Tom Burke: Legends and Strike star’s ‘reconstructive surgery’, his iconic late godfather and why he’s kept his girlfriend secret
"I got told I didn’t have the right face for that"
Tom Burke delivers one of his best performances yet in Legends, Netflix’s new drug thriller – but there’s a lot you may not know about the actor.
Praetorian Jack from Furiosa, Orson Welles in Mank, Cormoran Strike in… Strike. Burke’s CV is already fascinating (this writer can’t wait for whatever he’s doing in the Elden Ring movie), and Legends is yet another testament to his singular (yet broad) charisma.
He plays Guy, a hangdog, bored Customs officer. Amid rising heroin deaths in the UK, the government puts together a team of civil servants to infiltrate and stop drug gangs. Not only does he sign up, but he’s a natural, struggling to separate himself from his ‘legend’.
Burke isn’t that young (sorry!), but it’d be fair to say his star is still rising. So, let’s dive into everything you should know about him – including his iconic godfather.
When did Tom Burke start acting?
Burke’s career began in 1999’s Dragonheart: A New Beginning, a direct-to-video sequel to the Dennis Quaid blockbuster.
After a few other small roles, he starred alongside John Simm and James McAvoy in State of Play (one of the best BBC dramas) in 2003.
The next year, he made his cinema debut in The Libertine, before appearing in sex comedy I Want Candy and underrated horror film Donkey Punch.
Burke’s first role was as Roland in 1999’s Dragonheart: A New Beginning, a direct-to-video sequel of the 1996 film Dragonheart. That year he appeared in an episode of the series Dangerfield and the television film All the King’s Men.
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Tom Burke movies and TV shows you should watch
Burke’s career went to the next level in the 2010s. TV-wise, he appeared in the BBC’s phenomenal, somewhat forgotten The Hour as the dashing Bill Kendall.
He also had a small role in an all-timer cult British series: Channel 4’s Utopia.
After appearing in The Musketeers and War & Peace, the BBC handed him his biggest role yet: Cormoran Strike, the gruff war veteran-turned-private detective conjured by JK Rowling (under pseudonym Robert Galbraith). A new series is coming out this year, so get caught up on iPlayer!
The Crown viewers may also remember his performance as Derek “Dazzle” Jennings in series 4 (and all of his flirting with Helena Bonham Carter’s Princess Margaret).
His big-screen resume is similarly decorated. In 2013, he starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Only God Forgives, a divisive directorial follow-up to Drive. Six years later, he earned near-unanimous acclaim for The Souvenir, playing troubled toff, Anthony.
He starred alongside Bill Nighy in 2022’s Living (one of the best films on Channel 4 now), and he played a scene-stealing, post-apocalyptic lorry driver (sorry, but that’s what he is!) in Furiosa.
Where is he from?
Burke was born in London and raised in Kent. As he grew up, he realised he wanted to become an actor (for reasons that will become clear shortly…). So, he attended several theatres (including the National Youth Theatre) to practice his craft.
As a child with dyslexia, Burke struggled with school.
“I left school before doing A Levels. I couldn’t stand the idea of that. In retrospect, I wish I had, but at the time I just thought I wouldn’t survive it. I thought I’d go mad. Because I wasn’t very academic, I didn’t do well academically,” he told Notes on the Road.
At the age of 17, he wrote to an acting agency… and they gave him his first gig in the Dragonheart sequel!
The actor now lives just outside Ashford, and he took to the streets earlier this year to campaign against demolitions in the town.
How old is Tom Burke?
At the time of writing, Tom Burke is 44 years old.
He was born on June 30, 1981. This means he shares his birthday with Mike Tyson, Michael Phelps, Lizzy Caplan, and Katherine Ryan.
Tom Burke’s famous parents and iconic godfather
Burke’s parents are both well-known actors: David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall.
Long before Martin Freeman and Jude Law took on the role, David played Dr. Watson in ITV’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series in the ’80s. He also played John Benjamin in Coronation Street between 1963 and 1966. He last appeared in Heartbeat in 2016.
Anna Calder-Marshall appeared in 1970’s Wuthering Heights, King Lear, and Lovejoy. In 2022, she starred opposite Burke in Strike, playing Janice Beattie.
No offence to Burke’s parents, but his godfather is arguably more famous than all of them put together: Alan Rickman. The late actor, recognised worldwide for his performances in the Harry Potter films, Love Actually, and Die Hard, was a very “hands-on” presence in Burke’s life.
“Whenever we went for lunch, he’d ask me questions and I would do that thing of not answering and my mum or dad would step in for me, and he would say, ‘No, no, I want to hear what Tom has to say,'” he told Tatler.
“He took me out of my comfort zone. He was constantly asking me what I wanted to do. I remember once saying that I desperately wanted to dance, and he encouraged that. He was always suggesting things for me to read, to watch. He helped to pay my fees through RADA.”
Speaking to The Guardian, he said: “They were like family, really.”
His godmother, actress Bridget Turner, died in 2014 at the age of 75.
Why Tom Burke required ‘corrective surgery’
Tom Burke may play an amputee detective in Strike, but he still has both legs. However, he did require corrective surgery for something else: his cleft lip.
The surgery left a scar, which has never bothered Burke – but it became an unexpected obstacle later in life.
“I don’t think I was that aware of it, as a boy. My parents always said I looked lovely,” he told The Telegraph.
“I can only remember one kid at school who kept sneering his lip at me and I genuinely didn’t know what he was doing! Although there were moments later in my career it was an issue for some people.”
For example, as he told The Independent, he “very nearly got cast” in a period drama. “But I got told I didn’t have the right face for that channel. And I didn’t know if it was my cleft lip, or what it was,” he explained.
Does Tom Burke have a wife or a girlfriend?
While strictly unconfirmed, Tom Burke isn’t believed to be married. However, he may be in a relationship.
In a 2018 interview with Tatler, he said he had a girlfriend… but he didn’t want to reveal her name. “Tom has been with his partner, who is also in the industry, for over two years,” the outlet wrote.
The next year, he spoke to The Guardian. “He lives in London with a girlfriend he doesn’t speak about,” the article reads.
Is he still with the same woman, are they married, is he single, or is he dating someone new? Ultimately, we don’t know, and that’s because Burke keeps that side of his life private.
“I feel like this glass confessional box culture we’ve suddenly found ourselves in is so insidious,” he said.
Read more: The best Netflix series you can watch this month
