Age: 40
male
Tom Hughes (born 18 April 1985) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Jonty Millingden in ITV drama Trinity, Chaz Jankel in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Bruce Pearson in Cemetery Junction, and Nick Slade in BBC legal drama Silk. Hughes was born and brought up in Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, the younger of two boys. He attended the Liverpool Everyman Youth Theatre group. He was a member of the Cheshire Youth Theatre and the Jigsaw Music Theatre Company. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. Hughes is the former guitarist of indie band Quaintways. Hughes began his career in 2009 as Dr Harry Ingrams in the BBC spin-off series Casualty 1909 and Jonty Millingden in the ITV drama Trinity. He made his feature film debut the following year as Chaz Jankel in the Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and Bruce Pearson in the comedy-drama Cemetery Junction, the latter of which earned him a BIFA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer. He also appeared in the Young Vic production of David Harrower's Sweet Nothings directed by Luc Bondy. In 2011, Hughes was named one of BAFTA's 42 Brits to Watch. He played pupil barrister Nick Slade in series 1 of the BBC One legal drama Silk, and appeared in the BBC television film Page Eight alongside Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. Hughes then appeared in the Richard II instalment of the television anthology The Hollow Crown as Aumerle. In 2013, he starred in the BFI/BBC film, based on the award-winning novel, 8 Minutes Idle as the lead role Dan Thomas. He made a guest appearance as Michael Rogers in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple. In 2014, he had a lead role in BBC Cold War spy thriller The Game. From 2016 to 2019, Hughes starred as Prince Albert opposite Jenna Coleman as the titular character of the ITV period drama Victoria. He starred in the 2019 film Red Joan alongside Judi Dench. In 2019, it was announced Hughes would play the recurring role of Christopher Marlowe in the second series of A Discovery of Witches.
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, a complex and contradictory character, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants—Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-the play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language. Though The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare's late plays. The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations—from those that see it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.
