Timothy Spall

Biography

Timothy Leonard Spall (born February 27, 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Spall performed in Secrets & Lies (1996), and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Subsequently, he starred in many films, including 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), and The Party (2017). He voiced Nick, a cynical, portly rat in Chicken Run (2000). He played Peter Pettigrew in five Harry Potter films, from Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010). Spall has collaborated with director Mike Leigh, making six films together: Home Sweet Home (1982), Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), and Mr. Turner (2014). Spall won great acclaim for his performance in the last of these for his portrayal as J. M. W. Turner winning him the Best Actor Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. He starred in the television documentary Timothy Spall: ...at Sea (2010–2012) and in 2019 he appeared as Lord Arthur Wallington in the 6-part BBC Cold War drama Summer of Rockets.

Known For

The Graham Norton Show

Top Gear

Play for Today

Play for Today

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors

The One Show

The One Show

All Movies (136)

• Virginia Woolf's Night & Day2026 · as Mr Hilbery
• Hamlet2026 · as Polonius
• Goodbye June2025 · as Bernie
• Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks2025
• Rich Flu2024 · as Sebastian Snail Sr.
• Wicked Little Letters2024 · as Edward Swan
• The Heist Before Christmas2023 · as Santa
• Bolan's Shoes2023 · as Jimmy
• Northern Comfort2023 · as Edward
• The Pale Blue Eye2022 · as Superintendent Thayer
• This Is Christmas2022 · as Ray
• Spencer2021 · as Major Alistair Gregorys
• The Grand Duke Of Corsica2021 · as Alfred Rott
• The Last Bus2021 · as Tom
• It Snows in Benidorm2020 · as Peter Riordan
• Grizzly II: Revenge2020 · as Rob (uncredited)
• Mrs Lowry & Son2019 · as L.S. Lowry
• The Corrupted2019 · as Clifford Cullen
• This Time Away2019 · as Nigel
• Early Man2018 · as Chief Bobnar (voice)
• Finding Your Feet2017 · as Charlie Glover
• The Changeover2017 · as Carmody Braque
• The Party2017 · as Bill
• The Journey2017 · as Ian Paisley
• Stanley, a Man of Variety2016 · as Stanley/Stanley's Father/Stanley's Mother/Tony Hancock/Peter Sellers aka Dr Boob/George Formby/James Finlayson/Max Wall/Alistair Sim/Margaret Rutherford/Frank Randle/Max Miller/Noel Coward/Igor
• Denial2016 · as David Irving
• Away2016 · as Joseph
• Alice Through the Looking Glass2016 · as Bayard Hamar / Bloodhound (voice)
• Fungus The Bogeyman2015 · as Fungus
• A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman2015 · as Self / Nick
• Cider with Rosie2015 · as Laurie Lee (voice)
• Sucker2015 · as The Professor
• The One and Only Mike Leigh2014 · as Self
• Mr. Turner2014 · as JMW Turner
• 9 Kisses2014 · as Bartender
• The Love Punch2014 · as Jerry
• Back with the Boys Again2013 · as Himself
• Room on the Broom2012 · as Dragon (voice)
• Love Bite2012 · as Sid
• Ginger & Rosa2012 · as Mark
• Upside Down2012 · as Bob Boruchowitz
• The Rise2012 · as D I West
• London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony: A Symphony of British Music2012 · as Winston Churchill
• Assassin's Bullet2012 · as Dr. Kahn
• Boy2012
• Comes a Bright Day2012 · as Charlie
• My Angel2011 · as Mr. Lambert
• Reuniting the Rubins2011 · as Lennie Rubin
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 22011 · as Peter Pettigrew
• Wake Wood2011 · as Arthur
• The King's Speech2010 · as Winston Churchill
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 12010 · as Peter Pettigrew
• Jackboots on Whitehall2010 · as Churchill (voice)
• Heartless2010 · as George Morgan
• Alice in Wonderland2010 · as Bayard Hamar / Bloodhound (voice)
• The Fattest Man in Britain2009 · as Georgie Godwin
• From Time to Time2009 · as Boggis
• Desert Flower2009 · as Terry Donaldson
• Gunrush2009 · as Doug Becket
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince2009 · as Peter Pettigrew
• The Damned United2009 · as Peter Taylor
• Appaloosa2008 · as Phil Olson
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street2007 · as Beadle
• Enchanted2007 · as Nathaniel
• A Room with a View2007 · as Mr Emerson
• Death Defying Acts2007 · as Sugarman
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix2007 · as Peter Pettigrew (uncredited)
• Mysterious Creatures2006 · as Bill Ainscow
• Teenage Tourettes Camp2006 · as Narrator
• Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman2005 · as Albert Pierrepoint
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire2005 · as Wormtail
• Mr Harvey Lights a Candle2005 · as Malcolm Harvey
• Cherished2005 · as Terry Cannings
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events2004 · as Mr. Poe
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban2004 · as Peter Pettigrew
• The Last Samurai2003 · as Simon Graham
• Gettin' Square2003 · as Darren Barrington
• My House in Umbria2003 · as Quinty
• Nicholas Nickleby2002 · as Charles Cheeryble
• Christopher Plummer: A Man For All Stages2002 · as Self
• All or Nothing2002 · as Phil
• Ivor the Invisible2001 · as Dad (voice)
• Vanilla Sky2001 · as Thomas Tipp
• Rock Star2001 · as Mats, Steel Dragon Road Manager
• Lucky Break2001 · as Cliff
• Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise2001 · as Tommy Rag
• The Old Man Who Read Love Stories2001 · as Luis Agalla
• Intimacy2001 · as Andy, Claire's husband
• The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades2000 · as Cunningham
• Chicken Run2000 · as Nick (voice)
• Vatel2000 · as Gourville
• Love's Labour's Lost2000 · as Armado
• Rough for Theatre II2000 · as B
• Topsy-Turvy1999 · as Richard Temple (The Mikado)
• The Clandestine Marriage1999 · as Sterling
• Immortality1998 · as Inspector Healey
• Still Crazy1998 · as David "Beano" Baggot
• Neville's Island1998 · as Gordon
• The Swords1997 · as Salesman
• Hamlet1996 · as Rosencrantz
• Secrets & Lies1996 · as Maurice Purley
• Roots1992 · as Jimmy Beales
• Dread Poets' Society1992 · as Derek
• Not Mozart: WAM! Limited1991 · as Wolfgang and Amadeus Mozart
• Nona1991 · as Chico
• Broke1991 · as Francis Meeks
• Life Is Sweet1991 · as Aubrey
• The Tale of Little Pig Robinson1990 · as Pig Robinson
• The Sheltering Sky1990 · as Eric Lyle
• 18711990 · as Ramborde
• White Hunter, Black Heart1990 · as Hodkins
• Crusoe1989 · as Reverend Milne
• David Macaulay: Pyramid1989 · as Kawab / Tomb Robber (voice)
• Dream Demon1988 · as Peck
• To Kill a Priest1988 · as Igor
• Journey's End1988 · as Lt. Trotter
• Body Contact1987 · as Paul
• Gothic1987 · as Dr. Polidori
• Dutch Girls1985 · as Lyndon Baines Jellicoe
• The Bride1985 · as Paulus
• A Crack in the Ice1985 · as Pte. Postnikov
• The Missionary1982 · as Parswell
• Remembrance1982 · as Douglas
• Oliver Twist1982 · as 1st Constable
• Home Sweet Home1982 · as Gordon
• A Cotswold Death1982 · as Detective Sergeant Baxter
• The Three Sisters1981 · as Andrei
• The Cherry Orchard1981 · as Epikhodov
• Say No to Strangers1981 · as Stranger
• S.O.S. Titanic1980 · as Jim (uncredited)
• The Brylcreem Boys1979 · as Shorty
• Quadrophenia1979 · as Projectionist
• The Vanishing Army1978 · as Wainwright
• The Life Story of Baal1978 · as Lupu
• Untitled 13—
• Murdering Michael Malloy— · as Michael Malloy

