Stephen Dillane Biography

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Stephen Dillane in Touchstone Pictures' Goal! The Dream Begins

Birth Date: November 30, 1956

Birth Place: London, England, UK

Stephen Dillane trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His early theatre work included repertory seasons at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Contact Theatre, Manchester and Chester Gateway Theatre. Leading roles at the National Theatre followed with Archer in “The Beaux' Stratagem,” Gerry Evans in “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Edmund Tyrone in “Long Day's Journey Into Night,” and Prior Walter in “Angels In America,” followed by “Hush” written by April D'Angelis at the Royal Court.

He won the Richard Burton Shakespeare Globe Award in 1995 for the title role in “Hamlet” at the Gielgud Theatre directed by Peter Hall. He played Clov in “Endgame” at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Katie Mitchell, Artie in “Hurlyburly” at the Old Vic, and the title role of “Uncle Vanya” for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Young Vic, again directed by Katie Mitchell. He returned to the Donmar Warehouse to play Henry in Tom Stoppard's “The Real Thing,” for which he won Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 1999.

He then played Tony in “Our Late Night” by Wallace Shawn at the Royal Court, directed by Caryl Churchill. He returned to “The Real Thing” for a limited run in the West End prior to Broadway where it played at the Barrymore Theater. On Broadway, Dillane won the Best Actor Tony Award in 2000, the Best Actor Drama Desk Award in 1999/2000, and the Theatre World Award in 2000, and was nominated for the Best Actor Outer Circle Award in 2000. He returned to the West End to play George in “Life After George” directed by Michael Blakemore.

In 2002 he played Alexander Herzen in the Tom Stoppard Trilogy “Coast of Utopia” at the National Theatre directed by Trevor Nunn. Most recently he performed a one-man show of “Macbeth” at the Redcat Theatre in Los Angeles, directed by Travis Preston, which he will perform again at the Almeida Theatre in London in October/ November 2005 and in Sydney and Adelaide for the Australian Festival in February/ March 2006.

Dillane's leading roles in films include Franco Zeffirelli's “Hamlet” opposite Mel Gibson as Horatio, “Stolen Hearts” (known as “Two If By Sea” in America), “Firelight” directed by William Nicholson opposite Sophie Marceau, “Welcome to Sarajevo” directed by Michael Winterbottom with Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei, “The Darkest Light” directed by Simon (“The Full Monty”) Beaufoy and Bille Eltringham, “Ordinary Decent Criminal” opposite Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, and “The Parole Officer” written by and starring Steve Coogan. In 2001 he filmed starring roles in four films: Charles Harker in “Spy Game” directed by Tony Scott, Charlie in “The Truth About Charlie” directed by Jonathan Demme, Simon in “The Gathering” directed by Brian Gilbert and Leonard Woolf in “The Hours” directed by Stephen Daldry. “The Hours” was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 2003 SAG Awards.

In 2004, Dillane starred in “King Arthur” for Disney directed by Antoine Fuqua, in which he played Merlin; the role of Mr. Allen in “Haven” directed by Frankie Flowers, and Martin in “Nine Lives” directed by Rodrigo Garcia which premiered at Sundance in 2005 and will be released in the US in October 2005. In the summer of 2004 he filmed the leading role of Harry Vardon in “The Greatest Game Ever Played” directed by Bill Paxton for Disney, which will also be released in the fall of 2005. He filmed “Klimt” in January/February 2005, opposite John Malkovich and directed by Raoul Ruiz. The filming of Goal followed.

Dillane explains how his character stumbles upon diamond-in-the-rough Santiago: “Glen's watching his grandson play football, and he spots this young Mexican-born player called Santiago and likes the look of him. He's very excited by how he plays, so he contacts Newcastle and gets Santiago over for a trial. He brings the boy into his house, looks after him for a while and sees him through a few ups and downs and eventually takes him on, becomes his agent,” explains Dillane.

The actor recognizes that Foy has multiple reasons for recruiting Santiago: “If you do a job and you've been excited by what's possible and you see the potential in somebody, you want to see it flower,” explains Dillane. “I guess there's also a kind of egocentric thing-you want to be the one that is responsible in some way for giving the kid the opportunity to fulfill his promise.”

“Just standing on the sideline for the Liverpool game and watching the players warm up and come out and warm down afterwards was great. The athleticism, the skills, what they're able to do with a ball-just standing there was breathtaking,” says Stephen Dillane. “We had a game of football on the Newcastle indoor training field that was good fun. It's been a thrill. I'm a fan, so it's been great just to be around it.”

“This is not just a football movie,” says Stephen Dillane. “It's about a hero who comes through and succeeds. He resists the temptations and goes through his trials and tribulations. It shows how much you've got to hold yourself together to get through everything and what's required to actually achieve something, however talented you are.”

Stephen Dillane Filmography

Perfect Sense (2011) Stephen Montgomery

44 Inch Chest (2009) Mal

Storm (2009) Keith Haywood

Freakdog (2008) Dr. Harris

Fugitive Pieces (2007) Jakob Beer

Savage Grace (2007) Brooks Baekeland

Goal! 2 (2007) Glen Foy

Fugitive Pieces (2006) Jakob

Goal! The Dream Begins (2006) Glen Foy

Haven (2006) Mr Allen

Klimt (2006) Secretary