Tobias Menzies Biography

Tobias Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. While working in theatre, he starred in television shows such as Rome (2005-2007) where he played Brutus and Game of Thrones (2013-present) where he plays Edmure Tully. He is probably best known for his dual role as Frank Randall and Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall in Outlander (2014-present), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Early years

Tobias Menzies was born in North London, England, the son of Gillian (ne Simpson), a teacher, and Peter Menzies, a BBC radio producer. He has one younger brother, Luke, who is a solicitor.

Menzies attended the Perry Court Rudolf Steiner School in Canterbury, Kent, where he was trained in the Steiner System, which includes movement, singing and musical instrumentation. Next he attended the Frensham Heights School near Farnham in Surrey at the same time as Hattie Morahan and Jim Sturgess. He went on to attend Deborah Moody's Year Out Drama Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1993-94. He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1998 with a BA degree in Acting.

Career

Menzies worked with the Spontaneity Shop, a British improv comedy company. He began his TV and film career in some of British television's most popular series, including Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders and Casualty. He also appeared in A Very Social Secretary directed by Jon Jones, which launched UK Channel 4's spin-off station, More4.

He is best known to international audiences for his starring role as Marcus Junius Brutus, Julius Caesar's friend and later co-assassin, in the award-winning HBO/BBC epic series Rome (2005-07).

Menzies had a major role in The Low Down with Aidan Gillen, and was featured in the 2006 reboot of the James Bond film franchise, Casino Royale, as M's aide, Villiers.

He has worked extensively on the stage, with credits including the young teacher Irwin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys (which Nicholas Hytner directed at the Royal National Theatre), and Michael Blakemore's West End production of Three Sisters for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. Of his role in The History Boys, one reviewer wrote:

Menzies played the title role in Rupert Goold's production of Hamlet, at the Royal Theatre, Northampton to an appreciative critical reception:

The Independent noted that Menzies, "enjoying his antic disposition ... plays the fool dazzlingly: a stage natural.... He gives it everything, even the fight."

In April 2007 Menzies appeared as William Elliot in ITV's production of Jane Austen's classic, Persuasion, and also played Peter Trifimov in The Cherry Orchard with Joanna Lumley (at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield). The Yorkshire Post said, "The one who burns the brightest is Tobias Menzies as the idealistic perpetual student Trofimov. His performance is breathtaking."

He appeared as Derrick Sington in Channel 4's dramatisation of The Relief of Belsen broadcast 15 October 2007 and then he filmed Forget Me Not, a Quicksilver Films production, in which he starred alongside Genevieve O'Reilly.

He also was the Home Secretary in the long-running television drama Spooks, since December 2009.

Menzies plays Edmure Tully, the heir to House Tully of Riverrun in HBO's Game of Thrones.

In 2012, he appeared in the political satire series The Thick of It during series 4 as Simon Weir, as part of the Goolding Inquiry.

In 2014, Menzies played Maggie Gyllenhaal's bodyguard, Nathaniel Bloom, in the TV mini-series The Honourable Woman. The same year, Menzies also began co-starring in the Starz period TV series, Outlander as two characters: Frank Randall, a 20th-century historian, and Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, his brutal 18th-century ancestor. In 2016 Menzies was cast to play a lead role in AMC's anthology series The Terror to be broadcast in 2017.

Filmography

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	A Nice Little Holiday	Tony Richardson	BBC Radio 4
2011	Now All Roads Lead to France	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2012	John Charrington's Wedding	Narrator	BBC Radio 4 Extra
2013	Plays inspired by James Lees-Milne diaries: Sometimes into the Arms of God The Unending Battle What England Owes	James Lees-Milne	BBC Radio 4
2013	Serious Money	Zak Zackerman	BBC Radio 3
2014	As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2015	Landmarks	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2015	Fifteen Minutes	Andy Warhol	BBC Radio 4
2016	Trapped	Narrator	BBC Radio 3
2016	Comment Is Free	Ben	BBC Radio 4
2017	Rising Tide Falling Star	Narrator	BBC Radio 4

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	The Audition		short film
2000	The Low Down	John
2002	The Knowledge	David	short film
2004	Piccadilly Jim	Reg
2004	Finding Neverland	Theatre Patron
2005	Pierrepoint	Lt. Llewelyn	Titled Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman in the US
2006	Casino Royale	Villiers	M's assistant
2007	Atonement	Naval Officer
2009	Jackboots on Whitehall	Captain English (voice)	Spoof war film using puppets.
2009	The Genius of Christopher Marlowe	Mephistophilis	Rose Theatre Bankside film
2010	The Duel	Von Koren	adaptation of an 1891 novella by Anton Chekhov, The Duel
2010	Forget Me Not	Will
2011	The Door	Man with the Wings of a Swan	short film
2011	Hysteria	Mr. Squyers
2012	Nora	Richard	short film
2014	The Birthday Gift	David	short film
2014	Black Sea	Lewis
2014	Off the Page: Groove Is in the Heart	Mark	short film London Film Festival 2015 official selection
2016	Una	Mark
2016	The Velvet Abstract	Narrator	short film
2016	Underworld: Blood Wars	Marius

