Toby Kebbell

Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell[2][3] (born 9 July 1982) is an English film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as Dead Man's Shoes (2004), RocknRolla (2008), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), War Horse (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Fantastic Four (2015), Warcraft (2016), A Monster Calls (2016), Ben-Hur (2016), and Gold (2016). He is also known for his work in the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You". He also starred in the second film of the MonsterVerse film series, Kong: Skull Island, which was released in March 2017, and the Apple TV+ series Servant in 2019.

Toby Kebbell
Kebbell at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con promoting Fantastic Four
Born	Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell (1982-07-09) 9 July 1982 Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England[1]
Alma mater	Central Junior Television Workshop
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Home town	Newark, Nottinghamshire, England

Early life

Kebbell, the fourth of five children, was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, but grew up in Nottinghamshire where he attended The Grove School (now the Newark Academy) in Balderton. He was brought up by his mother, Michelle (née Mathers), a cook and landscape gardener, after his parents divorced. His father, Robert Kebbell, is an engineer[4] from Zimbabwe.[5] He was raised Catholic, and went to a Catholic primary school.[6][7]

Career

Kebbell trained in acting at the Central Junior Television Workshop in Nottingham along with Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure.[8] first came to notice when director Shane Meadows cast him in the role of Anthony in the film Dead Man's Shoes. He was nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and was widely lauded for his sensitive, moving portrayal of a young man with a learning difficulty. Kebbell then appeared in Oliver Stone's Alexander and Match Point, which Woody Allen cast him in without audition after being impressed with his performance in Dead Man's Shoes.

Kebbell's most critically acclaimed role came in 2007 when he played Rob Gretton, the manager of Joy Division in Anton Corbijn's award-winning biopic of Ian Curtis, Control. He won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the British Independent Film Awards;[9] other nominees for the award included Cate Blanchett, Colin Firth and Control co-star Samantha Morton. He was also nominated for the London Critics' Circle Best Supporting Actor Award alongside Albert Finney and Tom Wilkinson.

In December 2007, Kebbell took the lead in an episode of Jimmy McGovern's BBC series The Street, which subsequently won the BAFTA for Best Drama series. His other work for the BBC included a modern retelling of Macbeth alongside James McAvoy, while his theatre roles included spells at the Almeida Theatre in David Hare's reworking of Maxim Gorky's Enemies and at the Playhouse in R.C. Sherriff's classic, Journey's End.

In September 2008, Kebbell was featured in the film RocknRolla, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, alongside actors Tom Wilkinson, Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton. Kebbell played a crack-addicted musician, Johnny Quid. To play the role Toby Kebbell learned to play the piano and operate a semi automatic.

In January 2009, Kebbell was nominated in the "Orange Rising Star Award" category of the 2009 BAFTA Awards.[10] This award is voted for by the public. Kebbell appeared in the 2009 film Cheri, directed by Stephen Frears, in which he took a small role alongside Michelle Pfeiffer. He filmed in Morocco and London with Jake Gyllenhaal for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Toby Kebbell at the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Awards on 8 February 2009.

In 2011, Kebbell played a leading role in "The Entire History of You", the finale of the first season of Charlie Brooker's critically acclaimed anthology series Black Mirror, which was written by Jesse Armstrong. Robert Downey Jr. has since bought the rights to adapt the script for a forthcoming film.[11]

In 2014, Kebbell took over the role of Koba in the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Koba was a bonobo whose grudge against humans leads to conflict with Caesar, Andy Serkis's character from Rise of the Planet of the Apes.[12]

Kebbell played the Marvel antagonist, Doctor Doom, in the 2015 Fantastic Four film,[13] and an orc, Durotan, in the 2016 Warcraft.[14] He played Chapman in the fantasy action film Kong: Skull Island (2017), while also providing guidance for Kong's motion capture sequences.[15]

