Noah Taylor Biography

Noah George Taylor (born 4 September 1969) is an English-Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as David Helfgott in Shine, Locke in HBO series Game of Thrones, Mr. Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Danny in the iconic Australian film He Died with a Felafel in His Hand.

Early life

Taylor, elder of two sons, was born in London, England, the son of Australian parents, Maggie (ne Miller), a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. His parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew up in Clifton Hill and St Kilda, suburbs of Melbourne. His parents divorced when he was 14. Taylor left both school and home at 16 with no intention of becoming an actor; a friend, however, suggested that he try the theatre as "something to do at the weekends", and Taylor found the experience so enjoyable that he opted to make it his career.

After performing in plays at St. Martin's Youth Theatre in South Yarra for a year, he gained the attention of director John Duigan, who cast him in the 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke, the first part of a planned trilogy. Taylor also appeared in its sequel, Flirting (1991), which starred Nicole Kidman.

Career

Taylor's early roles included acting the lead in the critically acclaimed The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting and he gained significant international attention playing the tormented young pianist David Helfgott in the 1996 film Shine. Taylor's rsum includes action movies (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), comedies (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), psychological thrillers (Vanilla Sky and Predestination) and historical dramas (Max, in which he played the young Adolf Hitler.)

Taylor once commented in an interview that he was sick of acting out the nostalgic reminiscences of other people. He has done this in a number of films including The Nostradamus Kid, which was based, apparently, on the memories of the Australian author Bob Ellis, a young David Helfgott in Shine, the protagonist in John Birmingham's memoir He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, and Almost Famous, based on the memories of the film's writer and director, Cameron Crowe.

He appeared in the video of "Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow", a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, along with the video for "M.O.R." by British alternative rock group Blur. Taylor also starred in Simon Rumley's mystery thriller Red White & Blue, which had its world premiere as part of the SXSW Film Festival in March 2010. In 2011, he released his first EP Live Free or Die!!! with his band Noah Taylor & the Sloppy Boys on Z-Man Records.

In 2013, Taylor appeared in both the third and fourth seasons of HBO's epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, based on the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin. In the adaptation, Taylor plays the character of Locke, an original character of the television series, who serves as a condensed version of several characters of the books, most notably the ruthless and sadistic mercenary leader Vargo Hoat.

Personal life

When not acting, Taylor draws and paints, and is also an accomplished musician, playing viola and French horn as a young teenager, and guitar from the age of 16. He plays the piano by ear. He has sung and played guitar in several of his own bands, including Honky Tonk Angels, Cardboard Box Man, Flipper & Humphrey, Access Axis, and The Thirteens, a country-western rock band described by Taylor as, "three manic depressives playing sad angst and western music for sad people". He names Johnny Cash and Lou Reed as two of the artists he admires.

On 14 November 2012, he married Dionne Harris, an Australian fashion designer. Taylor lives in Brighton, East Sussex.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	'	Danny Embling
1989	'	Jack
1989	Lover Boy	Mick	Short
1991	Flirting	Danny Embling
1991	Dead to the World	Skip
1992	Road to Alice	Jimmy	Short
1992	Secrets	Randolf
1993	'	Ken Elkin
1995	Dad and Dave: On Our Selection	Joe Rudd
1996	Shine	David Helfgott - Adolescent
1997	True Love and Chaos	Dean
1997	Down Rusty Down	Rusty	Short
1998	Life in the Fast Lane	Jeff
1999	Simon Magus	Simon Magus
1999	'	Gem
2000	Almost Famous	Dick Roswell
2001	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	Bryce
2001	He Died with a Felafel in His Hand	Daniel Kirkhope
2001	Vanilla Sky	Edmund Ventura
2002	Max	Adolf Hitler
2003	'	Neville Shiperly
2003	Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life	Bryce
2004	'	Vladimir Wolodarsky
2005	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Mr. Bucket
2005	'	Brian O'Leary
2005	'	Selway
2008	Lecture 21	Peters
2009	'	Prof. Evan White
2010	Red, White & Blue	Nate
2010	Submarine	Lloyd Tate
2011	Red Dog	Jack Collins
2012	Lawless	Gummy Walsh
2013	'	Harris
2013	Mindscape	Peter Lundgren	AKA, Anna
2014	Predestination	Mr. Robertson
2014	Edge of Tomorrow	Dr. Carter
2014	Lost in Karastan	Xan Butler
2014	Maya the Bee Movie	Crawley (voice)	English version
2016	'	Nicholas Cooper
2016	Free Fire	Gordon
2016	'	Max Menkoff

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Dadah Is Death	Andrew Barlow	TV miniseries
1989	Bangkok Hilton	Billy Engels	TV miniseries
1990	'	Tony Waterson	"Glittering Prizes: Parts 1 & 2"
1990	'	Craig Sweeney	TV film
1991	Boys from the Bush	Vince	"Multi Culture"
1991	Inspector Morse	Dave Harding	"Promised Land"
1993	G.P.	Dr. Martin Lloyd	"Infected"
1993	Joh's Jury	Brad	TV film
1997	Water Rats	Ronny Jefferson	"The Witness"
1997	Frontier	George Anderson	TV miniseries
2010	Rake	Stanley Shrimpton	"R vs Lorton"
2012	'	Mortician	"Paolo", "The Beautiful Deception"
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Lark Varney	TV miniseries
2013-14	Game of Thrones	Locke	Recurring role
2014	Peaky Blinders	Derby Sabini	Main role
2015	Powers	Johnny Royalle	Main role
2015	And Then There Were None	Thomas Rogers	TV miniseries
2016	Deep Water	Nick Manning	TV miniseries