Tony Curran
Curran at the Defiance Panel at the 2013 SDCC
Born	Glasgow, Scotland
Alma mater	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Mai Nguyen ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	1

Tony Curran is a Scottish actor who has appeared in Underworld: Evolution, Doctor Who, Roots, and the Netflix historical epic Outlaw King. He appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: The Dark World (2013) as Bor and the second season of Daredevil (2016) as Finn Cooley. In late 2022, Curran starred in the BBC drama Mayflies.

Early life and education

Curran was born in Glasgow, and is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.^[1]

Career

Curran appeared in the BBC television series This Life. Since then, he has appeared in a number of major film and television roles, including Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man), an original character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. To portray the Invisible Man, he donned a special suit that turned him into a walking bluescreen. (According to his commentary on the DVD, he looked like a "smurf on acid".) He also played vampire roles in Guillermo del Toro's Blade II as Priest and Underworld: Evolution as Markus. In 2006 he appeared in the unrated film Red Road.^[2]

Curran played the role of Datak Tarr on the Syfy series Defiance and in 2014, he costarred with Diana Vickers in the thriller film Awaiting.^[3] In 2016 Curran signed to play 'Callum' in the new E4/Netflix original series Crazyhead.

Curran portrayed Vincent van Gogh in the science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode, written by Richard Curtis, was rated by Screen Rant as the best of Matt Smith's time as the Doctor.^[4] A scene where Curran plays van Gogh, taken into the future to see his work in a modern museum, has been described as one of the most emotional in the entire series.^[5][6] Curran also made a cameo appearance in the Doctor Who episode "The Pandorica Opens".

In 2002, Curran played Sgt. Pete Twamley in the ITV series Ultimate Force, which was broadcast in over 100 countries. Curran later worked in season 8 of The Flash where he portrayed Despero in his human form and voiced him in his true alien form starting in the five-part episode "Armageddon". He starred in the 2018 film Outlaw King, alongside Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Florence Pugh.

His lead performance in the poignant 2022 BBC drama Mayflies was described by The Guardian as "devastating".^[7] In 2023, he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing a Skrull infiltrator who had assumed the identity of Derrik Weatherby, "C" of the British Secret Intelligence Service (a.k.a. MI6) in the series Secret Invasion.

Personal life

In 2012, he married Mai Nguyen; the couple have a daughter.^[1] Curran has campaigned for charities and was named as an official ambassador of the Celtic F.C. Foundation.^[8]

Awards

• Evening News National Award — for the role of Devil in the theatre production The Soldier's Tale
• Best Actor at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards for his role in Andrea Arnold's Red Road.
• BAFTA Scotland 2006 — Best Actor

Filmography

Film

Television