Personal life

In 2009, Kebbell was linked to British entrepreneur Ruzwana Bashir after they met at a Christmas party given by journalist Andrew Neil. Kebbell has stated that he is not in a hurry to marry and wishes to be established and even own a home before settling down.[16] He has since been reported to be single.[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	Dead Man's Shoes	Anthony	Nominated – British Independents Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer
2004	Northern Soul	Mark Sherbert	Short film
2004	Alexander	Pausanias of Orestis
2005	Match Point	Policeman
2006	Wilderness	Callum
2007	Control	Rob Gretton	British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – ALFS Award for British Supporting Actor of the Year
2008	RocknRolla	Johnny Quid
2008	The German	Barton	Short film
2008	Clubbed	Man in queue (voice)	Uncredited
2009	Cheri	Patron
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Prince Garsiv
2010	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Drake Stone
2010	The Conspirator	John Wilkes Booth
2011	The Veteran	Robert Miller
2011	War Horse	Geordie Soldier
2012	Wrath of the Titans	Agenor
2013	The East	Doc / Thomas Ayres
2013	The Counselor	Tony
2014	Dawn of the Planet of the Apes	Koba
2015	Fantastic Four	Victor Von Doom / Dr. Doom
2015	Buddha's Little Finger	Pyotr Voyd
2016	Warcraft	Durotan / Antonidas
2016	Ben-Hur	Messala Severus
2016	A Monster Calls	Dad
2016	Gold	Agent Paul Jennings
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Jack Chapman / King Kong	Motion capture for King Kong
2017	The Female Brain	Kevin
2017	War for the Planet of the Apes	Koba
2018	A Wizard's Tale	Terry Dexter (voice)
2018	The Hurricane Heist	Will
2018	Destroyer	Silas
2018	The Angel	Danny Aroya
2019	Daniel	James Foley
2019	Becoming[17]	Alex
2020	Bloodshot	Martin Axe

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Peak Practice	Graham	Episode: "Keeping Up the Act"
2005	ShakespeaRe-Told	Malcolm	Episode: "Macbeth"
2006	Born Equal	Beggar 2	TV film
2007	The Commander: Windows of the Soul	Jimmy Bannerman	TV film
2007	The Street	Paul Billerton	3 episodes
2011	Black Mirror	Liam Foxwell	Episode: "The Entire History of You"
2013	The Escape Artist	Liam Foyle	3 episodes
2018	Dream Corp LLC	Patient 101 / Leslie Krux	Episode: "The Krux"
2019–present	Servant	Sean Turner	Main role

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Additional voices

References

1. "Online exclusive: Toby Kebbell in control as acting career takes off". The Herald. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
2. Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.; at ancestry.com
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Marianne Macdonald (5 February 2009). "Toby Kebbell: the new boy". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
5. "Toby Kebbell and Rupert Grint LOVE working with each other on Apple TV+'s "SERVANT"". YouTube. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
6. Limited, Bangkok Post Public Company. "Toby Kebbell, the reluctant star finally shining". Bangkokpost.com. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
7. "Online exclusive: Toby Kebbell in control as acting career takes off" The Herald (Glasgow)
8. "About: The Television Workshop". Thetelevisionworkshop.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
9. "The British Independent Film Awards: Toby Kebbell" Archived 7 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine BIFA.org.uk
10. "The Orange Rising Star Award 2009". BAFTAs. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
11. "Robert Downey Jr to make movie based on Charlie Brooker's 'Black Mirror'". Digital Spy. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
12. Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub (April 2014). "Toby Kebbell Talks about His Character Koba, The Physicality of His Performance, and More on the Set of DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES". Collider. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
13. "Toby Kebbell to Play 'Fantastic Four' Villain Doctor Doom (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
14. Collura, Scott (4 December 2013). "Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper Head for Warcraft". IGN. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
15. Sullivan, Kevin (11 May 2016). "Toby Kebbell clears up Kong: Skull Island rumors". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
16. "Is Toby Kebbell married? Who is he dating?". Hitberry. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
17. Wiseman, Andreas (2 May 2018). "'Vampire Diaries' Actress Penelope Mitchell, Jason Patric Join Toby Kebbell In Thriller 'Becoming'". Retrieved 30 May 2018.

External links

• Toby Kebbell on IMDb