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Who is Tom Payne?
British actor Thomas ‘Tom’ Payne was born under the zodiac sign Sagittarius on 21 December 1982, in Chelmsford, Essex, England. He has 27 acting credits, and is perhaps known best for portraying the lead character Malcolm Bright in all 33 episodes of the crime mystery series “Prodigal Son”, which also starred Lou Diamond Phillips and Halston Sage, and was created by Sam Sklaver and Chris Fedak. It follows the work of criminal psychologist Malcolm, the series aired from 2019 through 2021 and was nominated for two awards.
Tom’s currently shooting for the upcoming movie “Horizon: An American Saga”.
Education and early life
Tom was raised in Bath, Somerset, England alongside his brother Will Payne who’s also an actor, by their father Jeremy Payne and mother Sue Bide; Will has 13 acting credits, and is perhaps known best for portraying Jacob in the 2014 episode “Part 1” of the historical romantic mini-series “The Red Tent”.
Tom studied at King Edward’s School and was a member of its drama club, appearing in nearly all the plays performed at the school during his four years there, often portraying lead characters; he also enjoyed playing sports, and was on his school’s soccer team.
Upon matriculating in 2001, Tom enrolled at Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in June 2005.
Roles in TV series
Tom’s debut TV series role was playing Toby Tyler in the 2005 episode “Love and Duty” of the drama “Casualty”, and in 2007 and 2008, he portrayed Brett Aspinall in 30 episodes of the popular romantic drama “Waterloo Road”, which was created by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus back in 2006, and today stars Chelsee Healey, Jason Done and Philip Martin Brown. It follows a group of teenagers as they’re attending a British high school, and the series has won six of its 18 award nominations.
The remainder of the 2000s saw Tom appear in an episode of the romantic mini-series “Wuthering Heights”, the crime mystery “Marple” and the comedy “Beautiful People”.
In 2011 and 2012, he starred as Leon Micheaux in nine episodes of the sports drama “Luck”, which also starred Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Farina, and which David Milch created. It follows a group of people whose lives are tied to a horse-racing track, and the series won two of its seven award nominations.
Tom’s since appeared in just three TV series: he portrayed Monmouth in three episodes of the 2014 historical war mini-series “New Worlds”, Paul ‘Jesus’ Rovia in the 2018 episode “What’s Your Story?” of the of the horror science fiction “Fear the Walking Dead”, and Paul again in 45 episodes of the horror thriller “The Walking Dead” from 2016 through 2019.
Roles in movies
Tom’s debut film role was playing Bernard in the 2007 biographical musical “Miss Marie Lloyd”, and some of his following roles were in the romantic comedy “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” and the crime drama “He Kills Coppers” both in 2008, and the 2009 comedy “Best: His Mother’s Son”.
In 2011, he portrayed Stanton in the horror “The Task”, which starred Victor McGuire and Alexandra Staden, and was directed by Alex Orwell; it follows several reality show contestants as they’re spending the night in a haunted jail. Tom could then have been seen appearing in the drama “Inheritance”, another drama “My Funny Valentine”, and the short romantic comedy “Still Young”, all released in 2012.
In 2013, he starred as Rob Cole in the historical adventure “The Physician”, which also starred Stellan Skarsgard and Olivier Martinez, and was written and directed by Philipp Stolzl. It follows a young man who’s disguised himself as a Jew in 11th century Persia so that he could attend a school which doesn’t admit Christians, and the movie was nominated for five awards.
Some of Tom’s most recent film roles have been in the 2015 action science fiction thriller “MindGamers”, the 2017 short science fiction “It’s No Game”, and the 2019 adventure science fiction “IO”.
Tom Payne in It's No Game. A short film starring David Hasselhoff. Available to watch on YouTube. #TomPayne pic.twitter.com/8scGcX9LZ4
— Tom Payne News (@TomPayneNews) April 26, 2017
Other credits
Tom sang “The Epicure” in a 2014 episode of the mini-series “New Worlds”.
He received special thanks for the 2016 episode “Catwoman” of the talk-show “Captain Kyle’s Cosplay Spotlight”, and the 2016 documentary horror movie “The Walking Dead: The Journey So Far”.
Some of Tom’s recent talk-show appearances have been in “In Creative Company”, “The Real” and “Waterloo Road – The Official Podcast”.
Awards and nominations
Tom won a 2020 CinEuphoria Merit – Honorary Award for his and his colleagues’ performance in “The Walking Dead”.
Love life and wife
It’s widely known that Tom’s a married man even though he prefers to keep the details of his love life away from media. He and Swedish singer-songwriter, blogger and model Jennifer Johanna Akerman met in the second half of 2013, and exchanged vows in a small and private ceremony on 21 December 2020; they were planning to marry earlier, but postponed the wedding because of the coronavirus.
Tom and Johanna have a son Harrison Magnus Austin Payne together, but his birthdate remain undisclosed; the married couple prefers to keep Harrison away from the media’s attention, as they want him to be able to lead a normal life.
There are no other women whom Tom’s perhaps been with, that we know about; he’s married to Jennifer Akerman as of September 2023, and they have a son together.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Along with Macaulay Culkin, Tom Sturridge and Dominic Cooper among others, Tom was invited to an audition for the lead role in the 2007 psychological thriller movie “Hannibal Rising”, but it was the late French actor Gaspard Thomas Ulliel who got the part.
In 2007, Tom was named Screen International’s Star of Tomorrow.
He’s followed by over a million people on Instagram, and has posted more than 600 pictures and videos onto the network, with most featuring him spending time with his wife and their son.
Tom loves being in nature, and has visited a number of national parks around Europe.
He nowadays spends most of his spare time with his son.
One of Tom’s favorite actors is Edward Norton, and some of his favorite movies include “The Illusionist”, “American History X” and “Primal Fear”.
Appearance and net worth
Tom’s age is 40. He has blue eyes and brown hair, weighs around 145lbs (66kgs) and is 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall.
Tom’s net worth’s been estimated at over $6 million, as of September 2023.
