Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard

OM CBE FRSL HonFBA
Stoppard in 2022
Stoppard in 2022
BornTomáš Sträussler
(1937-07-03) 3 July 1937 (age 87)
Zlín, Czechoslovakia (present day Czech Republic)
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • screenwriter
EducationPocklington School
Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling
Period1953–present
Genre
Notable awardsFull list
Spouses
  • Josie Ingle
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1965; div. 1972)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1972; div. 1992)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2014)​
PartnerFelicity Kendal (1991–1998)
Children4, including Ed
Website
www.unitedagents.co.uk/tom-stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard (born Tomáš Sträussler, 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter.[1] He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation.[2] He was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a child refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, having spent the previous three years (1943–1946) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas. After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright.

Stoppard's most prominent plays include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966), Jumpers (1972), Travesties (1974), Night and Day (1978), The Real Thing (1982), Arcadia (1993), The Invention of Love (1997), The Coast of Utopia (2002), Rock 'n' Roll (2006) and Leopoldstadt (2020). He wrote the screenplays for Brazil (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Russia House (1990), Billy Bathgate (1991), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Enigma (2001), and Anna Karenina (2012), as well as the HBO limited series Parade's End (2013). He directed the film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), an adaptation of his own 1966 play, with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth as the leads.

He has received numerous awards and honours including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and five Tony Awards.[3] In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".[4] It was announced in June 2019 that Stoppard had written a new play, Leopoldstadt, set in the Jewish community of early 20th-century Vienna. The play premiered in January 2020 at Wyndham's Theatre.[5] The play went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and later the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play.[6][7]

  1. ^ Reiter, Amy (13 November 2001). "Tom Stoppard". Salon. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference OCTP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Stoppard play sweeps Tony awards". BBC News. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  4. ^ "The 100 most powerful people in British culture". The Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2016. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  5. ^ Brown, Mark (26 June 2019). "Jewish district inspires Tom Stoppard in 'personal' new play". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  6. ^ Wolf, Matt (26 October 2020). "2020 Olivier Awards: Better late than never as Dear Evan Hansen and Tom Stoppard win top awards". London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Tom Stoppard's Olivier-Winning Leopoldstadt Sets Dates for West End Return". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2 October 2021.