Tom Wilkinson

Throughout his illustrious acting career, which included an Oscar-nominated performance for "In the Bedroom" (2001), Tom Wilkinson enjoyed wide prominence. True to his working class roots, Wilkinson remained relatively low-key and distinctly non-Hollywood, despite having starred in some of the new millennium's most significant films. He made his breakthrough the previous decade, however, starting with Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" (1995) and followed with "The Full Monty" (1997), a surprising hit in the United States despite its origins across the pond. He went on to play major roles in a wide array of films, from small independents like "In the Bedroom" and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2002) to Hollywood blockbusters like "Rush Hour" (1998) and "Batman Begins" (2005). Wilkinson delivered a memorable turn as the inventor of an experimental memory-erasing technique in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) and was a high-profile corporate attorney who loses his mind in "Michael Clayton" (2007). On cable, he was delightful as a roguish Benjamin Franklin in the acclaimed miniseries "John Adams" (HBO, 2008) and had an award-worthy turn as patriarch Joseph Kennedy in the miniseries "The Kennedys" (ReelzChannel, 2011), all which affirmed his status as one of acting's most respected and versatile talents.