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David Thewlis Biography and Full Filmography - MovieWise

Quick Facts

Born:
1963-03-20

Birthplace:
Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Credits:
119 Total Roles

David Thewlis

Acting

The MovieWise Take

"David Thewlis mastered the art of the weary mentor, bringing a soulful, lived-in gravity to Lupin that remains the beating heart of the *Harry Potter* series. Whether as a tragic werewolf or a thunderous god of war, he consistently proves that his understated menace is far more potent than any CGI spectacle."

Biography

David Wheeler (born March 20, 1963), better known as David Thewlis, is an English actor and filmmaker. He is known as a character actor and has appeared in a wide variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nominations for two BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Award, Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Thewlis made his film debut in Little Dorrit (1987) and acted 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 then appeared in films such as Black Beauty (1994), Restoration (1995), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Dragonheart (1996), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). He became more widely known to film audiences for his roles as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise (2004–2011) and Ares / Sir Patrick Morgan in Wonder Woman (2017). 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), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), and Enola Holmes 2 (2022).

Thewlis' 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–present) and Human Resources (2022–present), Christopher Edwards in the HBO miniseries Landscapers (2021), and John Dee in the Netflix drama series The Sandman (2022). His performance in Fargo earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Critics' Choice Award.

Known For

Full Filmography

Year Title Role
2026 Signal One MOVIE Self
2026 Dirty Business TV Ash Smith
2025 Avatar: Fire and Ash MOVIE Peylak
2025 The Thing with Feathers MOVIE Crow (voice)
2025 Sherlock & Daughter TV Sherlock Holmes
2024 KAOS TV Hades
2023 The Artful Dodger TV Norbert Fagin
2022 The Amazing Maurice MOVIE Boss Man / Rat King (voice)
2022 Enola Holmes 2 MOVIE Grail
2022 The Sandman TV John Dee

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