---
name: "Tom Hooper"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/tom-hooper"
fi1m_id: "tom-hooper"
imdb_id: "nm0393799"
tmdb_id: 70500
wikidata_id: "Q295912"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "5 October 1972"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 68
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T14:27:16.318930+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tom Hooper

## Identity

Tom Hooper

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tom-hooper
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** tom-hooper
- **IMDb ID:** nm0393799
- **TMDB ID:** 70500
- **Wikidata ID:** Q295912
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hooper, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295912, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0393799/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/70500

Director and producer. Born 5 October 1972 in London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 5 October 1972, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 1985–2019
- **Also known as:** 톰 후퍼
- **Frequently works with:** [Eric Fellner](https://film.one/person/eric-fellner.md), [Tim Bevan](https://film.one/person/tim-bevan.md), [Eddie Redmayne](https://film.one/person/eddie-redmayne.md), [Jim Broadbent](https://film.one/person/jim-broadbent.md), [Peter Morgan](https://film.one/person/peter-morgan.md), [Timothy Spall](https://film.one/person/timothy-spall.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 70 (1), 1990s 88 (1), 2000s 81 (1), 2010s 60 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 64 to 62 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 7, Crime 2, History 2, Comedy 1, Fantasy 1, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $998m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hooper, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295912, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0393799/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/70500

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Prime Suspect*](https://film.one/tv/prime-suspect.md) (88), [*The King's Speech*](https://film.one/film/the-kings-speech.md) (82), [*EastEnders*](https://film.one/tv/eastenders.md) (70)
- **HBO Max:** [*John Adams*](https://film.one/tv/john-adams.md) (81), [*Les Misérables*](https://film.one/film/les-miserables-2012.md) (62)
- **Netflix:** [*Cats*](https://film.one/film/cats.md) (38)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Tom Hooper

> Tom Hooper gets strong performances from actors in period dress, and *John Adams* gives us good reason to rate him. His attention to detail helps until the ceremony and fussy staging start getting in their way.

The muddy streets in *John Adams* (2008) do useful work: they make the eighteenth century look like somewhere people had to live. Tom Hooper’s historical drama benefits from that plain attention to discomfort, and from actors who seem at home in their clothes. Cinematographers Danny Cohen and Tak Fujimoto make the setting feel inhabited, while Donna Zakowska’s costumes help without taking over. This is the Hooper we recommend, attentive to the practical business of the past and willing to give performers time. Even here, though, the care sometimes becomes fussiness.

His work in British television, including *EastEnders* and *Cold Feet*, preceded *Elizabeth I* (2005) and *Longford* (2006). Period drama was an established part of his work by *John Adams*. He worked from Peter Morgan’s screenplay on *The Damned United* (2009), before *The King’s Speech* (2010) brought international recognition. The continuity is his attention to actors in period roles, giving us a reason to watch beyond the care taken over the setting.

Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are the strongest reason to spend seven episodes with *John Adams*. We were absorbed because their performances kept us interested in the people, even when the programme grew too pleased with its own seriousness. Hooper allows the talking to matter, and the difficult temperament of the central figure gives the history something human to follow. The wandering structure still needs a firmer hand, and some stretches demand more patience than they repay.

With *Les Misérables* (2012) and *Cats* (2019), he moved into musical adaptations. The live on-set singing in *Les Misérables* fits his interest in actors, but the extreme close-ups and camera movement make for more intrusive direction. Wide-angle lenses, tilted shots and performers placed at the far edges of the frame recur across his work. We would happily see fewer of those flourishes when the acting already gives us enough to watch. Start with *John Adams*, and allow for the stretches when Hooper seems unwilling to let a historical drama be anything less than important.

## Biography

Tom Hooper is a British director and screenwriter. Born in London in 1972, he began his career directing television, including episodes of *EastEnders* and the 2003 revival of *Prime Suspect*.