All TV Shows (55)

• Death Valley2025 · as John Chapel
• The Sixth Commandment2023 · as Peter Farquhar
• Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg2022 · as Self – Actor
• Remembers…2022 · as Self
• Perpetual Grace LTD2019 · as Donald DeLoash
• Summer of Rockets2019 · as Lord Arthur Wallington
• Hatton Garden2019 · as Terry Perkins
• Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams2017 · as Ed Jacobson
• Fungus the Bogeyman2015 · as Fungus
• The Enfield Haunting2015 · as Maurice Grosse
• Wolf Hall2015 · as Duke of Norfolk
• Variety Studio: Actors on Actors2014 · as Self
• Blandings2013 · as Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth
• London 2012 Olympic Games2012 · as Self
• The Syndicate2012
• Timothy Spall: All at Sea2012 · as Himself
• Timothy Spall: Back At Sea2011 · as Himself
• Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea2010 · as Himself
• 10 Minute Tales2009 · as Man
• A Room with a View2008 · as Mr Emerson
• Oliver Twist2007 · as Fagin
• British Film Forever2007
• The Graham Norton Show2007 · as Self
• The One Show2006 · as Self - Guest
• The One Show2006 · as Self
• The Street2006 · as Eddie McEvoy
• One Life2003
• Top Gear2002 · as Self
• Bodily Harm2002 · as Mitchel Greenfield
• Perfect Strangers2001 · as Irving
• The Thing about Vince2000 · as Vince skinner
• Shooting the Past1999 · as Oswald Bates
• Our Mutual Friend1998 · as Mr Venus
• Parkinson1998 · as Self
• The Hunger1997 · as Salesman
• Nice Day at the Office1994
• The Danny Baker Show1994
• Outside Edge1994 · as Kevin Costello
• Frank Stubbs Promotes1993 · as Frank Stubbs
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles1992 · as Cunningham - Masseur
• Murder Most Horrid1991 · as Pathologist
• Pebble Mill1991 · as Self
• Performance1991 · as Jimmy Beales
• Performance1991 · as Chico
• Spender1991 · as Robert Cunningham
• This Morning1988 · as Self - Guest
• Red Dwarf1988 · as Andy
• The Modern World: Ten Great Writers1988 · as Porfiry
• ScreenPlay1986 · as Francis Meeks
• ScreenPlay1986 · as Derek
• Auf Wiedersehen, Pet1983 · as Barry Taylor
• BBC2 Play of the Week1977 · as Wainwright
• Playhouse1974 · as Shorty
• Play for Today1970 · as Gordon
• Play for Today1970 · as Detective Sergeant Baxter