Tommy Flanagan stars as ‘Martin Connells’ in the third season of HBO’s “Westworld’ starring opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright.
Tommy Flanagan was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. In his twenties, Flanagan made his living as a DJ for local dance clubs and during this time, his friend Robert Carlyle, persuaded Flanagan to give acting a try. Flanagan soon joined Carlyle’s Raindog Theatre Company where he made his stage debut in such productions as ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, and ‘MacBeth’.
Flanagan soon landed the role of Scottish rebel ‘Morrison’ in Mel Gibson’s epic ‘Braveheart’, which became a worldwide blockbuster and win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Following this, Flanagan went on to work with an array of top directors in films such as Phillip Noyce’s ‘The Saint’, John Woo’s ‘Face/Off’, and David Fincher’s ‘The Game’, and ‘Plunkett and Macleane”, reuniting him with Robert Carlyle.
In 2000, Flanagan earned critical praise and numerous ‘Best Actor’ nominations for his role as ‘Da’, the troubled father in Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Ratcatcher’. That same year, Flanagan played the role of ‘Cicero’, the faithful retainer of Russell Crowe’s character in the Academy Award-winning ‘Gladiator’ for director Ridley Scott. Flanagan’s endearing portrayal once again earned him praise and recognition.
Flanagan continued creating memorable roles and working with talented directors in films including ‘Trauma’ opposite Colin Firth, New Line’s ‘All About the Benjamins’ opposite Ice Cube, 20th Century Fox’s ‘Alien vs. Predator’ for director Paul W.S. Anderson, Miramax films ‘Sin City’ for director Robert Rodriguez, and Simon West’s re-make of ‘When a Stranger Calls’, playing the pivotal role of the ‘Stranger’ terrorizing Camilla Belle, as well as playing the enigmatic hit man ‘Lazlo Soot’ in Joe Carnahan’s ‘Smokin’ Aces’.
In 2008, Flanagan joined Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman in FX Network’s drama, ‘Sons of Anarchy’ , one of the highest rated shows for the network, running for seven seasons. Flanagan portrayed Filip ‘Chibs’ Telford, a stalwart member of the “Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club. The beloved series earned Flanagan a legion of loving and dedicated fans.
During this time, Flanagan also appeared in leading roles on other hit series including Netflix’s ‘Peaky Blinders’ opposite Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill, Fox’s ’24’ and ‘Lie to Me’, ABC’s ‘Detroit 187’, ABC’s ‘Revenge’ and DC’s and Fox’s ‘Gotham’ playing the enigmatic ‘Tommy the Knife’.
Recent films include the critically acclaimed drama ‘Winter’ by Heidi Greensmith, in which he plays an emotionally tortured painter trying to keep his family together after the sudden loss of his wife (Flanagan won Best Leading Actor Award for his performance at the New York City International Film Festival for his performance); James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2’ for Marvel Studios and Disney; “The Ballad of Lefty Brown” opposite Peter Fonda, Bill Pullman and Jim Caviezel in which he plays ‘Tom Harrah’ a US Marshal, and once great gunfighter, avenging his friend’s death; and ‘Papillon’, a remake of the classic 1973 film being directed by Michael Noer, and reuniting with his SOA co-star, Charlie Hunnam.
This past year, Flanagan also starred opposite Gary Oldman in the thriller ‘Killers Anonymous’, as well as the critically acclaimed ‘The Wave’ opposite Justin Long. Flanagan also stars in the Netflix series “Wu Assassins” from creator John Wirth and fight choreographer Iko Uwais (‘The Raid 1 & 2’).
