photo:
http://www.nndb.com/people/597/000023528/roth6-sized.jpg
Biography
Timothy Simon Smith was born in London to a landscape painter mother and a journalist father, who had adopted the German-Jewish surname "Roth" after World War II to hide his nationality when traveling in countries hostile to the British.
At first, Roth wanted to be a sculptor, so he studied at London's Camberwell School of Art. After some time there, he decided to try acting and made his debut at the age of 18 playing a skinhead in a TV movie entitled Made in Britain. Later, his name and looks would land him a number of Jewish roles.
In 1984, Roth played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears' The Hit with Terence Stamp and John Hurt, earning an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. With that recognition, he appeared in several other films during the end of the decade.
In 1990, Roth began to enjoy international attention with starring roles as Vincent Van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent and Theo and in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
Roth impressed director Quentin Tarantino and he cast him as undercover policeman Mr. Orange in his 1992 ensemble piece Reservoir Dogs. This film paved the way for more work in Hollywood.
In 1994, Tarantino cast him again as a robber in the acclaimed Pulp Fiction. They worked again in the 1995 flop Four Rooms. However, Roth returned to the successful road playing viciously evil English nobleman "Archibald Cunningham" in Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson. For that role he won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination, and a British Academy Award.
In 1996, he went on a different way starring with Drew Barrymore in Woody Allen's musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You, in which he amused audiences with his comic flair and his singing (in his own voice).
He has continued with various diverse works in all kinds of movies.
In 1999 he made a critically acclaimed debut as a director in The War Zone. In 2001, he made another important move by portraying "General Thade" in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.
He is currently working on several projects. He is also being looked at to be the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie sequel.
Tim Roth as Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs
Filmography (Actor)
Dark Water (2005)
Don't Come Knocking (2005)
Silver City (2004)
With It (2004)
The Beautiful Country (2004)
To Kill a King (2003)
Whatever We Do (2003)
Emmett's Mark (2002)
The Musketeer (2001)
Invincible (2001)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Lucky Numbers (2000)
Vatel (2000)
The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) (uncredited)
Legend of 1900(1998)
Animals (1997)
Deceiver (1997)
Hoodlum (1997)
Gridlock'd (1997)
Mocking the Cosmos (1996)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
No Way Home (1996)
Four Rooms (1995)
Rob Roy (1995)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Little Odessa (1994)
Captives (1994)
Heart of Darkness (TV) (1994)
Murder in the Heartland (TV) (1993)
El Marido perfecto (1993)
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Backsliding (1991)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Farendj (1990)
Vincent & Theo (1990)
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Twice Upon a Time (1988)
To Kill a Priest (1988)
A World Apart (1988)
Return to Waterloo (1985)
The Hit (1984)
Meantime (1983)
Made In Britain (1982)
Filmography (Director)
The War Zone (1999)
Personal life
Roth is 1.70m in height (5 foot 7 inches).
Roth had a son with Lori Baker in 1983. He married Nikki Butler in 1993, and had 2 sons with her; Timothy (b. 1995) and Cormac (b. 1996).
Trivia
In both Quentin Tarantino films that he stars in, he says the first line of the movie (although not chronologically), plays a robber, and is involved in the middle of a Mexican standoff near the end of the film. During both standoffs, he is the only one without a gun.
Quotes
"There's a lot of blood in that film. I think there's only nine pints in a body; we had about four gallons." (on Reservoir Dogs)
"Like going to Liberace's house on acid." (On attending the Academy Awards Ceremony)
"I have a bad time between jobs because I'm always convinced I'll never work again. I think it may be an English thing, this fear of unemployment."
"I never do my own stunts...that's actor nonsense." (around Planet of the Apes filming)
"I was having a great time scaring people." (as Thade in Planet of the Apes)
