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 (2004β2011) 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 (2017βpresent) and Human Resources (2022βpresent), 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.
Filmography (121)
Signal One
2026
Dirty Business
2026
The Thing with Feathers
2025
Avatar: Fire and Ash
2025
Sherlock & Daughter
2025
KAOS
2024
The Artful Dodger
2023
Enola Holmes 2
2022
The Amazing Maurice
2022
Human Resources
2022
The Sandman
2022
Rare Beasts
2021
Zack Snyder's Justice League
2021
Landscapers
2021
Eternal Beauty
2020
Guest of Honour
2020
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
2020
Barkskins
2020
The Feed
2019
The Mercy
2018
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018
Wonder Woman
2017
Harry Potter: A History Of Magic
2017
Justice League
2017
Big Mouth
2017
None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa
2016
Queen & Country
2015
Macbeth
2015
Regression
2015
Legend
2015
An Inspector Calls
2015
Anomalisa
2015
The Theory of Everything
2014
Stonehearst Asylum
2014
Sunday Roast
2014
Fargo
2014
RED 2
2013
The Zero Theorem
2013
The Fifth Estate
2013
Separate We Come, Separate We Go
2013
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
2012
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2011
Anonymous
2011
War Horse
2011
The Lady
2011
The Organ Grinder's Monkey
2011
How to Get a Head in Sculpture
2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010
Mr. Nice
2010
London Boulevard
2010
Athena
2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2009
Veronika Decides to Die
2009
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007
The Inner Life of Martin Frost
2007
The Omen
2006
Basic Instinct 2
2006
All the Invisible Children
2006
The Street
2006
Kingdom of Heaven
2005
The New World
2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
2004
Timeline
2003
Cheeky
2003
Little Wolf's Book of Badness
2003
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
2003
D.I.Y. Hard
2002
Hamilton Mattress
2002
Dinotopia
2002
Discovering Dinotopia
2002
Dinotopia
2002
Goodbye Charlie Bright
2001
Gangster No. 1
2000
The Miracle Maker
2000
Endgame
2000
Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?
2000
Love Story
1999
Divorcing Jack
1998
Besieged
1998
The Big Lebowski
1998
Seven Years in Tibet
1997
The Making of 'DragonHeart'
1997
American Perfekt
1997
James and the Giant Peach
1996
DragonHeart
1996
The Island of Dr. Moreau
1996
Restoration
1995
Total Eclipse
1995
Black Beauty
1994
Dreamtown: A Brief Anatomy of Blackpool
1994
Dandelion Dead
1994
Naked
1993
The Trial
1993
Frank Stubbs Promotes
1993
Damage
1992
Swords at Teatime
1992
Black and Blue
1992
Life Is Sweet
1991
Afraid of the Dark
1991
Filipina Dreamgirls
1991
Journey to Knock
1991
Skulduggery
1991
Prime Suspect
1991
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
1990
Resurrected
1989
A Bit of a Do
1989
Screen One
1989
Vroom
1988
Deep Red Instant Love
1988
Road
1987
The Short & Curlies
1987
Little Dorrit
1987
Valentine Park
1987
The Singing Detective
1986
ScreenPlay
1986
Radio Pictures
1985
Screen Two
1985
Summer Season
1985
Only Fools and Horses
1981