David Thewlis
David Wheeler (born 20 March 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.
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · Avatar: Fire and Ash as Peylak
- 2024 · KAOS as Hades
- 2023 · The Artful Dodger as Norbert Fagin
- 2022 · The Amazing Maurice as Boss Man / Rat King (voice)
- 2022 · Enola Holmes 2 as Grail
- 2022 · The Sandman as John Dee
- 2022 · Human Resources as Memory Bank Manager (voice)
- 2022 · Human Resources as Lionel St. Swithens (voice)
- 2021 · Landscapers as Christopher Edwards
- 2021 · Val as Self (archive footage)
- 2021 · Rare Beasts as Vic
- 2021 · Zack Snyder's Justice League as Ares
- 2020 · I'm Thinking of Ending Things as Father
- 2020 · Eternal Beauty as Mike
- 2020 · Guest of Honour as Jim
- 2020 · Barkskins as Claude Trepagny
- 2019 · The Feed as Lawrence Hatfield
- 2018 · Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 · The Mercy as Rodney Hallworth
- 2017 · Justice League as Ares
- 2017 · Harry Potter: A History Of Magic as Himself
- 2017 · Big Mouth as Shame Wizard (voice)
- 2017 · Wonder Woman as Sir Patrick / Ares
- 2016 · None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa as Self
- 2015 · Anomalisa as Michael Stone (voice)
- 2015 · Regression as Professor Kenneth Raines
- 2015 · Macbeth as Duncan
- 2015 · An Inspector Calls as Inspector Goole - The Inspector
- 2015 · Legend as Leslie Payne
- 2015 · Queen & Country as Sargeant Major Bradley
- 2014 · The Theory of Everything as Dennis Sciama
- 2014 · Stonehearst Asylum as Mickey Finn
- 2014 · Fargo as V.M. Vargas
- 2014 · Sunday Roast as Dick Puck
- 2013 · Separate We Come, Separate We Go as Norman
- 2013 · The Fifth Estate as Nick Davies
- 2013 · The Zero Theorem as Joby
- 2013 · RED 2 as The Frog
- 2012 · Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen as (archive footage)
- 2011 · War Horse as Lyons
- 2011 · The Lady as Michael Aris
- 2011 · Anonymous as William Cecil
- 2011 · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as Remus Lupin
- 2011 · The Organ Grinder's Monkey as Pablo (voice)
- 2011 · How to Get a Head in Sculpture as Self
- 2010 · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Remus Lupin
- 2010 · London Boulevard as Jordan
- 2010 · Mr. Nice as Jim McCann
- 2010 · Athena as Chuck
- 2009 · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as Remus Lupin
- 2009 · Veronika Decides to Die as Dr. Blake
- 2008 · The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as Father
- 2007 · The Inner Life of Martin Frost as Martin Frost
- 2007 · Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as Remus Lupin
- 2006 · The Omen as Keith Jennings
- 2006 · The Street as Joe Jennerson / Harry Jennerson
- 2006 · Basic Instinct 2 as Roy Washburn
- 2005 · The New World as Wingfield
- 2005 · All the Invisible Children as Jonathan (segment "Jonathan")
- 2005 · Kingdom of Heaven as Hospitaler
- 2004 · The Magic Touch of Harry Potter as Self
- 2004 · Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Remus Lupin
- 2003 · Little Wolf's Book of Badness as Mr. Twister (voice)
- 2003 · Timeline as Robert Doniger
- 2003 · Cheeky as Harry Sankey
- 2002 · D.I.Y. Hard as Man
- 2002 · Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- 2002 · Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- 2002 · Hamilton Mattress as Hamilton Mattress (voice)
- 2001 · Goodbye Charlie Bright as Charlie's Dad
- 2000 · Endgame as Clov
- 2000 · Gangster No. 1 as Freddie Mays
- 2000 · The Miracle Maker as Judas Iscariot (voice)
- 2000 · Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? as Nesbit
- 1999 · Love Story as Dealer
- 1998 · Divorcing Jack as Dan Starkey
- 1998 · The Big Lebowski as Knox Harrington
- 1998 · Besieged as Jason Kinsky
- 1997 · Seven Years in Tibet as Peter Aufschnaiter
- 1997 · American Perfekt as Santini
- 1997 · The Making of 'DragonHeart' as Self
- 1996 · The Island of Dr. Moreau as Douglas
- 1996 · DragonHeart as King Einon
- 1996 · James and the Giant Peach as Earthworm (voice)
- 1995 · Restoration as John Pearce
- 1995 · Total Eclipse as Paul Verlaine
- 1994 · Dandelion Dead as Oswald Martin
- 1994 · Black Beauty as Jerry Barker
- 1993 · Naked as Johnny
- 1993 · Frank Stubbs Promotes as Mike Bence
- 1993 · The Trial as Franz
- 1992 · Damage as Detective
- 1992 · Black and Blue as Crematorium Attendant
- 1992 · Swords at Teatime as Mike
- 1991 · Afraid of the Dark as Locksmith / Tom Miller
- 1991 · Journey to Knock as Terry
- 1991 · Filipina Dreamgirls as Tim Shanks
- 1991 · Skulduggery as Tony
- 1991 · Prime Suspect as James Jackson
- 1990 · Life Is Sweet as Nicola's Lover
- 1990 · Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit as Doctor
- 1989 · Resurrected as Kevin Deakin
- 1989 · A Bit of a Do as
- 1988 · Vroom as Ringe
- 1988 · Deep Red Instant Love as
- 1987 · Little Dorrit as George Braddle
- 1987 · The Short & Curlies as Clive
- 1987 · Road as Joey
- 1987 · Valentine Park as Max
- 1986 · The Singing Detective as Second Soldier
- 1981 · Only Fools and Horses as
- 2024 · Littlemouth as
- 2024 · Sherlock & Daughter as Sherlock Holmes