Stephen Dillane

Stephen John Dillane (; born 27 March 1957) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film The Hours, Stannis Baratheon in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2012–2015) and Thomas Jefferson in the HBO miniseries John Adams, a part which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination. An experienced stage actor who has been called an "actor's actor", Dillane won a Tony Award for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing (2000) and gave critically acclaimed performances in Angels in America (1993), Hamlet (1990), and a one-man Macbeth (2005). His television work has additionally garnered him BAFTA and International Emmy Awards for best actor.

Early life and education Dillane was born in Kensington, London, to an English mother, Bridget (née Curwen), and an Irish-Australian surgeon father, John Dillane. The eldest of his siblings (his younger brother Richard is also an actor), he grew up in West Wickham, Kent.

At school, Dillane began performing in end-of-term plays and had "a certain facility" for funny accents. but also recalls a part in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as being particularly memorable, noting that shouting "Fire!" as Rosencrantz while pointing at the audience was "a very thrilling thing to be able to do."

He studied history and politics at the University of Exeter, concentrating on the Russian Revolution, and afterward became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser. Unhappy in his career, he read one day how actor Trevor Eve gave up architecture for acting; this, along with reading Hamlet and Peter Brook's The Empty Space back-to-back, made him "light up inside somewhere" During his early acting career, he was known as Stephen Dillon but reverted to his birth name in the 1990s.

Career

Dillane is an experienced theatre actor; his notable roles include Archer in The Beaux' Stratagem (Royal National Theatre, 1989), Prior Walter in Angels in America (1993), Hamlet (1994), Clov in Samuel Beckett's Endgame (1996), Uncle Vanya (1998), Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (for which he won a Tony Award in 2000), The Coast of Utopia (2002), and a one-man version of Macbeth (2005) directed by Travis Preston. He has also performed T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets in London and New York City, and was seen in the 2010 Bridge Project's productions of The Tempest and As You Like It.

Dillane also portrayed Horatio in the 1990 film adaptation of Hamlet. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), a character based on British journalist Michael Nicholson, and the impatient and easily agitated Harker in Spy Game (2001).

Dillane is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf in The Hours (2002), English professional golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) and Glen Foy in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in John Adams as Thomas Jefferson.

He joined the cast of Game of Thrones in 2011 as Stannis Baratheon, a major contender for the throne of the fictional realm of Westeros. While admitting he had not read the books on which the series is based, he commented that the show's appeal was due to "the storytelling, the extraordinary world that’s created and the way it reflects our actual world – a naked, ruthless pursuit of power in all its forms."

In 2012, he also played Rupert Keel, head of the private security agency Byzantium, in the BBC drama series Hunted. The following year he went on to take the male lead, opposite Clémence Poésy, in the crime drama series The Tunnel, an Anglo-French remake of the Scandinavian The Bridge. Dillane, who had not seen the original series, plays Karl Roebuck, the laid-back, experienced British detective to Poésy's humourless French counterpart. In a second series in 2016, titled The Tunnel: Sabotage, he reprised his role alongside Poésy for a new case involving a deadly airliner crash in the English Channel.

Besides television, Dillane also starred in the 2012 British independent film Papadopoulos & Sons as successful entrepreneur Harry Papadopoulos, who rediscovers his life after being forced to start again from nothing in the wake of a banking crisis. His son, Frank Dillane, plays his son in the film. That same year he also had roles in the films Zero Dark Thirty and Twenty8k.

Offscreen, the actor in 2014 collaborated with visual artist Tacita Dean for the Sydney Biennale and Carriageworks in a project called Event for a Stage. The work, performed live and later adapted for radio broadcast and film, explored the process of filmmaking and the "concept of artifice on the stage" through a single actor, Dillane. The performance encompassed readings from texts as well as his personal reflections on acting, theatre, and family. 2015 saw Dillane making other brief returns to stage including a reprise of his reading of Four Quartets in London and a one-off appearance in Tim Crouch's An Oak Tree at the National Theatre.

In 2016, besides appearing in the second series of The Tunnel, Dillane returned to the Donmar Warehouse for a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. His performance as Frank, an itinerant Irish healer, was described as "poetic and powerful." In addition, he appeared as artist Graham Sutherland in The Crown, Netflix's TV series about British monarch Elizabeth II. In 2017, Dillane appeared in two biopics, playing Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax in Joe Wright's Darkest Hour, as the antagonist of Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, and writer William Godwin, the father of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, in the film Mary Shelley.

In 2018, he appeared in the film The Thin Man, which has since been retitled The Man In The Hat, opposite Ciarán Hinds; it was directed by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck.

