Tom Hardy is known for his many roles in fan-favorite, critically acclaimed action movies, but he always uses a different accent or manner of speaking for each of his characters. It’s natural, then, to wonder which accent he actually has.
Tom Hardy is English. Hardy was born in London, England in 1977, and still lives in London today when he isn’t filming in various locations. His father is of English descent, while his mother is of Irish descent.
Read on to find out more about Hardy’s life in England, as well as his many distinctive accents.
Hardy’s Life in London
Tom Hardy was born in Hammersmith, London, and was raised in East Sheen, London. Hardy has no siblings, as he is the only child of Edward John “Chips” Hardy, a novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and creative director, and Elizabeth Ann Hardy, a painter and artist.
When he was younger, he went to the Tower House School in East Sheen, which Robert Pattinson and Jack Whitehall later attended, as well as Reed’s School in Surrey, and Duff Miller Sixth Form College in South Kensington. As an adult focusing on acting, he studied at the Richmond Drama School and the Drama Centre London.
With parents like his, it’s no wonder that Hardy ended up with a creative career in the arts and entertainment. After spending so much of his life in London, it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to leave.
Now, Hardy owns a flat in Richmond and is a staple around London. Many fans have spotted him while he goes around the city normally, just having a beer in this fan’s post which reads, “Oh hello Tom Hardy,” or buying himself some snacks in this fan’s post, which reads, “Tom Hardy Runs Errands in London After Being Honored With CBE From Prince Charles.”
It’s evident that whatever awards or accolades Hardy gets, he’ll still go about his days as normally as possible.
Tom Hardy’s Accents
Hardy is known for the many accents that he uses which are tailored to each of his characters’ different traits and personalities. Some fans and critics have had a hard time understanding some of his on-screen accents, but many dialect experts and coaches have praised his embodiment of different accents and speaking styles.
Erik Singer, a dialect coach, lauded Hardy’s many vocal performances in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m really impressed by the way he plays with intonation — the music of an accent. I think it’s something he hears really keenly and, I suspect, sinks his teeth into first, whether he’s working from a real-life source or working more from imagination and pastiche.”
“Accents, dialect, and vocal stuff is multilayered depending on whether I want to translate as opposed to how accurate I sound,” Hardy said while mentioning that perfect accuracy in a dialect or accent isn’t absolutely necessary for him.
Singer agrees that exactness isn’t always needed. “Some [of Hardy’s accents] are dead-on, some are a little iffy accuracy-wise and some can’t quite be judged that way, I think, because they seem like they’re deliberately hybrids or sort of bespoke, imaginatively designed constructs,” he said.
“Even when his accents are off in some way — and some definitely are — there are two other essentials he’s consistently brilliant at. One of them is how deeply he sinks into the voice and accent of his characters… The other is that his voice and accent choices aren’t random. They’re part of the overall story, theme, and feel of the film,” Singer explained.
“Some of them are unexpected, some are downright weird. But there’s always a reason for [them], even if we might struggle to put that reason into words — as I think Hardy himself sometimes does,” Singer finished.
Check out the YouTube video below to watch scenes from Hardy’s many different television series and movies featuring his different accents.