Tim Roth London born actor Timothy Simon Smith (popularly known as Tim Roth) was born May 14, 1961. Roth was born to father Ernie, a journalist, and mother Ann, a teacher and artist. Roth’s father actually changed the family name from Smith to Roth post World War II while traveling through countries with an anti-British sentiment. Initially, Roth had aspirations of becoming a sculptor. To that end, he attended Camberwell School of Art based in London. But before long, Roth turned his attention to acting, making his debut when he was only eighteen in a film for television entitled Made in Britain. Taking interesting and challenging roles from the beginning, Roth portrayed a racist skinhead. Roth bounced around television until a break came his way in 1984. Roth landed a role in the Stephen Frears directed film The Hit. Beside Terence Stamp and John Hurt, Roth earned an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Roth had enough clout to continue working throughout the remainder of the 80’s. And in 1990, he struck gold by teaming up with legendary director Robert Altman. Together they made Vincent and Theo, a biopic about the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh. In the same year, Roth took on Tom Stoppard’s clever retelling of the classic Hamlet tale in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He starred along with real-life best friend Gary Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss.
It was around this time that Quentin Tarantino was putting together his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs. Impressed by what he saw in Roth, Tarantino cast him in the film. It proved to be a huge success, and everybody’s careers benefited. This included Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and Steve Buscemi. Becoming a favorite of Tarantino, Roth worked with him again in his 1994 classic Pulp Fiction with John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis, as well as the forgettable bomb Four Rooms. But Roth didn’t have long to wallow, because a promising role came in 1995. Playing a supporting character in Rob Roy opposite the leads, Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange, Roth would earn an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination. With all the praise he was receiving, he had finally grabbed people’s attention. His position as a power player of Hollywood secured, Roth was able to take many different kinds of roles. With that freedom, Roth appeared in the 1996 Woody Allen film Everyone Says I Love You starring Edward Norton and Drew Barrymore. Other supporting characters included Julia Roberts, Natasha Lyonne, Alan Alda, Natalie Portman, Goldie Hawn, and Billy Crudup.
Continuing to make great film, many Roth fans argue one of his best roles came in 1998 with The Legend of 1900. And in the following year, Roth took an entirely different kind of role with The War Zone—director. Currently, Roth has eight projects in varying stages of completion. One is the newest Tarantino film Inglorious Bastards due for a 2008 release. In his personal life, Roth had one son with Lori Baker in 1983. In 1993 he wed Nikki Butler and had two children. They are still together. | 
