Tim Roth Net Worth

Biography of Tim Roth

Tim Roth is an English actor and director, who became famous for his roles in the films directed by Quentin Tarantino “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), “Pulp Fiction” (1994), as well as the role of a psychologist in the TV series “Lie to me” (or “Lie Theory”) .

Childhood and youth

Timothy Simon Roth was born on May 14, 1961 in south London. Actor’s mother Ann is an artist and teacher, father Ernie is a journalist, artist, member of the British Communist Party until the 1970s.

Tim’s father’s real name was Smith, but he changed it to the German-Jewish “Roth” in the 1940s, partly in deference to the victims of the Holocaust and partly because the British were not welcomed with open arms in the countries where he worked.

In his youth, Tim Roth dreamed of becoming a sculptor, so after graduating from school he entered the London Camberwell College of Art. However, he was not destined to finish his studies. The young man dropped out of school when the stage became much more interesting to him than plaster and clay.

Actor career

Acting skills young Tim Roth honed in small theaters and on impromptu stages in pubs. In 1983, the guy got his first (and immediately main) film role – he played a skinhead in the BBC film Made in Britain. Luck accompanied Roth – the novice actor was entrusted with bright leading roles. Although Tim’s early films did not become box office successes, he had the chance to work in a variety of ways: from the inhibited, head over heels in love young man in the comedy-drama “Meanwhile” (1983) to the harsh hitman in Stephen Frears’ film “Snitch” (1984).

In 1989, the actor appeared in the drama The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover by Peter Greenaway, and a year later he played the famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh in the film Vincent and Theo. Critics were satisfied with the work of the actor:

“Tim Roth as Vincent is without a doubt the best thing about this film… He presents the viewer with a gentle, lovable sufferer who seeks to improve his skills as much as possible.”

By the late 1980s, Tim Roth and other successful British actors – Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann – were nicknamed “Brit Pack” in Hollywood. Indeed, Tim’s popularity was such that promising directors were already paying attention to him. Among them was Quentin Tarantino, who in 1992 approved Roth for one of the roles in his debut film “Reservoir Dogs”, and two years later invited him to the film “Pulp Fiction” with John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and Uma Thurman . Both films have become cult classics.

Tarantino and Roth also collaborated on the 1995 film Four Rooms, where Tim played the central character, Ted the porter. And the role of a poor illegitimate aristocrat from London in Michael Caton-Jones’ historical film “Rob Roy” brought Roth a BAFTA award and nominations for the Oscar and Golden Globe awards.

In 1996, Tim starred in Woody Allen’s musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You, working on the same set with Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Edward Norton and Goldie Hawn.

Three years later, Roth made his directorial debut with the drama Warzone about a teenager who uncovers a terrible family secret – incest and sexual abuse. The film was nominated for numerous awards; Tim himself received seven awards and was named “best director” several times.

After the release of the film, Roth admitted that he himself was a victim of sexual violence, but refused to name the offender. At the end of 2016, in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, the actor finally revealed that he was bullied by his grandfather from early childhood to adolescence.

In 2001, the actor played General Teide in the fantastic film Planet of the Apes by Tim Burton. For the sake of this project, Roth turned down an offer to star as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series of films. And he did not lose: both the film and his game received the highest ratings and the love of the audience.

Roth was considered for the role of psychopathic intellectual Hannibal Lecter in Ridley Scott’s thriller Hannibal (2001), a sequel to the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. However, in the end, Anthony Hopkins confirmed his participation in the project, and preference was given to him. But on the other hand, Tim was lucky to work with Francis Ford Coppola on the set of his drama Youth Without Youth (2007), created with very modest money, which more than paid off in the first weeks of hire.

A separate page in Roth’s life is participation in the Marvel Studios project. In 2008, the actor starred as the supervillain Emil Blonsky, nicknamed “The Abomination”, an officer and former spy for socialist Yugoslavia, in the film The Incredible Hulk. Film director Louis Leterrier has always been a fan of Roth. In one of the interviews, he shared:

“It’s so great to watch how an ordinary English cockney becomes a superhero!”

