Toby Kebbell Biography

Tobias Alistair Patrick "Toby" Kebbell (born 9 July 1982) is an English actor, known for his roles in the films Dead Man's Shoes (2004), RocknRolla (2008), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (both 2010), War Horse (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Fantastic Four (2015) and Warcraft (2016).

Life and career

Kebbell, the fourth of five children, was born in South Elmsall, on the A638 between Doncaster and Wakefield, Yorkshire, but grew up in Nottinghamshire. He was brought up by his mother, Michelle (ne Mathers), a cook and landscape gardener, after his parents divorced when he was eighteen months old. His father, Robert Kebbell, is an engineer. He went to a Catholic primary school. Kebbell 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; 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. 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.

In February 2009, it was reported that Kebbell was dating the former Oxford Union president Ruzwana Bashir, whom he met at a party given by the journalist Andrew Neil.

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 Black Mirror. The episode was written by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show, The Thick of It). Robert Downey, Jr. has since bought the rights to adapt the script for a forthcoming film.

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

In December 2013, Legendary Pictures announced that Kebbell would be joining the cast of Warcraft film adaptation as Durotan, set to be released in March 2016.

Kebbell played the Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom in 2015's Fantastic Four film. In 2017 ,he will portray King Kong through motion-capture and voice over acting in the character's reboot film Kong: Skull Island.

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
2004	Alexander	Pausanius
2005	Match Point	Policeman
2006	Wilderness	Callum
2006	Born Equal	Beggar 2	TV film
2007	Control	Rob Gretton	British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - ALFS Award for British Supporting Actor of the Year
2007	The Commander: Windows of the Soul	Jimmy Bannerman	TV film
2008	RocknRolla	Johnny Quid
2008	The German	Barton	Short
2009	Tea and Biscuits	Billy	Short
2009	Cheri	Patron
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Garsiv
2010	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Drake Stone
2010	The Conspirator	John Wilkes Booth
2011	The Veteran	Miller
2011	Handcuffed	Son	Short
2011	War Horse	Colin, the 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 / Doctor Doom
2015	Buddha's Little Finger	Petr Void
2016	Warcraft	Durotan	Post-production
2016	Ben-Hur	Messala	Post-production
2016	A Monster Calls	Dad	Post-production
2016	Gold		Filming
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Kong	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Peak Practice	Graham	1 episode: "Keeping Up the Act"
2005	ShakespeaRe-Told	Malcolm	1 episode: "Macbeth"
2007	The Street	Paul Billerton	3 episodes
2011	Black Mirror	Liam	Series 1, Episode 3: "The Entire History of You"
2013	The Escape Artist	Liam Foyle

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Additional Voices	Voice