Thomas Payne (born 21 December 1982) is an English actor. He is known for appearing on

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

's '' The Walking Dead'' as Paul "Jesus" Rovia, and BBC's ''Waterloo Road'' as Brett Aspinall. He portrayed Malcolm Bright on the American television series '' Prodigal Son'' from 2019 to 2021.

Early life

Payne was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, and grew up in Bath,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, where he attended King Edward's School and was a prolific contributor to the school's drama department. He attended the

Royal Central School of Speech & Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, graduating in June 2005. He then appeared in ''

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day ''Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day'' is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Bharat Nalluri, starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. The screenplay by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy is based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Winifred W ...

''.

Career

In January 2007, he first appeared in '' Waterloo Road'' for the BBC, playing

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

er Brett Aspinall. Despite being 24 at the time, Payne portrayed a 17-year-old character. He remained in the series until the end of the following season in March 2008. It was revealed afterwards that he would not be returning for the new season, beginning in January 2009. In 2009, Payne played

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...

in '' Best: His Mother's Son'', a BBC2 film about the legendary footballer. In the same year he appeared in ''

Marple Marple may refer to: Places * Marple, Greater Manchester, a town close to Stockport, in England ** Marple Bridge, a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester ** Marple railway station in Marple, Greater Manches ...

'': '' They Do It With Mirrors'' and ''Wuthering Heights'' for ITV. Payne was named one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow in 2007. On 8 March 2010, it was announced that Tom had joined the cast of ''

Luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

'' a new pilot for HBO directed by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films ''Thief'' (1981), ...

, written by

David Milch David Sanford Milch (born March 23, 1945) is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including ABC's ''NYPD Blue'' (1993-2005), co-created with Steven Bochco, and HBO's '' Deadwood'' (2004 ...

, starring

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...

and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

. He plays the role of a

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

jockey. In 2012, he was cast in the title role of ''The Physician'' (based on the book of the same name) alongside

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...

and

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

. Payne was cast with a recurring role in Season 6 of '' The Walking Dead'', as Paul "Jesus" Rovia, and promoted to series regular for season 7. Tom remained for two further seasons until his character was killed off in season nine. In 2019, Payne was cast in the lead role as a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

's son in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

police procedural series '' Prodigal Son''.

Personal life

Payne began dating singer Jennifer Åkerman in late 2013. He announced on an episode of ''Talking Dead'' that they had become engaged. Åkerman later revealed on her Instagram that they married in December 2020 after postponing their wedding due to COVID-19. His younger brother Will Payne is also an actor.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Tom Living people 1982 births 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors Male actors from Essex Male actors from Somerset People educated at King Edward's School, Bath People from Bath, Somerset Actors from Chelmsford