From 2009 to 2011, Tim Roth played in the Fox TV series Lie to Me (or Lie Theory). In it, the actor portrayed Dr. Cal Lightman, a body language expert who helps local and federal law firms investigate crimes. The character of Roth was based on a real person, the famous American psychologist and professor Paul Ekman, although the series begins with the statement that no faces are the prototypes of the characters in the story.

In 2012, Tim Roth reached a new stage in his career – he became the president of the jury of “Un Certain Regard”, the second most important program of the Cannes Film Festival. And the following year, he happened to become the president of FIFA – however, on-screen – the actor played the 8th FIFA president Joseph (Sepp) Blatter in the film “Dream League”.

The plot of the picture unfolds from the beginning of the last century until 2004 and glorifies the game, which has become a world sport and the personification of hope and unity. Also starring in the film by French director Frederic Auburtin are Sam Neill (as the 7th FIFA president, Joao Havelange), Thomas Kretschmann (Horst Dassler, son of Adolf “Adi” Dassler, creator of the Adidas brand), Fischer Stevens and Gerard Depardieu. The release of the film coincided with the 110th anniversary of FIFA and the start of the World Cup.

In 2015, Tim starred in the film Chronicle, which had a limited release in 2016. Later, for this role, the actor received the Independent Spirit Award. In the same year, Roth again worked with Tarantino on the set of his western The Hateful Eight, in which he played the executioner Oswaldo Maubray (“The Englishman” by Pete Hickox).

In an interview, the actor confirmed that his character is the ancestor of Archie Hickox, the English lieutenant from Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Interestingly, Tim Roth was supposed to play Hickox in the film, but due to a mismatch in work schedules, this role went to Michael Fassbender. Other favorites of Tarantino appeared in the film – Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Zoe Bell. But with Channing Tatum and Jennifer Jason Lee Tarantino worked for the first time.

In 2017, Tim got a role in the drama series Steelstar, appearing before the audience in the form of former London detective Jim Worth, who fled from the past to a small town. The first season was warmly received by critics and the public, so it was decided to extend the series for another season.

The actor also played in the third season of the series Twin Peaks, a continuation of the cult series by David Lynch, which aired in the 1990s.

Tim Roth’s personal life

Tim Roth has three sons. In 1984, in a marriage with Lori Baker, he had a son, Jack, who also became an actor.

In 1993, Roth married fashion and jewelry designer Nikki Butler. The lovers met at the Sundance Film Festival of Independent Film – according to the woman, at that time she did not know Tim and did not watch a single film with his participation.

The couple have two sons – Timothy Hunter (born 1995) and Michael Cormack (born 1996). Butler also adopted little Jack.

Tim Roth now

In the summer of 2018, Tim Roth could be seen in the comedy Reluctant Swindlers. Despite a brilliant cast (Uma Thurman, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Fry), James Oakley’s film received low ratings.

In September 2018, the drama Padre was released in the United States, which tells about a former convict nicknamed Padre (Tim Roth), who flees from his father-in-law, Marshal Nemes (Nick Nolte), and the Colombian policeman Gaspar (Luis Guzman) hired by him.

Roth is known to appear in Nigerian-American director Julius Onna’s drama Luce, opposite Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer, and Jesuit, a crime drama about a man jailed for a crime he didn’t commit.

In July 2019, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will be released, set in the years of the murders associated with Charles Manson (Australian Damon Herriman will play him). Key figures of those years will appear in the film: actress and Manson victim Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie), actor and motorcycle racer Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis), martial artist Bruce Lee (Mike Mo) and director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zaveruha). Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will play the main roles in the film. Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino, Lena Dunham will also star in the film in addition to Tarantino’s main favorites, including Tim Roth.

In addition, Tim, along with Clive Owen, can be seen in the detective drama Song of Names, a story that spans two continents and half a century. The actor will also work with Mary Harron, the author of American Psycho, on the set of her biopic about Salvador Dali (Ben Kingsley) and his young assistant.

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