses".

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