Tim Roth
Born: 14th May 1961
Where: London, England
Roth has joined that rarefied club of British actors who are held with as much respect in America as back home.
English director Alan Clarke gave him his big break in the TV movie Made in Britain while America's Quentin Tarnantino memorably cast him in Reservoir Dogs.
The son of a painter and a communist journalist, his father Ernie Smith adopted the surname Roth after World War II in order to hide his nationality when traveling in countries hostile to the British.
Roth studied painting and sculpture at Camberwell School of Art in London, but left after 18 months to pursue acting.
He then worked on stage before being cast by Clarke in the 1982 TV-movie Made in Britain.
He also appeared in Mike Leigh's Meantime, a drama that also featured Alfred Molina and Gary Oldman.
He went on to appear in A World Apart, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Tarantino offered Roth a lead role as Mr Orange in the violent Reservoir Dogs, after which he appeared in both Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and the crime drama Little Odessa. His role as the devious fop Archibald Cunningham in 1995's Rob Roy earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
His directorial debut came in 1999 with The War Zone, starring Ray Winstone, based on Alexander Stuart's controversial child abuse novel.
Roth turned down a role in Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire to star in the Tim Burton "re-imagining" of Planet of the Apes.
Next up was Werner Herzog's bizarre Invincible and he played Oliver Cromwell in Mike Barker's English Civil War drama To Kill A King.
In 2004, he appeared in John Sayles' drama Silver City and the American remake of the Japanese chiller Dark Water.
Recent work includes Michael Haneke's American remake of his own disturbing thriller Funny Games.
