David Thewlis
David Wheeler (born March 20, 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
- 2025 · The Thing with Feathers as Crow (voice)
- 2025 · Sherlock & Daughter as Sherlock Holmes
- 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 · Zack Snyder's Justice League as Ares
- 2020 · I'm Thinking of Ending Things as Father
- 2019 · The Feed as Lawrence Hatfield
- 2017 · Justice League as Ares
- 2017 · Big Mouth as Shame Wizard (voice)
- 2017 · Big Mouth as
- 2017 · Wonder Woman as Sir Patrick / Ares
- 2015 · Regression as Professor Kenneth Raines
- 2015 · Legend as Leslie Payne
- 2014 · The Theory of Everything as Dennis Sciama
- 2014 · Stonehearst Asylum as Mickey Finn
- 2014 · Fargo as V.M. Vargas
- 2013 · RED 2 as The Frog
- 2011 · War Horse as Lyons
- 2011 · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as Remus Lupin
- 2010 · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Remus Lupin
- 2010 · Mr. Nice as Jim McCann
- 2009 · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as Remus Lupin
- 2008 · The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as Father
- 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 · Kingdom of Heaven as Hospitaler
- 2004 · Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Remus Lupin
- 2003 · Timeline as Robert Doniger
- 2003 · Cheeky as Harry Sankey
- 2002 · Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- 2002 · Dinotopia as Cyrus Crabb
- 2000 · Endgame as Clov
- 1998 · The Big Lebowski as Knox Harrington
- 1997 · Seven Years in Tibet as Peter Aufschnaiter
- 1996 · The Island of Dr. Moreau as Douglas
- 1996 · DragonHeart as King Einon
- 1996 · James and the Giant Peach as Earthworm (voice)
- 1995 · Total Eclipse as Paul Verlaine
- 1993 · Naked as Johnny
- 1993 · Frank Stubbs Promotes as Mike Bence
- 1992 · Damage as Detective
- 1991 · Filipina Dreamgirls as Tim Shanks
- 1991 · Skulduggery as Tony
- 1991 · Prime Suspect as James Jackson
- 1988 · Vroom as Ringe
- 1986 · The Singing Detective as Soldier
- 1985 · Screen Two as Franz
- 1981 · Only Fools and Horses as Stew
- Future · Littlemouth as
- 2021 · Rare Beasts as Vic
- 2020 · Eternal Beauty as Mike
- 2020 · Guest of Honour as Jim
- 2020 · Barkskins as Claude Trepagny
- 2018 · Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 · The Mercy as Rodney Hallworth
- 2017 · Harry Potter: A History Of Magic as Himself
- 2016 · None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa as Self
- 2015 · Anomalisa as Michael Stone (voice)
- 2015 · Macbeth as Duncan
- 2015 · An Inspector Calls as Inspector Goole - The Inspector
- 2015 · Queen & Country as Sargeant Major Bradley
- 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
- 2012 · Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen as (archive footage)
- 2011 · The Lady as Michael Aris
- 2011 · Anonymous as William Cecil
- 2011 · The Organ Grinder's Monkey as Pablo (voice)
- 2011 · How to Get a Head in Sculpture as Self
- 2010 · London Boulevard as Jordan
- 2010 · Athena as Chuck
- 2009 · Veronika Decides to Die as Dr. Blake
- 2007 · The Inner Life of Martin Frost as Martin Frost
- 2006 · All the Invisible Children as Jonathan (segment "Jonathan")
- 2004 · The Magic Touch of Harry Potter as Self
- 2003 · Little Wolf's Book of Badness as Mr. Twister (voice)
- 2002 · D.I.Y. Hard as Man
- 2002 · Discovering Dinotopia as Cyrus
- 2002 · Hamilton Mattress as Hamilton Mattress (voice)
- 2001 · Goodbye Charlie Bright as Charlie's Dad
- 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 · Besieged as Jason Kinsky
- 1997 · American Perfekt as Santini
- 1997 · The Making of 'DragonHeart' as Self
- 1995 · Restoration as John Pearce
- 1994 · Dandelion Dead as Oswald Martin
- 1994 · Dreamtown: A Brief Anatomy of Blackpool as Self
- 1994 · Black Beauty as Jerry Barker
- 1993 · The Trial as Franz
- 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
- 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 · 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
- 1985 · Radio Pictures as JIM 'Grams'