David Thewlis was born in England in 1963. In War Horse, he perfectly conveys the character of Lyons, the landlord of the Naraccott family.
Born as the second child of three, both of his parents worked at a shop his father owned. Thewlis played in a rock band as a teenager and later on, decided to continue his education in Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, from where he graduated in 1984.
His debut role happened to be in Naked, a movie for which he received several major awards and nominations. Before that, he only had minor roles in TV shows and movies.
Apart from his role in War Horse, he’s very likely most known for his appearance in the Harry Potter movies, where he played the part of Remus Lupin. Besides his big success with the role of Lupin, he has played in other popular movies, such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Theory of Everything, Wonder Woman, and many others. His resume even includes directing the movie Hello, Hello, Hello in 1995, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.
On top of his movie roles, he’s appeared in several TV mini-series, Dinotopia and Fargo being the more popular ones. Apart from that, he’s also done some voice overs in the movies James and the Giant Peach, The Miracle Maker and Anomalies.
Among other notable nominations such as the BAFTA Award, he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Naked and also several other awards for his outstanding performance in the Harry Potter movies. Currently, the actor lives in England and has one child from one of his previous relationships.