Tony Curran

Tony Curran's glare can make a character look dangerous before he has done anything. It is an advantage in the fantasy, horror and historical dramas that have repeatedly cast him as villains or morally uncertain men. It can also leave him doing the same job too often. We want enough time to reconsider that first impression. Andrea Arnold's Red Road (2006), with Curran leading as the ex-prisoner Clyde, gives him that opportunity.

In Shallow Grave (1994), he is credited simply as Travel Agent, a modest foothold in Danny Boyle's brisk, nasty thriller. We like the film's early humour more than its growing violence, but would not choose this small role as an introduction to Curran. His mid-1990s television breakthrough in This Life was followed by supporting parts in Hollywood films, including Blade II (2002). The work was there; the substantial parts were less plentiful.

Nor would we start with The Good German (2006), in which he plays Danny for Steven Soderbergh. The imitation of older studio filmmaking is striking, but the muddled story keeps its people at a distance. Curran cannot reasonably be blamed for that, and there is little sense in treating a long list of credits as a measure of his acting. Major films have often employed him in minor parts. Red Road, released the same year, is the more useful evidence of what happens when a director gives him a character to develop.

We were moved by his Vincent van Gogh in Doctor Who (2010), because that expressive face makes the painter's vulnerability so plain. Television has continued to offer him substantial parts, from Tully in Mayflies (2022) to King James opposite Julianne Moore in Mary & George (2024). These are better reasons to follow him than the mere length of a filmography, though his presence cannot guarantee that the surrounding drama will work. Start with Red Road rather than working through the largest titles on the list.