David Wheeler (born 20 March 1963), better known as David Thewlis (), is an English actor and filmmaker. He has won one Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and received nominations for two BAFTA Awards, one Golden Globe Award, one Primetime Emmy Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award.
Thewlis made his film debut in Little Dorrit (1987) and had his breakthrough with roles 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 appeared in films such as Black Beauty (1994), Restoration (1995), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Dragonheart (1996), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Gangster No. 1 (2000), and as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise (2004–2011). 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), Wonder Woman (2017), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), and Enola Holmes 2 (2022).
Thewlis's 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 (2017–2025) and Human Resources (2022–2023), Christopher Edwards in the HBO miniseries Landscapers (2021), John Dee in the Netflix drama series The Sandman (2022), and Fagin in the Disney+ TV series The Artful Dodger (2023). His performance in Fargo earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Critics' Choice Award.
Early life
Thewlis was born David Wheeler in Blackpool on 20 March 1963, the middle child of Maureen (née Thewlis) and Alec Raymond Wheeler. As a teenager, he played in a rock band called QED and played lead guitar with a punk rock band called Door 66. He was educated at Highfield High School in Blackpool's Marton area. He later joined London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1984.
Career
Acting
Wheeler decided to use his mother's maiden name, Thewlis, for his stage name after attempting to register with the actors' union and discovering that his birth name, David Wheeler, was already used by someone else.
He went on to play small roles in high-profile series such as BBC's Only Fools and Horses (1985),
His first big-screen leading role was opposite Clive Owen in Vroom, directed by Beeban Kidron in 1988, and he starred in Paul Greengrass's anti-Falkland War drama Resurrected (1989),
Thewlis's breakout role was in the film Naked (1993), That same year, he appeared on television as a sexual predator named James Jackson opposite Helen Mirren and Ciarán Hinds in Prime Suspect 3. Thewlis reprised the role in four other films in the series. He starred in Regression, He briefly reprised his role as Ares in Justice League (2017). and earned him nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award, Critics' Choice Television Award and Golden Globe Award as a supporting actor. He also wrote, directed and starred in the feature Cheeky (2003).
Writing
Thewlis's black comedy novel set in the art world, The Late Hector Kipling, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007. His second book, Shooting Martha, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2021.
Personal life
Thewlis married Welsh director and actress Sara Sugarman in 1992 and they divorced in 1994. He later dated English actress Kate Hardie for three years. and they had a daughter in 2005 before they split up in 2010.
Thewlis married French designer and artist Hermine Poitou on 6 August 2016. They live in Sunningdale.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1987
| The Short and Curlies
| Clive
| Short film
|-
| Little Dorrit
| George Braddle
|
|-
| rowspan="1" | 1988
| Vroom
| Ringe
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1989
|Skuldugery
|Tony
|Television film
|-
| Resurrected
| Kevin Deakin
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1991
| Life Is Sweet
| Nicola's Lover
|
|-
| Afraid of the Dark
| Locksmith / Tom Miller
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1992
| Swords at Teatime
| Michael
| Short
|-
| Damage
| Detective
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1993
| '
| Franz
|
|-
| Naked
| Johnny
|
|-
| 1994
| Black Beauty
| Jerry Barker
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1995
| Total Eclipse
| Paul Verlaine
|
|-
| Restoration
| Pearce
|
|-
| Hello, Hello, Hello
|
| Short film; Writer and director
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1996
| James and the Giant Peach
| Mr. Earthworm
| Voice role
|-
| Dragonheart
| Einon
|
|-
| '
| Edward Douglas
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1997
| American Perfekt
| Santini
|
|-
| Seven Years in Tibet
| Peter Aufschnaiter
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1998
| '
| Knox Harrington
|
|-
| Divorcing Jack
| Dan Starkey
|
|-
| Besieged
| Jason Kinsky
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?
