Tom Hollander has become a surprise topic of conversation on the internet recently after revealing that he was once accidentally given Tom Holland’s paycheck - and being shocked to see a seven-figure sum. The Pride and Prejudice actor is hugely successful in his own right but joked about how he is regularly mistaken for the Spider-Man star thanks to their very similar names. So forget Tom Holland, here’s everything you need to know about Tom Hollander…
Who is Tom Hollander - and what movies and TV shows is he best known for?
Tom is a British actor - and you are almost guaranteed to have loved one TV show or movie the highly prolific star has done at some time or another! The 56-year-old played Mr Collins in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice, Cutler Beckett in Pirates of the Caribbean, Gary in Bird Box and most recently, as Quentin, Tanya’s new friend who she suspects wants to murder her, in The White Lotus.
He will also star as Truman Capote in the upcoming drama Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans - which looks at the true story behind the famous author’s fallout with the ladies of New York’s high society.
What’s the story behind the paycheck?
Chatting on Late Night with Seth Myers, he explained: “I went to see my friend who was doing theatre in England for 300 pounds a week, you know, but doing great work, Chekhov, and I sat smugly in the audience having just done a BBC show for 30 grand or something which was going to get me through the next year or so.
“I was thinking, 'Well this is marvellous. I'm very prosperous, but my good friend Peter is doing this great play and I'm going to go afterwards and see him and slightly patronise him and say how wonderful it was. I thought I'd check my emails, and I got an email from the agency saying, 'Payment advice slip: Your first box office bonus for The Avengers,’ And I thought, 'I don't think I'm in The Avengers.’
"It was an astonishing amount of money. And it was not his salary, it was his first box office bonus. Not the whole box office, the first one. And it was more money than I've ever — it was a seven-figure sum. He was 20 or something. So my feeling of smugness that you remember I had in the first half disappeared very quickly.”
Is Tom married?
Tom is in a relationship with his long-time girlfriend Fran Hickman. The pair were engaged back in 2010, before splitting and reportedly rekindling their relationship in lockdown. In August 2023, it was confirmed that Tom and Fran had welcomed their first child together, as the actor was spotted going for a stroll with their bundle of joy in a baby carrier.
The Mail of Sunday revealed that Tom was “beyond thrilled” to be a dad. He previously opened up about becoming a parent back in 2011, saying: “I’d love to be a dad, it’s just that I’ve not managed to sort it out… And I do occasionally think, “How have I managed not to settle down when I came from such a settled-down family?”’ The couple have kept the baby’s name and gender private.