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998-2000	Casualty	Frank Gallagher	11 episodes
2000	Longitude	Halleys Secretary
2000	Summer in the Suburbs	School Psychologist
2000	Midsomer Murders	Jack Dorset
2002	The Escapist	Policeman
2002	I Saw You	Vince
2002	Ultimate Force	Box 500	3 episodes
2002	Foyle's War	Stanley Ellis
2005	A Very Social Secretary	Keith
2005-2007	Rome	Marcus Junius Brutus	Main cast, 17 episodes
2007	Persuasion	William Elliot
2007	The Relief of Belsen	Derrick Sington
2008	Fairy Tales	Aidee	Episode "The Empress's New Clothes"
2008	Bonekickers	Scott Wilson
2009	Kingdom	David Morston
2009	Pulling	Stephan
2009	Spooks	Andrew Lawrence	2 episodes
2010	The Deep	Raymond	5 episodes
2010	Any Human Heart	Ian Fleming	2 episodes
2011	The Shadow Line	Ross McGovern	5 episodes
2012	Eternal Law	Richard Pembroke	Main cast, 6 episodes
2012	Simon Schama's Shakespeare	Henry V	miniseries
2012	Secret State	Charles Flyte	1 episode
2012	The Thick of It	Simon Weir	1 episode
2012	Getting On	Dr. Tom Kersley	3 episodes
2013	Black Mirror	Liam Monroe	Episode "The Waldo Moment"
2013	Doctor Who	Lieutenant Stepashin	Episode: "Cold War"
2013	Up All Night	Narrator (voice)	TV Series documentary, episode The Nightclub Toilet
2013	Imagine	Narrator (voice)	TV Series documentary, episode Edmund De Waal: Make Pots or Die
2013-present	Game of Thrones	Edmure Tully	8 episodes
2014	Silent Witness	Greg Walker
2014	Puppy Love	Alexander	1 episode
2014	The Honourable Woman	Nathaniel Bloom	miniseries, 3 episodes
2014-present	Outlander	Frank Randall/Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall	Main cast, 20 episodes
2015-present	Catastrophe	Dr Kenneth Harries	4 episodes
2016	The Night Manager	Geoffrey Dromgoole	miniseries, 5 episodes
2016	The Circuit	Sasha
2017	The Terror	James Fitzjames	miniseries, main cast

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	The Colonel Bird	Deaf Actor	Directed by Rupert Goold for The Gate Theatre, London
2000	The Way of the World	Witwoud	Directed by Matthew Lloyd at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
2000	Light		Directed by Simon McBurney for the Complicite theatre company
2001	Platonov	Sergei Voynitzev	Directed by Jonathan Kent at the Almeida
2002	Arcadia	Valentine Coverly	Directed by Rupert Goold at the Royal Theatre, Northampton and at the Salisbury Playhouse
2003	Three Sisters	Tusenbach	Directed by Michael Blakemore at the Playhouse Theatre, London. Filmed by BBC Four and aired in 2004
2003	Serjeant Musgrave's Dance	Hurst	Directed by Sean Holmes. Oxford Stage Company
2005	Hamlet	Hamlet	Directed by Rupert Goold at the Royal Theatre, Northampton
2005	The History Boys	Irwin	Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Touring cast and Royal National Theatre, London
2006	As You Desire Me		Directed by Jonathan Kent at the Playhouse Theatre, London
2007	The Cherry Orchard	Peter Trofimov	Directed by Jonathan Miller at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
2007	Cloud Nine	Harry Bagley/Martin	Directed by Thea Sharrock at the Almeida Theatre, London
2009	King Lear	Edgar	Directed by Rupert Goold at the Young Vic Theatre, London and at the Liverpool Playhouse
2011	The Children's Hour	Dr Joseph Cardin	Directed by Ian Rickson at the Comedy Theatre, London (currently known as Harold Pinter Theatre)
2011	Decade	Scott Forbes	Directed by Rupert Goold for Headlong, London
2012	The Recruiting Officer	Captain Plume	Directed by Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse, London
2013	Rough Cuts: Searched		Directed by Carrie Cracknell at the Royal Court Theatre, London
2013	The Hush		Directed by Matthew Herbert at the Shed for the Royal National Theatre, London
2015	The Fever	Man	Directed by Robert Icke at the Almeida (performances at the May Fair Hotel), London
2015	The Iliad		Live reading directed by Rupert Goold and Robert Icke at the Almeida, London
2016	Uncle Vanya	Dr. Michael Astrov	Directed by Robert Icke at the Almeida, London
2016	The Dark Lady and the Tender Churl		Live reading of William Shakespeare sonnets, Middle Temple Hall, London

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2003	Ian Charleson Awards	Commendation for the best classical stage performance in Britain by actor under age 30	Three Sisters
2015	Saturn Awards	Best Actor on Television	Outlander
2015	EWwy Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Outlander
2016	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Outlander
2016	Satellite Awards	Best Television Ensemble	Outlander