| Nesbit
|
|-
| Love Story
| Dealer
| Voice role, short
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| '
| Judas Iscariot
| Voice role
|-
| Gangster No. 1
| Freddie Mays
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2001
| Goodbye Charlie Bright
| Dad
|
|-
|Endgame
|Clov
|Television film
|-
|Hamilton Mattress
|Hamilton Mattress
|Voice role, television film
|-
| 2002
| D.I.Y. Hard
| Man
| Short
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2003
| Cheeky
| Harry Sankey
| Writer, director
|-
| Little Wolf's Book of Badness
| Mr. Twister
| Voice role, short
|-
| Timeline
| Robert Doniger
|
|-
| 2004
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
| Remus Lupin
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2005
| Kingdom of Heaven
| Hospitaler
|
|-
| All the Invisible Children
| Jonathan
| Segment: "Jonathan"
|-
| '
| Wingfield
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Basic Instinct 2
| Roy Washburn
|
|-
| '
| Keith Jennings
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| '
| Martin Frost
|
|-
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
| Remus Lupin
|
|-
| 2008
| '
| Father
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2009
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
| Remus Lupin
|
|-
| Veronika Decides to Die
| Dr. Blake
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2010
| Mr. Nice
| Jim McCann
|
|-
| London Boulevard
| Jordan
|
|-
| Athena
| Chuck
| Short
|-
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
| rowspan="2"|Remus Lupin
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2011
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
|
|-
| '
| Michael Aris
|
|-
| Anonymous
| William Cecil
|
|-
| War Horse
| Lyons
|
|-
| The Organ Grinder's Monkey
| Pablo
| Short
|-
| 2012
| Separate We Come, Separate We Go
| Norman
| Short film
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2013
| RED 2
| The Frog
|
|-
| The Fifth Estate
| Nick Davies
|
|-
| The Zero Theorem
| Joby
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2014
| The Theory of Everything
| Dennis Sciama
|
|-
| Stonehearst Asylum
| Mickey Finn
|
|-
| Queen and Country
| Sargeant Major Bradley
|
|-
| Sunday Roast
| Dick Puck
| Short film; Writer
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2015
| Regression
| Kenneth Raines
|
|-
| Legend
| Leslie Payne
|
|-
| Macbeth
| Duncan
|
|-
| Anomalisa
| Michael Stone
| Voice role
|-
|An Inspector Calls
|The Inspector
|Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2017
| Wonder Woman
| Sir Patrick
|
|-
| Justice League
| Ares
| Cameo
|-
| 2018
| The Mercy
| Rodney Hallworth
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2019
| Rare Beasts
| Vic
|
|-
| Guest of Honour
| Jim
|
|-
| Eternal Beauty
| Mike
|
|-
| 2020
| I'm Thinking of Ending Things
| Father
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2022
| Enola Holmes 2
| Grail
|
|-
| The Amazing Maurice
| Boss Man
| Voice role
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2025
| The Thing with Feathers
| Crow
|Voice role
|-
| Avatar: Fire and Ash
| Peylak
|
|-
| 2026
|
|
| Post-production
|-
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| rowspan="3"|1985
| Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
| The Mugger
| Episode: "A Taxing Problem" (non-speaking)
|-
| Summer Season
| Jim Dench
| Episode: "Radio Pictures"
|-
| Only Fools and Horses
| Stew
| Episode: "It's Only Rock and Roll"
|-
| 1986
| '
| Second Soldier
| Miniseries
|-
| 1987–1988
| Valentine Park
| Max
| 12 episodes
|-
| 1987–1991
| ScreenPlay
| Joey / Terry
| 2 episodes
|-
|1989
| '
| Paul Simcock
| 6 episodes
|-
| 1990
| Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
| Doctor
| Miniseries
|-
| 1991
| Shrinks
| Terry Slater
| Episode #1.5
|-
| 1991–1992
| Screen One
| Crematorium Attendant / Tim Shanks
| 2 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2"|1993
| Frank Stubbs Promotes
| Mike Bence
| Episode: "Striker"
|-
| Prime Suspect 3
| James Jackson
| Episode: "Keeper of Souls: Parts 1 and 2"
|-
| 1994
| Dandelion Dead
| Oswald Martin
| Miniseries
|-
| 2002
| Dinotopia
| Cyrus Crabb
| Miniseries
|-
| 2007
| '
| Harry Jennerson / Joe Jennerson
| Episode: "Twins"
|-
| 2014
| Family Guy
| British Father
| Voice role, Episode: "Chap Stewie"
|-
| 2017
| Fargo
| V. M. Varga / Robot
| 10 episodes
|-
| 2018–2025
| Big Mouth
| Shame Wizard
| Voice role, 19 episodes
|-
| 2019
| The Feed
| Lawrence Hatfield
| 6 episodes
|-
| 2020
| Barkskins
| Monsieur Claude Trepagny
| 8 episodes
|-
| 2021
| Landscapers
| Christopher Edwards
| Miniseries
|-
| 2022–2023
| Human Resources
| Lionel St. Swithens / Shame Wizard
| Voice role, 20 episodes
|-
| 2022
| The Sandman
| John Burgess
| Co-starring; 4 episodes
|-
| 2023–present
| The Artful Dodger
| Fagin
| Main role
|-
| 2024
| Kaos
| Hades
| Regular role
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2025
| Sherlock & Daughter
| Sherlock Holmes
| Lead role
|-
| Dirty Business
| Ash
| Lead role
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 2010
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
| Lord Darius Crowley
|}
Music videos
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Artist
! Role
|-
| 2022
| "100% Endurance"
| Yard Act
|Performer
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result !! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="5"|1993 || Cannes Film Festival || Best Actor || rowspan="5"|Naked || || rowspan="26"|