Hooper directed the HBO miniseries *John Adams* (2008) and the feature films *The Damned United* (2009) and *Cats* (2019), the last of which he also co-wrote. His other films include *The King's Speech* (2010), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director, *Les Misérables* (2012) and *The Danish Girl* (2015).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (7)

- *Cats* (2019), Fi1m 38, Screenplay, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/cats.md)
- *The Danish Girl* (2015), Fi1m 57, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-danish-girl.md)
- *Les Misérables* (2012), Fi1m 62, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/les-miserables-2012.md)
- *The King's Speech* (2010), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-kings-speech.md)
- *John Adams* (2008), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/john-adams.md)
- *Prime Suspect* (1991), Fi1m 88, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/prime-suspect.md)
- *EastEnders* (1985), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/eastenders.md)

## Complete filmography (22)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *A Cooler Climate* (2022), Thanks
- *Cats* (2019), Director, Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 38, [page](https://film.one/film/cats.md)
- *His Dark Materials* (2019), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *The Danish Girl* (2015), Director, Producer — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/the-danish-girl.md)
- *Lily's Driftwood Bay* (2014), series, Director
- *Les Misérables* (2012), Director — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/les-miserables-2012.md)
- *The King's Speech* (2010), Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-kings-speech.md)
- *The Damned United* (2009), Director
- *John Adams* (2008), series, Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/john-adams.md)
- *Longford* (2006), Director
- *Elizabeth I* (2005), series, Director
- *Red Dust* (2004), Director
- *Daniel Deronda* (2002), series, Director
- *Ouverture* (2002), Director
- *Love in a Cold Climate* (2001), series, Director
- *Cold Feet* (1998), series, Director
- *Quayside* (1997), series, Director
- *Prime Suspect* (1991), series, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/prime-suspect.md)
- *Byker Grove* (1989), series, Director
- *EastEnders* (1985), series, Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/eastenders.md)
- *Nineteen Steps*, Director
- *Photograph 51*, Director, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Tom Hooper](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-7ac0b7c3dd4c.jpg) Tom Hooper — gdcgraphics at https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdcgraphics/, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/TomHopper10TIFF.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Tom Hooper and Colin Firth at a ceremony for Firth to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-e679cd210eac.jpg) Tom Hooper and Colin Firth at a ceremony for Firth to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (2011) — Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Colin_Firth_2011_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS E. Culpepper Clark, Tom Hooper and Brooke Rooks 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New Yor (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-391be4d94450.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS E. Culpepper Clark, Tom Hooper and Brooke Rooks 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New Yor (2009) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/E._Culpepper_Clark%2C_Tom_Hooper_and_Brooke_Rooks%2C_May_2009_%281%29.jpg/1280px-E._Culpepper_Clark%2C_Tom_Hooper_and_Brooke_Rooks%2C_May_2009_%281%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS E. Culpepper Clark, Tom Hooper and Brooke Rooks, 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New Yo (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-ea5314110173.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS E. Culpepper Clark, Tom Hooper and Brooke Rooks, 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New Yo (2009) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/E._Culpepper_Clark%2C_Tom_Hooper_and_Brooke_Rooks%2C_May_2009_%282%29.jpg/1280px-E._Culpepper_Clark%2C_Tom_Hooper_and_Brooke_Rooks%2C_May_2009_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tom Hooper](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-9fcc92c7900e.jpg) Tom Hooper — Image via TMDB
- ![Les Miserables: Sydney, Australia media call Thursday... (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-38c197501663.jpg) Les Miserables: Sydney, Australia media call Thursday... (2012) — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Hugh_Jackman%2C_Tom_Hooper%2C_Sir_Cameron_Mackintosh_-_Flickr_-_Eva_Rinaldi_Celebrity_and_Live_Music_Photographer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Tom Hooper, Laura Linney, and David Coatsworth 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/346/gallery-baf3b67c6715.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Tom Hooper, Laura Linney, and David Coatsworth 69th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York (2009) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/John_Adams_%288166826503%29.jpg/1280px-John_Adams_%288166826503%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 2011: Best Director (won), for *The King's Speech*

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won

- 2006: Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special (won), for *Elizabeth I*

### Other awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2016: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *The Danish Girl*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2011: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The King's Speech*
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2011: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (won), for *The King's Speech*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/tom-hooper