Personal life Dillane has two sons with actress-director Naomi Wirthner: Séamus and actor Frank Dillane,

Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 1988 Business as Usual Mr Dunlop 1990 Hamlet Horatio 1994 La chance Antonio 1996 Two If by Sea Evan Marsh Alternate title: Stolen Hearts 1997 Welcome to Sarajevo Michael Henderson (Lead role) Firelight Charles Godwin Déjà Vu Sean (Lead role) 1998 Love & Rage Dr Croly 1999 The Darkest Light Tom (Lead role) 2000 Ordinary Decent Criminal Noel Quigley 2001 Spy Game CIA Agent Chuck Harker The Parole Officer Inspector Burton 2002 The Truth About Charlie Charlie The Hours Leonard Woolf 2003 The Gathering Simon Kirkman 2004 King Arthur Merlin Haven Mr Allen 2005 The Greatest Game Ever Played Harry Vardon Goal! Glen Foy Nine Lives Martin 2006 Klimt Secretary 2007 Goal II: Living the Dream Glen Foy Fugitive Pieces Jakob Beer (Adult) (Lead role) Savage Grace Brooks Baekeland 2008 Freakdog Dr Harris Original title: Red Mist 2009 44 Inch Chest Mal Storm Keith Haywood 2011 Perfect Sense Stephen Montgomery 2012 Papadopoulos & Sons Harry Papadopoulos (Lead role) Twenty8k DCI Edward Stone Zero Dark Thirty National Security Adviser 2017 Darkest Hour Viscount Halifax Mary Shelley William Godwin 2018 Outlaw King King Edward I of England 2019 The Professor and the Madman Richard Brayne 2020 The Man in the Hat The Damp Man 2021 Boxing Day Richard 2024 The Outrun Andrew 2026 The Uprising Post-production TBA Luther 3 Filming

Television Year Title Role Notes 1985 Remington Steele Bradford Galt Episode: "Steel Searching: Part 1" 1986 Coronation Street Mark Siddall Episode: "#1.2624" ScreenPlay George Episode: "Shift Work" Screen Two Reporter at Press Conference Series 2; Episode 4: "Frankie & Johnnie" 1987 Bulman DC Danny Keech Episode: "White Lies" The Secret Garden Captain Lennox Television film 1988 The One Game Nicholas Thorne Mini-series; 4 episodes Christabel Peter Bielenberg Mini-series; 4 episodes The Face of Trespass Gray Harston Television film; alternate title: An Affair in Mind 1989 Comeback Alec Television film The Yellow Wallpaper John Television film 1991 Heading Home Leonard Meopham Series 7; Episode 1 of Screen Two Sophie John Television film Boon Paul Lyle Episode: "Help Me Make It Through the Night" The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Philip Blackstock Episode: "Achilles Heel" 1992 Frankie's House Antony Strickland Mini-series; 4 episodes Hostages Chris Pearson Television film 1993 You, Me and It James Woodley Mini-series; 3 episodes Soldier Soldier Mike Davidson Episode: "Hard Knocks" 1994 The Rector's Wife Jonathan Byrne Mini-series; 3 episodes 1995 Performance Mr Blackmore Episode: "The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd" 1998 Kings in Grass Castles Patsy Mini-series; 2 episodes 2000 Anna Karenina Karenin Mini-series; 4 episodes 2001 The Cazalets Edward Cazalet 6 episodes 2008 John Adams Thomas Jefferson Mini-series; 6 episodes The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall Anthony Hurndall Television film God on Trial Schmidt Television film 2010 Agatha Christie's Marple Inspector Finch Episode: "The Secret of Chimneys" 2012 Eternal Law Carl 2 episodes Hunted Rupert Keel 8 episodes Secret State Paul J. Clark Mini-series; 4 episodes Murder: Joint Enterprise Arlo Raglin Television film 2012–2015 Game of Thrones Stannis Baratheon 24 episodes 2013 A Touch of Cloth Macratty 2 episodes: "Undercover Cloth: Parts One & Two" 2013–2018 The Tunnel Karl Roebuck 24 episodes 2016 The Crown Graham Sutherland Episode: "Assassins" 2020–2024 Alex Rider Alan Blunt Main role; 23 episodes 2021 Vigil Rear Admiral Shaw Mini-series; 6 episodes Red Election MI5 director William Ogilvy 10 episodes 2024 Kaos Prometheus 8 episodes Sherwood Roy Branson Series 2; 6 episodes

Theatre Selected credits

Awards and nominations