The Party's Tom Cullen: Orphan Black ex he dated for eight years, 'super mamma' film star partner, and being dad to two kids
He's hotter than ever – in every sense!
Tom Cullen plays the sexually ambiguous Tory MP Ben Fitzmaurice in The Party, but in real life he’s madly in love with his actress partner.
The Welsh actor returns to our screens in the ITV thriller, based on the Elizabeth Day book of the same name. And it’s a role that is bound to raise eyebrows (and perhaps other body parts).
Tom’s character Ben is handsome, wealthy, ambitious, and flirtatious. So it’s no wonder his best friend Martin is in love with him, and would do anything for him… Anything.
While Ben and Martin have an affair, of sorts, both are also married. Yes, it’s complicated… Which is a far cry from Tom’s real life relationship with his film star partner.
Here’s everything you need to know about The Party’s Tom Cullen, including his TV and film career, identity of his partner, and very famous ex.
Who plays Tory MP Ben Fitzmaurice in The Party?
Actor Tom Cullen portrays the seductive Ben Fitzmaurice in the cast of The Party on ITV. An ambitious Conservative MP, he declares his intention to run for leadership during an eventful 40th birthday party. The surprise announcement throws a cat amongst the pigeons, and begins a chain of events that end with someone fighting for their life…
The Party revolves around lifelong friends Martin and Ben, who are forced to confront their entangled pasts at the eventful birthday.
Having met at an elite boarding school, they quickly shared an unbreakable bond. And a not entirely healthy one. When Ben’s leadership bid begins to attract a lot of attention, the lives of both men are threatened as the “secrets of their past” ultimately derails their lives.
What is Tom Cullen most famous for?
Having played supporting roles on Black Mirror (see series 1 episode The Entire History of You) and The Pillars of the Earth sequel World Without End, the rising star really found his footing on the iconic period drama Downton Abbey.
In 2013, Tom joined the cast as Viscount Anthony Gillingham, a rather dashing love interest for Lady Mary Crawley in the wake of her husband’s death. Anthony appeared in 12 episodes in all and eventually tied the knot with Mabel Lane Fox. He may have married one woman in the show, but actor Tom gained thousands of fans.
Other big titles on Tom’s CV include the period drama Knightfall, Harlan Coben’s The Five, Gunpowder, and Channel 4’s Becoming Elizabeth.
More recently, Tom portrayed lowborn Ser Luthor Largent, Commander of the City Watch in King’s Landing, in House of the Dragon. He also broke our hearts in two playing Michael Agnew in the love story Trespasses, set against The Troubles in Ireland.
He also popped up as Peter Burton in Mudtown, and John Palmer in The Gold.
Was Tom Cullen in The Gold?
For two series of BBC One’s The Gold, Tom played criminal and gold dealer John Palmer. The real-life Palmer, who died in 2015, dabbled in timeshare and mortgage fraud, and held 60 offshore bank accounts.
The series, which co-starred Hugh Bonneville and Slow Horses favourite Jack Lowden, covered the famous Brink’s-Mat robbery of 1983 and the subsequent chaotic decade. Some £26 million (equivalent to £111m nowadays) in gold bullion, diamonds, and cash was lifted from a warehouse.
After The Gold, the actor went on to appear in The Way, Mudtown, and Insomnia. The latter co-starred Vicky McClure as a mum plagued by sleepnessness as she approached her 40s. Tom appeared as Emma Averill’s husband Robert.
How old is he, and where is he from?
Thomas Cullen was born on July 17, 1985, in Aberystwyth, Wales.
He is currently 41 years of age at the time of writing. He has one brother, Joseph, and a sister called Ruth.
Who is Tom Cullen’s partner?
Tom is in a long-term relationship with partner Alison Sudol, with whom he shares two young daughters. Alison is from Seattle and will be recognisable to fans of the Harry Potter spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts. In all three magical blockbusters, she portrayed Queenie Goldstein. Queenie is notable for her skill of extracting memories and emotions from other people’s minds.
She’s a singer, songwriter, composer and actress who has also appeared in the films The Last Full Measure, and Between Us.
The pair aren’t afraid of gushing about each other on Instagram. When Tom secured the job on Trespasses, Alison wrote: “So proud of this brilliant, kind, loving human whose extraordinary soul shines through those [bleep] delicious crinkly eyes in everything he does lighting up the screen bringing the love with every fibre of his beautiful heart.”
On Father’s Day, she wrote: “I have a kind dad and so when I fell in love with a man who I had a feeling would also be a kind dad, I was correct. He has a knack for making magic out of everyday things, makes our kids (and I) howl with laughter like no one else, believes in me with a kind of ferocity that burns through all my little tricks of abandoning myself.”
Tom Cullen on partner: ‘Toughest thing is long stretches away’
Tom in turn has thanked her for being a “super mumma”. He wrote: “The toughest thing about this job is the long stretches away from my family. I find myself looking at pictures at every opportunity, as if by seeing them, I can somehow be transported to them, but it just makes it harder. The ache to be in the chaos is too powerful. Alison is holding down the fort at home in stressful circumstances so that I can go and work. I’m a lucky man and we have lucky children.”
Tom and Alison live together in Wales with their two daughters.
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Tom Cullen dated ex-partner Tatiana Maslany for eight years
While Alison previously dated Stranger Things’ David Harbour, Tom Cullen dated actress Tatiana Maslany for eight years.
Tatiana and Tom met in 2011 while filming together in Budapest, lived together in LA, and split up around September 2019. The appeared in the 2016 film The Other Half as lovers. Their characters – a bipolar woman and a grief-stricken man – struggled to forge a simple life together.
While dating, they often attended red carpet events together. However Tom’s relationship with partner Alison is now more private.
Tom Cullen in ‘the gay movie of the current generation’
Tom Cullen’s character Ben Fitzmaurice in The Party is sexually ambiguous. Although he loves his best friend Martin (in his own way), they agree to marry women in a bid to “grow up”.
It’s not the first time actor Tom has played a gay character. He portrayed Russell in the 2011 film Weekend, which critics called “the gay movie of the current generation”. A unconventional love story between two men, it followed their “short but life-changing gay romance” over a cold weekend in October.
This year, as well as The Party, Tom stars in LGBTQ+ mystery-thriller Black Church Bay. According to Pink News, the gay thriller centres on the dark unravelling of a teacher and his student.
Set in a Welsh fishing village, school teacher Barry (Cullen) and his openly gay sixth form student Jasper (Joe Locke) spend a weekend together. However, the following week, Jasper doesn’t return to class and has gone missing.
Speaking to the Metro, Tom recently said about The Party: “Being there with Luke [Evans], an openly gay man, I was really touched that he asked me and wanted me to be part of it. I’m on him a lot, and leaning on my friends, and I don’t hold it lightly. I feel that responsibility.”
Does The Party actor Tom Cullen speak Welsh?
Although The Party was filmed in Wales, and stars fellow Welsh actor Luke Evans, Tom has revealed he doesn’t speak his mother tongue.
In an interview in 2025, he said: “I’m not a Welsh speaker although I’m learning at the moment. My daughter will be going to a Welsh school in Cardiff so I’m going to have to understand what the homework is.”
