David Thewlis
Born: 1963-03-20 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK
Known For: Acting
Biography
David Wheeler (born March 20, 1963), better known as David Thewlis, is an English actor and filmmaker. He is known as a character actor and has appeared in a wide variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nominations for two BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Award, Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Thewlis made his film debut in Little Dorrit (1987) and acted in the Mike Leigh films Life is Sweet (1990) and Naked (1993), winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for the latter. He then appeared in films such as Black Beauty (1994), Restoration (1995), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Dragonheart (1996), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). He became more widely known to film audiences for his roles as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise (2004–2011) and Ares / Sir Patrick Morgan in Wonder Woman (2017). Other film roles include Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), War Horse (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014), Anomalisa (2015), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), and Enola Holmes 2 (2022). Thewlis' most notable television roles include V. M. Varga in the third season of FX's Fargo (2017), the voice of the Shame Wizard in the Netflix animated sitcoms Big Mouth (2017–present) and Human Resources (2022–present), Christopher Edwards in the HBO miniseries Landscapers (2021), and John Dee in the Netflix drama series The Sandman (2022). His performance in Fargo earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Critics' Choice Award.
Filmography
2025
- Avatar: Fire and Ash as Peylak
- Sherlock & Daughter as Sherlock Holmes
- The Thing with Feathers as Crow (voice)
2024
- KAOS as Hades
2023
- The Artful Dodger as Norbert Fagin
2022
- The Sandman as John Dee
- Enola Holmes 2 as Grail
- Human Resources as Memory Bank Manager (voice)
- The Amazing Maurice as Boss Man / Rat King (voice)
2021
- Zack Snyder's Justice League as Ares
- Rare Beasts as Vic
- Landscapers as Christopher Edwards
2020
- Eternal Beauty as Mike
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things as Father
- Guest of Honour as Jim
- Barkskins as Claude Trepagny
2019
- The Feed as Lawrence Hatfield
2018
- The Mercy as Rodney Hallworth
- Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal as Self (archive footage)
2017
- Big Mouth as Shame Wizard (voice)
- Wonder Woman as Sir Patrick / Ares
- Justice League as Ares
- Harry Potter: A History Of Magic as Himself
2016
2015
- Legend as Leslie Payne
- Regression as Professor Kenneth Raines
- Anomalisa as Michael Stone (voice)
- An Inspector Calls as Inspector Goole - The Inspector
- Macbeth as Duncan
2014
- Fargo as V.M. Vargas
- The Theory of Everything as Dennis Sciama
- Queen & Country as Sargeant Major Bradley
- Stonehearst Asylum as Mickey Finn
- Sunday Roast as Dick Puck
2013
- RED 2 as The Frog
- The Fifth Estate as Nick Davies
- The Zero Theorem as Joby
- Separate We Come, Separate We Go as Norman
2012
- Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen as (archive footage)
2011
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as Remus Lupin
- War Horse as Lyons
- The Lady as Michael Aris
- Anonymous as William Cecil
- The Organ Grinder's Monkey as Pablo (voice)
- How to Get a Head in Sculpture as Self
2010
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Remus Lupin
- Mr. Nice as Jim McCann
- London Boulevard as Jordan
- Athena as Chuck
2009
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as Remus Lupin
- Veronika Decides to Die as Dr. Blake
2008
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as Father
2007
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as Remus Lupin
- The Inner Life of Martin Frost as Martin Frost
2006
- Basic Instinct 2 as Roy Washburn
- The Omen as Keith Jennings
- The Street as Joe Jennerson / Harry Jennerson
- All the Invisible Children as Jonathan (segment "Jonathan")
2005
- Kingdom of Heaven as Hospitaler
- The New World as Wingfield
2004
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Remus Lupin
- The Magic Touch of Harry Potter as Self
2003
- Timeline as Robert Doniger
- Cheeky as Harry Sankey
- Little Wolf's Book of Badness as Mr. Twister (voice)
2002
- Hamilton Mattress as Hamilton Mattress (voice)
- Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- Discovering Dinotopia as Cyrus
- Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- D.I.Y. Hard as Man
2001
- Goodbye Charlie Bright as Charlie's Dad
2000
- Endgame as Clov
- The Miracle Maker as Judas Iscariot (voice)
- Gangster No. 1 as Freddie Mays
- Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? as Nesbit
1999
- Love Story as Dealer
1998
- The Big Lebowski as Knox Harrington
- Besieged as Jason Kinsky
- Divorcing Jack as Dan Starkey
1997
- Seven Years in Tibet as Peter Aufschnaiter
- American Perfekt as Santini
- The Making of 'DragonHeart' as Self
1996
- DragonHeart as King Einon
- James and the Giant Peach as Earthworm (voice)
- The Island of Dr. Moreau as Douglas
1995
- Total Eclipse as Paul Verlaine
- Restoration as John Pearce
- Hello, Hello, Hello ... (Director)
1994
- Black Beauty as Jerry Barker
- Dreamtown: A Brief Anatomy of Blackpool as Self
- Dandelion Dead as Oswald Martin
1993
- Naked as Johnny
- The Trial as Franz
- Frank Stubbs Promotes as Mike Bence
1992
- Damage as Detective
- Black and Blue as Crematorium Attendant
- Swords at Teatime as Mike
1991
- Prime Suspect as James Jackson
- Filipina Dreamgirls as Tim Shanks
- Skulduggery as Tony
- Afraid of the Dark as Locksmith / Tom Miller
- Journey to Knock as Terry
1990
- Life Is Sweet as Nicola's Lover
- Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit as Doctor
1989
- Resurrected as Kevin Deakin
- A Bit of a Do
1988
- Vroom as Ringe
- Deep Red Instant Love
1987
- Road as Joey
- The Short & Curlies as Clive
- Little Dorrit as George Braddle
- Valentine Park as Max
1986
- The Singing Detective as Soldier
1985
- Screen Two as Franz
- Radio Pictures as JIM 'Grams'
1981
- Only Fools and Horses as Stew